The lighting argument continues

[giraffemaster]

I have to disagree that VHO lights aren't good enough to keep a Bubble tip anemone. I have had the same anemone or one of its clones for 5 years. My dad and I bought the anemone in 1999 for our pair of percula clowns(in a 55 gallon). After two years the anemone had split into about 5 or 6 anemones, most of which we took to a certain store in Terre Heute IN and traded for store credit. I kept one of the anemones(because my dad was tired of it killing his corals). I had the anemone for a year in a 40 gallon tank(no fug), again with VHO lights in which time it split again. I moved to a new apartment where I lived for the last 2 years and the anemone split at least once maybe more. This time the anemone was in a 75 gallon tank with a refugium and guess what, VHO lighting again. I don't think that throwing more lighting at the system is going to fix the problem every time. I agree that PC lighting can't really cut it for anemones, but from my experience it is very possible to keep an anemone under VHO lighting and have it flourish. I'm not saying that VHO will work for all situations, but lets not say it won't work for any.
Let the flames begin.

 

[bang guy]

There's just no way to argue with success.
I'm still of the opinion that HID gives a hobbiest a better chance of success with an Anemone.
I agree that it can be done it's just that all other conditions need to be a bit better. If you can feed a Anemone less then it's easier to maintain better water quality. If you have more light, you don't have to feed quite as much.
I also agree with you that lighting is just one aspect. MH isn't a cure all, just give you a better chance of success IMO. It's because of the increased odds of success that MH is recommended.
Bang - (How's that for a flame!)

 

[giraffemaster]

I agree it probably does give better odds. Seems like alot of people have said their anemone is dying lately, and I wish this wasn't so. I just wanted people to know it is possible to keep anemones with VHO given good conditions.
Thanks for not flaming me Bang!!:happyfish

 

[tizzo]

Here's kind of an off the wall question. I thought PC's were more powerful than VHO's. watt for watt. But after reading a few posts, that doesn't seem to be the case. Do you know which is stronger?? I realize that PC's have a lower number but I was taking the "compact" part into consideration. I ask because my BTA was very much not happy under my PC's, so I upgraded to MH's with VHO and he's happy now.

 

[bang guy]

There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that PC are more intense than VHO and less intense than MH. That is the exact reason why I switched to PC in the early 90's.
My corals did not thrive for 2 years until I put my VHO back on. Then they did great.
I have absolutely no clue why. IMO it defies logic but that was my experience.
Apparently I'm not alone with this observation.

 

[tizzo]

Weird... Maybe PC's are a gimmick in the aquarium industry?
Maybe we should just keep them confined to desktop office lamps??

 

[hiddenicon]

ok i'd just like some advise on what i should do. I have a RBTA under 130 watts of PC(he's not moving around to much so i guess he's happy) I know this isn't enough for him to live over a year, give or take but what should i do about my lighting? I could get a 192 watt pc light for him on my 30 galleon in about a month(got to save the money) or i could save about 500$ and get him MH's in about 4-5 months. But i need advise because i don't know if he'll live for 4-5 months under 130 watt lighting?

 

[thedogofwa]

This is opening a can of worms but according to Dr. Ron Shimek, host anemones can be kept under almost any lighting regimen (even NO) if properly fed.
Zooxanthellae only provide carbohydrate nutrition, while feeding provides both carbs and proteins.
However a certain amount of light is needed to keep it's color but the anemone could bleach white and still grow.
as far as PC vs VHO, PC is suppossed to be more intense but I believe they lack the same actinic spectrum that the VHO's have. The VHO's just look better IMO and the flourescence from them can't be beat.

 

[tizzo]

There is another issue to consider though. When you purchase an anemone (or any living creature, for that matter) you don't add it to your tank with the intention of simply keeping it alive. Hopefully, one would consider the "happiness" of the critter. IMO, when an anemone is scaling the walls of your tank to get closer to the light, he may be physically fine, but I for one would be concerned.
I have come to learn (and I don't know if this is the exclusive answer), but a lot of PC manufacturer companies put ballasts into the PC unit that emit less energy than the light is capable of. For example a 65w PC will run and producing only 45 watts of light. Even though the bulb can do better, the ballast is, well cheap. That is one possible answer to this dilemna.

