anemonies - how to care for them

T

tizzo

Guest
Oh yeah!?? Well, I woulda wrote that if I coulda spelled it.
 
I always thought you had to have your salinity within the range of 1.020 to 1.024??? That's what I get for listening to the guy that sold me his tank. I should have known better to listen to him when he told me aptasia was a weed.
I called home and had one of my kids test it. He said it's at 1.022 on a hydrometer. (I know, get a refractometer). The lights are off due to timer and he said it pulled in all it's tentacles. I assume it will do that in low/no light availability.
Oh, and to answer a question of if I acclimated it with the lights on? I actually had the lights off. Not because I knew better, I had to fix my kids ceiling fan in that room and killed power to the switch for an hour.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
Well that's good. And aiptasia isn't a weed, but it is a pest anemone that grows like a weed.
Specific Gravity for a fish only tank is what your friend told you, but inverts do better in a higher salinity. The LFS here keeps his snail tank at 1.018!! I woulda never believed they'd survive had I not seen it myself! But they barely moved, and after an hours worth of acclimating, they cruise all over the place in my tank!
If you evaporate, then just top off with salt water until it's a little higher. Not that it needs to be done that slowly but rather, that way avoids a mistake of adding highly salted water, or all the work of water changes. Whatever you do, do NOT add salt directly to your tank.
 
ahhh ok. I wen to my LFS this evening and they said the same thing salinity should be 1.024 to 1.028 for a reef tank. I added about .001 to the water . I don't have any test strips, so I took my water to the LFS to test it. My nitrates and amonia are getting high even after a water change. But I only changed about 10% of the water.
Did take some pix:


And here's the light I'm using in the 30g:

And the light i'm using on the left side of the 50g:

Are these lights ok? I was told my corals won't grow under them.
 

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by gman20001969
http:///forum/post/2599566
The 50g is 5 years old. The 30g is 4 mo old.
You definatly do not have enough light.. and with any amount of ammonia your anemone is most definatly going to suffer, as are your fish. Sorry but the best advice I can give you is to take the anemone back. Stablize your tanks water, get better lighting and then if you want attempt another anemone.
 

dse

Member
nice nemone!
shame about your salt level.
there's a method i use to keep my salt at tip top condition.
i use a theame of wat i call over stretch and understretch.
understretch= anything under 1.022 overstretch= anything over 1.026.
i use this to keep my water at 1.024-1.025 it never changes and stays the same with water top off's and water changes i do same method for when i fill buckets up too.
your tank looks umm.... empty.. is a nice way of putting it.
wheres your LR? you need more then that imo.
your CC needs a clean too btw i hate to see dirty sand/cc/gravel.
I cant stand it

i would get a t5 unit for your tank i use 2x 55w twin daylights 1 bulb has the power of 3 T8's
that a lot of power.
n light too.
im using them in a samew size tank as your ish.
untill my replacment tank from incurance company arrives then ill have 3 filters and a sump al able to solo handle the tank on its own hehehehehe.
also i would buy another power head and put it near the top too as water movemet is nice and sweet.
also personally as i love filtration as you can see i would buy like a fluval 205 or a fluval 305 for that tank to keep it perfect. as it would be able to handle the tank with no problems imo.
but look after that lovly little nemone mate.
 
Originally Posted by dse
http:///forum/post/2599596
nice nemone!
your CC needs a clean too btw i hate to see dirty sand/cc/gravel.
I cant stand it

i would get a t5 unit for your tank i use 2x 55w twin daylights 1 bulb has the power of 3 T8's

I got a lawnmower blenny, but haven't added him to the tank yet after I found out the ammonia is a bit high. I also got a couple of mexican turbo snails that have been mowing the tank for a little while.
Is it true that corals won't grow under florescent bulbs? I was told that at one LFS I go to yesterday.
 

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by gman20001969
http:///forum/post/2599607
I got a lawnmower blenny, but haven't added him to the tank yet after I found out the ammonia is a bit high. I also got a couple of mexican turbo snails that have been mowing the tank for a little while.
Is it true that corals won't grow under florescent bulbs? I was told that at one LFS I go to yesterday.
LOL one more reason not to trust all LFS's. No that is absolutly false, a major portion of available reef lighting is a flourescent bulb type. The others are Metal Halide and the new LED lighting. The issue with your bulbs is that they are not intense enough, but that is not because they are flourescent. There are a number if different types of flourescent lighting that can work on certain tanks and promote coral growth. This depends on the tank height the wattage of the bulbs the type of flourescent bulbs and the type of corals you are looking to keep. On an avereage low light corals can be safly maintained with standard flourescent lighting on a tank that is no higher than 18". Above and beyond that you would want to look for a High output T5 fixture with individual reflectors, still a flourescent bulb type but much more intense because they have more lumens per watt. Last would be metal halide which are not flourescent.
 
Man.. I knew better than to take what she said at 100%. I think that 30g is taller than 18". It sits on top of a hutch so I can't say for certain. I'm pretty sure the 50g is no more than 18".
The guy that had the tank before me didn't have any corals in the tank so I don't think he cared for the lights past replacing them every 6-8 months. He didn't match lights during his last replacement so I actually have 1 10,000k and one 6,500k. The 6,500k was on the corals in that tank so I switched them around. But looks like I need more intensive light. Bad thing is, I don't know how to size them properly.
I don't want to go back to that store to buy flourescent light if I'm gonna be looked down upon. My next option would be PetSmart, but I only see they have 20,000k lights at the highest intensity and marked as T12's.
 

perfectdark

Active Member
no your best bet is to order on line. search for nova extreme pros. or tek lights, and equatinics. these are all ho t5 light fixtures that will work for your application. measure the length of your tank. they have fixtures that match them appropriately.
 
Originally Posted by PerfectDark
http:///forum/post/2599719
no your best bet is to order on line. search for nova extreme pros. or tek lights, and equatinics. these are all ho t5 light fixtures that will work for your application. measure the length of your tank. they have fixtures that match them appropriately.
Ohhh. You mean the fixture that goes on top of your existing hood? Never thought of just replacing that. There are a few out there that can fit my current budget.
 

dse

Member
Originally Posted by PerfectDark
http:///forum/post/2599627
LOL one more reason not to trust all LFS's. No that is absolutly false, a major portion of available reef lighting is a flourescent bulb type. hit the nail on the head!
Above and beyond that you would want to look for a High output T5 fixture with individual reflectors, still a flourescent bulb type but much more intense because they have more lumens per watt. again nail on the head.... wish we had a motion of that! (hint hint admin!).
also i went into a new lfs that i never been into 3 week ago and saw a few nemones.
i said for a laugh oh would my t5 unit cope with them note i did not give him watt power wat size tank is. not one piece of info was given to him just question added. he said fast as lightning no.
all coral and nemones will die with in 48 hours... i laughed at him so hard i had murph.
and then he goes what you want is like 2 T8's.... i had to walk out laughing i was crying! he dint have a clue! yet his boss was setting up a t5 unit for his coral sale units!
some people should just not be aloud to talk.
problem was he said it infront of a few customers too who then whent too look at the t8's.
wife was like wat the hell you laughing at.
i just said hes a noob and a --- head!
she just laughed and then said huh i dont get it... lmao!
had to take over an hour to explain to her.
but like others said use T5 units for yours you wont need the most powerfull one tho as your tank is quite small.
 
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