Beginner Anemone Suggestions?

[sothoth]

Also, if I end up using MH's, what do you all think of these:

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...p;N=2004+113352

I don't know much about the different choices in MH's but this looks decent for the price. If I use this one, would I need to raise the lamp above the tank lid and preferably keep the lid open? I work at a technology development center so I'm thinking I can make/design my own heat sinks for them if needed but S#%T that all seems like a lot of work and even more money if CFs will do the job OK.

For a 35gal or 50gal tank I'd need anywhere from ~$400 to ~$700, the latter is way out of my price range.

 

[Javeo]

Sothoth, The heat issue and the price were the main reasons I stayed away from halides. I could have bought the halides but then i would have needed to pay the same again for a chiller, and these are not inexpensive here in the UK. Even with T5's I have heat issues in the summer, I dread to think what it would be like with MH.

I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about setting up your anem tank, not that Im any kind of expert!, but im alway glad to help a fellow reefer.

I'll tell you a bit about my set up, 40us gal (36x15x18), between 30-40kg live rock, 5cm sandbed. Lots of macro algea growth.
Aquamedic multiSL skimmer powered by 2000lph pump, 1200lph external filter filled with live rock, ALOT of phosphate remover, de-nitrate and carbon with attached surface skimmer. two 920lph powerheads (intakes covered with foam).

Live stock, pair of clowns, yw goby with shrimp and yasha haze goby with shrimp. yellow wrasse, orchid dottyback, flasher wrasse.
Sexy shrimp, anemone shrimp, anemone and non-anemone porcelin crabs, hermit crabs, boxer crab, blue cbs, serpant star, sand sifting cumber, filtering cucumber. other things I cant remember. No cleaners though, they are aggresive and steal food from the anems, One cleaner actually killed a small sand anem by constantly picking at it.
Only coral I have left (after trying alot, and to my regret killing them) green star polyp, a few yellow zoanthids a rampant purple gorgonian and a small montipora sps that refuses to give up!

I feed the fish heavily, twice a day either mysis, cycopeeze or pellets and sometimes live brine shrimp. I also dose phyto 4 times a week. The anems feed on the mysis and other foods, but i target feed them twice a week with lance fish, mussels, squid or prawns.

My parameters are temp 80F, sg 1.26-27 (higher than average, but it helps with the rise in summer, as the temperature isnt rising by so much). water i use is Ro filtered succesivly through 10, 5 and 1 micron prefilters, then through a carbon block, then through an ro membrane before being polished through DI resin, so its very pure to start with.
I change 5uk gallons a week, made up of tropic marine salt. Top up water is Ro with buffers to keep up pH and KH and also added calcium and iron (for zooxanthalae)
Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate are 0, tested at marine lfs. pH is between 8.0-8.2, KH is low at 8-9.
Anything else feel free to ask
Omar

 

[Lynden]

Are you sure the Condylactis isn't bleached? You note that it went from a brown (healthy colour) under halides to a "snowy white" (unhealthy colour) under your T-5's.

I know that anemones can survive under lower light, I also know that it is far from optimal. Your tank does seem to be very healthy though, which is more than I can say for mine (as of now).

-Lynden

 

[Javeo]

Are you sure the Condylactis isn't bleached? You note that it went from a brown (healthy colour) under halides to a "snowy white" (unhealthy colour) under your T-5's.

I know that anemones can survive under lower light, I also know that it is far from optimal. Your tank does seem to be very healthy though, which is more than I can say for mine (as of now).

-Lynden

No, Condys are supposed to be lighter coloured. They go brown when theres not enough light, If you look at pictures of condys in the wild they are even whiter than mine. Plus its not a stark, bleached white. If you saw my sebae in that pic, that was bleached. This is a creamy solid white. And also its grown so much I can hardly think its anything but healthy.
and unfortuanatly Ive seen many bleached anems so Im able to tell the difference

Yes thats the reason I feed so heavily, if the zooxanthellea provide it with just enough sugars it needs, feeding will fulfil the rest of its needs. You must realise anemones dont really eat all that much in the wild so depend heavily on photosythesis. If most fish in an aquarium full of anems can avoid being eaten it must be impossible in the wild, and if theres a pair or group of clowns then no fish is getting near the anemone. Anemones themselves are not photosynthetic, only the algea within them. If we provide all the nutrients the anemone need in oother ways, ie feeding, then they dont really need that much light at all.

My sytem is over 2 years old and I use perfect water to start with, lots of chemical and biological filtration, water movement and maintanance regime! Hard work but much worth it!

 

[Lynden]

Doesn't the brown colour result from proliferation of zooxanthellae, indicating an abundance of light?

But anyways, I congratulate you on your success with anemones. But don't go around telling everybody that it's easy to keep them!

