Newbie

[max tharpe]

I have a 55 gallon tank with a skilter 400 and a whisper 30-60 and two turbo heads on underground filter and it has been setup since feb 1,2002, lighting is 4 each 40 watts flourescents, one each 50/50 and one 10k and 2 each 5600k plant bulbs from phillips am having trouble with hair algae and green slime algae! i have 2 blue damsels, 1 snowflake eel, 1 pygmy angel, 3 blue hermits and 4 turbo snails...I have killed 4 or 5 anemones of different types and 2 black sea urchins...my substrate is florida crushed coral, with approx 50lbs homemade aggracrete base rock and 25 to 30lbs of florida live rock...living on the rock is some feather duster looking worms, 4 or 5 mushroom polyps and what i think is bubble algae or coral which is green or gray and when it explodes it makes many more smaller versions of itself, looks like little balls.... i want to make a dsb in with the crushed coral, should i just mix my playsand in with the crushed coral or what? and would i be better off with a sump or wet/dry..I dont have the equipment to check the phosphates ,silicates or calcium level...using mydor reef and marine supplement#7 sparingly, 2 capfulls a week...also lost my percula clown....tired of wasting money and killing livestock....please help will try and get some pictures to send....PS the standard water parems are fine except when something dies off...would like to info on what type corals i could try and fairly inexpensive sources for coral...LOVE this hobby but getting disheartened quickly! TNX

 

[donkeykong]

PS the standard water parems are fine except when something dies off...
how do you know if you dont have test kits. Most people would definitly say that you dont have enough lighting for anenomes, i dont have any experiance so will not say either way.
Adding sand to crushed coral will not hurt anything as long as you dont trap any food or things that will decompse and cause ammonia or nitrites. But eventually the crushed coral will work its way to the top and most dont like the look of that.
Best advice slow down, you have lost a lot of livestock and instead of lossing more get you tank established and running great. then once everything is in order slowly add another coral.
Take the time in the mean time to look at corals that you want and research them so you can know exactly how to care for them and will have better success.
P.S. dont give up if you put real effort in you will get amazing results

 

[carrie1429]

How old is your tank? If 4 out of 5 anemones have died then I would stop buying anemones for a while. There are many reasons why your anemones could have died: (1) what are you water parameters, they are very sensitive when it comes to water (2) your lighting, I don't know too much about the lighitng but that could be the biggest problem (3) Anemones do not do well in new tanks, they need to be in well establshed tanks 4-5 months old. But like I said how old is your tank, this will maybe help in figureing out why your fish and anemones are dieing.

 

[a&m aggie 04']

yeah i think the lighting is the main cause of anemones dying. Most need strong lighting. 5 Watts per gallon or more. But they also need perfect water conditions.
Those little balls you see are bubble algae, when popped they will spread throughout your tank. They can get out of hand, a few are fine but i recommend just picking most of them off by hand.
The reasons your water params are fine unless something dies is b/c when something dies it causes ammonia which is highly toxic in your tank. Some things that die put off their own toxin. When you see something dead remove it immediately.
HTH,
Mark

 

[max tharpe]

Originally posted by donkeykong

how do you know if you dont have test kits. Most people would definitly say that you dont have enough lighting for anenomes, i dont have any experiance so will not say either way.
Adding sand to crushed coral will not hurt anything as long as you dont trap any food or things that will decompse and cause ammonia or nitrites. But eventually the crushed coral will work its way to the top and most dont like the look of that.
Best advice slow down, you have lost a lot of livestock and instead of lossing more get you tank established and running great. then once everything is in order slowly add another coral.
Take the time in the mean time to look at corals that you want and research them so you can know exactly how to care for them and will have better success.
P.S. dont give up if you put real effort in you will get amazing results
Hope I do this right....I have the Tetra test Laborette, include's PH,KH,GH NO2,CO2,and NH3/NH4 and what i can check with these items are ok! I will have to look at getting better lighting and a wet/dry filter; can't figure out what would be best for reef tank...if i can use 220 watts VHO or if i will have to have metal halide also...or if i could get by with power compacts!

 

[max tharpe]

Originally posted by Carrie1429
How old is your tank? If 4 out of 5 anemones have died then I would stop buying anemones for a while. There are many reasons why your anemones could have died: (1) what are you water parameters, they are very sensitive when it comes to water (2) your lighting, I don't know too much about the lighitng but that could be the biggest problem (3) Anemones do not do well in new tanks, they need to be in well establshed tanks 4-5 months old. But like I said how old is your tank, this will maybe help in figureing out why your fish and anemones are dieing.
tank was setup on feb 1st,2002; so it is about 6 months old; water parems appear to be better than my local fish store which i had test it for me and he said water quality is great so its probably not enough light....I use carbon in the filter but wonder if that would filter out the food the anemone needs to survive...

 

[j21kickster]

one more thing about anemones good lighting isnt enough, make sure they are fed too. Although they have photosyenthetic zooxanthella this does not provide them thit and suficient diet. remember they are animals and need food. Also diff specief like diff substrate and diff foods. Check my signature

 

[j21kickster]

let me try that spelling again sorry i blanked "zooxanthellae this does not provide them with a suficient diet" there

 

[max tharpe]

Originally posted by j21kickster
one more thing about anemones good lighting isnt enough, make sure they are fed too. Although they have photosyenthetic zooxanthella this does not provide them thit and suficient diet. remember they are animals and need food. Also diff specief like diff substrate and diff foods. Check my signature
How would I find out what to feed them? Probably a dumb question!

 

[fshhub]

sorry, but i do not like the way things look, first off anemones are delicate and not an easy creature to keep adn really do not belong in most aquariums(IMO),
they are difficult to keep anyhow and if you are going to get one, only put them in wel established tanks, after gaining experience(several months)
2d, lighting is not very strong, anemones do also need lighting minimums
3d i do not like the fact that you are relying on an lfs for test results, good is not an acceptable answer here, give us actual readings, not "good"
this very well could be part of the problem as well
don't mean to sound harsh at all, but these are areas where we need ot direct our attention, esp with more delicate creatures(like anemones)
feed them fish or shrimp, they willeat uncooked shrimp

 

[j21kickster]

if you want to keep an anemone i would go with a buble tip. They like flat surfaces such as glass or flat section on a rock. I feed mine krill and have had it for 6 years. I think it was this months issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist published an article about anemones . How to care and feed them also their ideal conditions. Also ther are several books on them.

 

[azrile]

It doesn't seem like enough. More hermits and snails will help with algae problem.
Also try a lawnmower blenny. They Eat ALOT of algae.

 

[lilman1714]

I would recommend feeding your anenomes once every ever other day... Feed them a whole silverside (frozen fish), and put other things in the tank like formula one and flake food. But when you are feeding the anenome make sure that you put in right near its mouth and watch to make sure nothing else in the tank get ahold of it.