Killer Tank

C

calvertbill

Guest
I don't understand.
I have a tank which successfully supports 8 fish, 5 large Tangs (3 Yellow+1 Purple+1 Desjardinii), 1 Copperband and a very large 5" pair of Clarkii.
It is also home to 30 different species of corals. My montis grow like weeds, my Cynaria and Scolymia have trebled in size. Leathers, Caulastrea, anthelia, wellsophia, acans, acropora, eveyrbody's happy. Three good size deRasas and a Maxima, also happy.
But my tank kills anemones. I used to think it was only Carpets. I lost a purple, a blue and two greens. I thought that the BTAs and long tentacles just migrated to a location of better flow. But over the course of this last month I watched a 3" diameter BTA become 2", then 1" and could now hide behind a dime.
I don't get it.
 
mr.m

mr.m

Member
Well i dont know what the Prim of your tank is and I am not a expert . But i lost 2 befor i got smart and looked at my lights and SG i went to MH and raised my SG to 1.26 and now I have very good results with them.
Mark
 
ccampbell57

ccampbell57

Active Member
What is your parameters of the tank. Anemones are really unstable when your Nitrates are out of whack.
They also require some iodine and strontium for long term health. Also, were you spot feeding your anemones?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Raises a few other questions. Lighting is fine. What kind of filtration and do you run carbon? What was the health of the anemone when purchased and were they all purchased from the same place?
 
veni vidi vici

veni vidi vici

Active Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
http:///forum/post/2616288
Raises a few other questions. Lighting is fine. What kind of filtration and do you run carbon? What was the health of the anemone when purchased and were they all purchased from the same place?
Just out of curiosity EB but how can you say light is fine without knowing size of tank?
I could be wrong and chances are i probably am but....
Slow death over a 3 month period affecting one specific inhabitant seems odd.
 
kirkland

kirkland

Member
I am not a light expert or anything, but we have a 90g corner bowfront. The tank is deeper than my arm is long. We have 6 x 54w T5's hanging over our tank. We use the glass lid except for summer so the inside of the lid gets evaporation marks. We kept a green bta for 9 months and he got so large, we had to sell him because he literally took over half of our tank. We still have a sebae that we've had for at least 6 months and he is quite large as well, just not as agressive or demanding in how much room he needs. Our nitrates have always been 0, temp around 79', ph 8.2. I make eric bornemann's coral food but don't chop it as finely as he does so at night, it feeds the fish and there's leftover bits in the water for the corals and anemones. In the afternoon, they get chopped squid or shrimp, mysis or homemade food using beth's recipe. I dunno why your anemones are dying but I don't think it's the lights.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by Veni Vidi Vici
http:///forum/post/2616297
Just out of curiosity EB but how can you say light is fine without knowing size of tank?
I could be wrong and chances are i probably am but....
Slow death over a 3 month period affecting one specific inhabitant seems odd.

I read it wrong. You are correct I saw the number 30 and thought that was the tank size.
 
C

calvertbill

Guest
Looks like a lot of questions since I last logged on so I'll try to hit them all:
1. ccampbell57 is right, tank is 36" deep, 4" bed and the lights are 6" above water's surface.
2. Normally my water parameters are great w/nitrates under 10. Lately they've been whack but that's for a different reason I'll get to later and came after the anemones went down.
3. Spot silversides for carpets, mysis for smaller guys.
4. No carbon. 75 gal. sump, 3x40W UV tubes, MRC MR6R recirculating skimmer, 1HP chiller.
5. Most anemones purchased at same place but 2 carpets and 1 long tentacles blue purchased elsewhere (I'm not necessarily claiming the blue is dead, just missing).
6. Reason for whacky recent water parameters:
My skimmer had always produced the same quantity and dark color skimate. About a month ago the product seemed to change to something clear as drinking water. I THOROUGHLY cleaned it three times (including disassembling beckets) and the product was still clear. I posted a thread on this site and everyone told me I must have missed something, that a skimmer could never 'get ahead' of a tank's ability to mess up the water. After the third cleaning someone suggested I shut it down for a few weeks to see what happens. I did so and the water parameters started going up. I turned the skimmer back on and the resultant skimate is back to being yucky.
But all of this occurred after the anemone problems (I think).
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
150watt aren't anything considerable for 36" in depth. However, I don't see it that a light starved BTA would hide.
What is the kelvin of the lights?
 
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