-Lynden

 

[sothoth]

I feed the fish heavily, twice a day either mysis, cycopeeze or pellets and sometimes live brine shrimp. I also dose phyto 4 times a week. The anems feed on the mysis and other foods, but i target feed them twice a week with lance fish, mussels, squid or prawns.

Sounds to me like you keep everything well-fed, which might explain the decent results without heavy lighting. I'm no expert on that but it seems a reasonable guess.

I'm curious why you haven't had luck with other corals, seems like they should do well in there.

Thanks for the feedback on your setup, I'm curious what the MH proponents think of my theory about feeding. I'd never advocate underlighting or underfeeding but you seem to have decent luck. I can't comment on the bleaching issue the others mentioned because I don't know the species you have well enough. I've also read that the tentacles get lanky (stringy) if they don't get enough light. I can't say from your pictures if that's the case with yours, I don't know how to judge that.

I'm going to probe my salt store about how they keep their anemones, esp if I'm wrong and they use MH's in those tanks. I'll report back in a week or so (it's a 2hr drive for me so I can't go that often). After looking at a few pictures, I think what they have is a HUGE red bubble anemone.

 

[sothoth]

Top up water is Ro with buffers to keep up pH and KH and also added calcium and iron (for zooxanthalae)

Actually, I don't add iron to my salt tank, only a planted fresh tank. Does it help non-plants? Any info on adding iron is appreciated!

 

[SkiFletch]

Iron is present in all salt mix as a trace element and is of course present in the ocean. There is no research to show that the presence or absence of iron helps or hurts the growth of anemones or corals. Iron is not heavily present in the skeletons of corals therefore most have believed it to be non-essential to coral growth, yet no research has been done to prove that theory.

 

[Javeo]

Pic of a healthy condy anmeone, I'll get a before and after of mine so you can really see the growth.

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di....cfm?pCatId=630.

I do not, But I think success should be shared, thats how we learn. The reason I put as much as I could about my system is that someone might see something that I dont understand but helps me keep the anemones.

Sothoth, I agree with you, and its something that Ron Shimek suggested also, feeding heavily should help compensate for lower light. I have experimented by not feeding the GBTA for around 2 months and it did seem to get a little smaller and less "active" if one can say that about an anemone.
Most pet stores do use MH as they show glitter lines and are generally better for photosynthetic animals. Note. I am not against MH, I also prefer them, but I say it can be done without them thats all.
And algae that live inside clams corals and anemones are plants, thats why iron is thought to have a good affect on them, as skifletch says though it is just a hypothesis due to the very reason you use it in planted tanks, If it helps higher plants, it will help algea.

 

[sothoth]

feeding heavily should help compensate for lower light. I have experimented by not feeding the GBTA for around 2 months and it did seem to get a little smaller and less "active" if one can say that about an anemone.

I think a compromise would be to do what I mentioned earlier, ~6W/gal in my tank and target feed it quality food. But... I'm still not decided. I tend to agree with the folks critical of keeping anemone's that it's not very responsible to keep them and not take care of them properly. So... I'll continue to mull this over and look at MH and CF options before a final decision.

Thanks for the feedback from everyone.

Javeo, yes please post the before and after images of your anemone, I'd love to see it.

 

[SkiFletch]

If I may chime in here, while it is possible to keep anemones under flourescent lighting, in this humble aquarist's oppinion, Compact Flourescents (Power Compacts, PCs, CFs, whatever you want to call them) are far inferior at the task of putting Photosynthetically Avaiable Radiation (PAR) on organisms in the water when compared to straight T5HO setups. Simple answer is that while a two bulb T5HO may put out exactly the same amount of radiation as a single bulb PC (remember PCs are just dual T5s), the T5 setup typically has individual reflectors allowing it to turn more of that radiation back down towards the tank. Power Compact flourescents waste a lot of radiation energy beamed at each other since they cannot have individual reflectors over each of the two tubes. As such, a single PC of the same length as dual T5s can be anywhere from 10-30% less efficient at putting light down on your organisms (in this case anemones) while consuming the same amount of electrical energy.

PCs happen to be cheaper and more convenient, but remember, you get what you pay for.

 

[Javeo]

Here we go, before and after pics, Sorry about the quality but they are from my phone

Condy before

And after, you can really notice the growth and improved colour, more tentacle and more viberent

And this is the sebea when i first bought it ( bleached white, on the right)

And after a few weeks with me, you cant see the purple tips in the pictures

So I think my lot are pretty healthy

 

[Javeo]

Oh and heres a full tank pic, doesn't really do it justice without the swaying and stuff

 

[Lynden]

Lucky, lucky!

 

[sothoth]

Lucky, lucky!

He's not the only one with a happy anemone under T10s or CF's, so maybe it's also skill.