Whats wrong with my BTA's????

[rostato]

Heres the scoop. I started out with one BTA in my 12G tank with 32 watts of PC lighting. Then it split after about 4 months of owning him.
Now its been over a year since they split and they were growing like crazy, hosting my perc, eating well, and wewre sticky to the touch.
The both of them got too big for my nano, so I just finished upgrading to a 46G tank with 234 watts of T5 lighting.
I moved them over to my 46 after it cycled and I added the clean up crew and then the 2 clowns.
The tank has been up for about three weeks. Now listen, I bought live rock from a friend that was in his 65G tank for over 2 years... and the tank only took 2 days to cycle. I waited another week to add the cuc and fish. Then another to add the BTA's.
The PH, Temp, Sal, Nitirite, Nitrate, Ammonia, Phos, Cal, Kh, all match up from one tank to another perfectly so I never did an aclimation on them.
They are both on the same rock and it's HUGE, so that also played a big role in the non-acclimation process.
So, now they barely open up, are not sticky to the touch, and will not eat. There mouths are still closed, and they have not moved from they're original spots.
So, today I moved them back to the small tank away from the clowns to see if they get better. Any other suggestions?
I also moved over my finger leather and mushrooms and yellow polyps when I moved the anemones.
They all seemed fine except an abundance of brown hair algae in the 46G tank that has gotten out of control made me move them back to the small tank also.
My only logical explanation to the sick anemones is the bigger surplus of flow in the tank, the higher light, or the brown hair algae. Any other ideas?
Both tank params read this
Sal 1.025 (refractometer)
PH 8.1-2ish
Nitirte 0PPM
Nitrate 0PPM
Ammonia 0PPM
Phosphate 0PPM
KH 179 PPM
Calcium 460 PPM
Water in the 46 is RO/DI with o TDS
water in 12 G is tap...

 

[aztec reef]

Bunk....
1.
Too fast, too soon of a change from a semi-mature tank to an immature tank.
2. theres no way your tank cycled in 2 days..(so you're saying that you got an ammonia spike, and in 2 days it went from ammonia-nitrates????
3. theres no way the 12g & the 46g levels match-up perfectly..
4. iF both tanks are equivalent in all levels, how is the 46g the only one with nuisance algea ??
5. I have hard time believing that somehow 46g with Ro/di 0 tds can have nuisance algea, Yet the 12g with Tap has none??..Nor do i buy that the two are going to give u same exact parameters...(unless they're plumed together)in other words share the same water column....

 

[saltn00b]

agreeing with AR -
how old are the test kits? what brand?
anenomes really need at least 6 mos old mature and stable tanks, even tough BTAs.
what is your flow like? i would have left them in the mature tank, give them time. did they get really small and green and oozey ? anenome's do that every so often, look real crummy and that reinflate and look bigger and better than before.

 

[ibew41]

if you still have the nova without individual reflectors that may be your problem

 

[rostato]

It's the nova with individual reflectors...
Yes it cycled in 2 days, the rock was FULLY cured. I had .25ppm ammonia the second day and then the next was nothing and about 10PPM nitrates.
Then I tested every day for another week and got the same results.
Did a 20% water change and got the nitrates down to 0PPM
I did however forget to mention that the Calcium and KH in the small tank were not tested. Oops.
Also, the new tank is next to a window that has wood blinds and some light was filtering through. Yesterday I put up curtians to cure that.
I really cannot figure out why I have the algae problem. I am going to do another 20% water change on my 46G and my weekly 50% on the nano tomorrow and see how everything looks again.
The 12G tank is over a year and a half old. It gets 50% weekly water changes since I do not have a protein skimmer on it. It's a healthy tank WITH tap water.
I have seen people transfer sand and rock from tanks at the same house and never even get a cycle (my 12G included, from my old 72G) so I definatly believe the 46 cycled after 2 days.
All test kits are API and the only ones that are older than a year are nitrate ammonia, nitirte and PH. ALL other are brand new.

 

[rostato]

Also forgot to mention I think the algae is from a surplus aof bubbles that I cannot figure out. see pic. I have a sponge bubble trap and my protein skimmer is still not pulling anything out of the tank. It's an Aqua c Urchin. I have had one before and it only took a week to break in.
TANK

Anemones in the 12G again...mouths not open, it's not looking good. they usually only look like this for 6 hours each week. It's been over three days!

 

[smokingreefer]

Originally Posted by rostato
http:///forum/post/2706498
All test kits are API and the only ones that are older than a year are nitrate ammonia, nitirte and PH. ALL other are brand new.

I can't believe I am the first person to chime in on this. So what you are saying is all the important tests are expired? And you say your tank cycled in 2 days. I agree with the others, you moved it all too fast.

 

[rostato]

Test kits expire? Seriously? That sounds like a load of crap. I know they work because I have tested other peoples tanks and gotten different readings...

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by rostato
http:///forum/post/2707145
Test kits expire? Seriously? That sounds like a load of crap. I know they work because I have tested other peoples tanks and gotten different readings...
test kits expire, they lose accuracy over time. also test kits can be damaged or heat cold. I replace my test kits everty 8-10 months no matter how many tests are left in the bottle. just because you get different rtesults doesnt mean the results are accurate. it just means the levels are different and the tests are skewed the same amount say a test kit is .25 off your tank reads .5 your friends tank reads 1.0 that mean s his is .75 and yours is .25. know what I'm saying. and they can skew either way over or under depending on the test kit/chemical used.
I also agree with the other posters saying that it was too quick to transition an anemone into a new tank. cycled does not mean matured. there are still a alot of system fluxes happening in the first several months as micro fgauna blooms and has massive dieoffs. parameters swing a lot in those stabilizing months. as well as nutrient consumption getting established. anemone really need established tanks to thrive. some get lucky with throwing them in early and that promotes bad husbandry. luck is not a skill. every time I hear some one say " I threw an anemone in after 2 weeks and it was fine" well those are the people that dont realize anemone can live for hundreds of years and consider 3 months a success. 3 months is a start nothing more.

 

[rostato]

Thanks for your input. I will go buy new test kits tomorrow. I really didnt thinkg they would expire.
That also makes sense about the anemones. I hope they recover in my 12G and if they do I will keep them in there for another 2 or 3 months before bringing them back to the big tank.
On a lighter note my 2 clowns, all shrimps, snails and starfish are all doing great...
I did a water change on both tanks today...