 

[thedogofwa]

the doc didn't mean just surviving, he means healthy and growing. Granted, I don't mean to intend that anyone try to keep an anemone under such extreme low lighting but if it has good amount of Zooxanthellae maybe you should look more towards food than light.
a starving anemone will be more dependent on light for nutrition. It's possible that if an anemone is climbing towards the light, it is starving and should be fed more.

 

[bang guy]

The problem with keeping an Anemone in low light is the amount of food they require.
If you have a large tank with an excellent nutrient export then there's no problem. These animals eat a LOT. I mean a whole lot. Feed free to ask the good doctor. If you don't have a lot of light you may end up feeding a medium sized anemone 20 - 30 fish a week. That is a HUGE bio-load. If you have a lot of light that food can decrease to 3 or 4 fish a week.
Anemone do not apprecialte bad water conditions. If you don't have a very large tank then IMO you can't adequately keep an Anemone with moderate lighting because of the huge bio-load.
Please feel free to ask Dr. Shimek. I'm pretty sure he'd agree.

 

[chris17]

Ok, I have a question or two. My stepdad bought an anemone crab a few weeks back. This is a FO tank and it has the following inhabitants:
1 Volitan Lionfish- roughly the size of a grown mans hand ( fins and all)
2 engineer gobies
1 Yellow Tang
2 Damsels
1 Emrald crab
1 Decorator crab
and 2 turbo grazers an a few hermits. A few specs on the tank: 75g , Fluval 404 canister filter, 2 PHs. He does a WC maybe once a month. The anemone crab had 3 anemone's liveing on it. His decortator crab kicked the can last week some time, he had had it for maybe 1 month. His anemone crab stayed in one of the plastic castles b/c of the lion fish. ( I am guessing ) The anemone crab died in the castle 2 of the 3 anemone's have made it outa the cave and are still alive. The other I beleive is still in the cave alive. He feeds his fish like crazy and the water quality sucks very badly. There is no special lighting at all just NO. How are these anemones still alive?? It has been about 2 1/2 weeks total now that they have been in the tank, and appear to be fine w/t no bleaching to this point. . . . . .. . . . .. what is your guys thoughts on this???

 

[hiddenicon]

would 380 watts of VHO lighting on a 30 galleon be good for a 30 galleon? And Chris bleaching might not start to happen after 2-3 weeks, IMO

 

[thedogofwa]

theres no doubt they need alot of food but I think they need quite a bit of food under any lighting and that lack of is just as big a factor as bad water is to their survival rates.
380 watts on a 30 is pretty good and it's only 18" deep. I had 150 VHO and 175MH on my 29 and the BTA would hide from the halides.
chris, most of them that I've seen have some type of Hormathia or similair anemones which are quite hardy but I really don't know much about them to really say for sure.

 

[russianspy]

Mine RBTA is under 192 PC and 20 VHO
I added the VHO light just to give it that much more light so it could live longer...I'm in a rush to get my:
2x95VHO
1x250MH
Up soon so it will survive and hopefully split, Its raising its "Stalk" up as much as it can and its tenitcals are getting stringy. I'm in one big rush to get my lights.
More aragence

Flamed enough?

 

[thedogofwa]

Originally posted by RussianSpy
Mine RBTA is under 192 PC and 20 VHO
I added the VHO light just to give it that much more light so it could live longer...I'm in a rush to get my:
2x95VHO
1x250MH
Up soon so it will survive and hopefully split, Its raising its "Stalk" up as much as it can and its tenitcals are getting stringy. I'm in one big rush to get my lights.
More aragence

Flamed enough?

I'm interested in hearing about the size of the rose and what and how much you're feeding it.
and how did you get 20W of VHO?