Lighting

[nate9]

how many watts would i need on a 20 gallon tank to keep anemonies and lps corals? Any sugestions on fixtures, i was looking more towards CF or maybe T5 rather then MH. Could a 130w orbit fixture do the job?

 

[crazyelece]

anemone, sps, and/or clams nothing short of MH

Anything else will thrive under PC or T5

 

[Lynden]

A friend of mine has kept anemones under PC lighting for a long time with no problems. Metal halides are by no means required for anything but the animals in the sunniest conditions, such as carpet anemones and small polyped stony corals.

-Lynden

 

[crazyelece]

Well I personally have killed 7 anemones under PC light so I can tell you that IME MH are esential to keeping an anemone, but hey its a personal decision for everyone what the livestock is going to be. Just ask yourself if the risk is worth it.

 

[bunjiweb]

I wish more people would tell our marine manager that 'nems need to be kept in good lighting, she keeps them under PCs and sells them to anyone with PCs or better....

I would go for a 150W 7500K-10000K Bulb and a 20,000K Actinic T5/T8 bulb.

Ben

 

[Navarre]

I would not entertain keeping any anenome unless its under a MH.
Although scuess has been made with less powerful lights, I still would not feel comfortable in using them myself.

 

[N1z]

Oh handy some one asked this. What could i get with my lights, atm im running 2 t8s arcadia marine white and blue actinic 38w, and next week have 2 marine white 39watt t5s drilling into the hood to be added also.
i know i can have softies as they are easy peasy under t8s but what else i would like somthing colour full other then browny tinge.

 

[Lynden]

Looks like I have screwed up again

I am afraid I lack the experience to answer N1z's query, but I have a question, too.

Anemones have been documented, in the past, to flourish under 2-3 T-12 flourescent bulbs. In fact, an outdated book of mine, Aquarium Owner's Manual by Gina Sandford, published as lately as 2002, reccomends this setup for Heteractis malu anemones, a species now understood to be among the most difficult to keep. The difficulty rating of these anemones in this book is beginner. Yet, the average length of life for these anemones is apparently 1-3 years. For beginners with T-12 lighting. And another book I have also reccomends anemones to beginners and makes no mention on specified lighting.

Are these authors, or I, just nuts, or have things changed? Things more than relevancy of research?

One last thing, for my 48" by 12" by 18" 55 gallon tank, I am getting a PC 260 watt 12000k/actinic lighting system. What, if any, anemones can anyone reccomend for this system? 3 people I know who keep Long Tentacle Anemones use a similiar system, and they do wonderfully under this.

Thanks,
-Lynden

 

[Navarre]

Yet, the average length of life for these anemones is apparently 1-3 years. For beginners with T-12 lighting.

There is your answer right there.

The average lifespan of a anenome is basically unknown. Putting disease and predation aside we can assume that an anenome could reach hundreds of years perhaps even longer!

So if people are saying that these anenome can be sucessfully kept under these types of lights for up to 3 years only underlines their lack of understanding of these creatures. What it basically tellls me is that the anenome is not sucessfully kept for 3 years but its acutally slowly dieing a death as its being slowly starved of the all important energy it needs.

 

[demonmagus]

I wouldn't feel comfortable keeping an anenome under any lighting cos they can apparently live for hundreds of years

 

[Navarre]

Its a tough choice to be honest.

I agree with you completely but when you go to a shop and see a healthy specimen, what goes through mny mind is that this creature will probably end up in someones tank who doesnt know how to care for it and it will sadly die over the period of the next 12 months. If i have the right tank conditions and lighting than should i try and save it and give it the best chance of survival??
Of course, if its left to die, and everyone does this then noone will order them anymore and this will stop their collection in the wild... but can we all stand there and let these few creatures die? Its hard to do and i have relented on my personal beliefs in the past and purchased anenomes that i feel should be saved to give them a good oportunity to at least live a little longer than the will in a shop with poor conditions.

 

[demonmagus]

I suppose but its a vicous circle

anenome either gets bought by unexperienced person, ends up dead.

you buy it to save it

but then they import another one because they are selling

and you can't save them all

 

[Navarre]

Agreed

 

[Lynden]

Yet, the average length of life for these anemones is apparently 1-3 years. For beginners with T-12 lighting.

There is your answer right there.

The average lifespan of a anenome is basically unknown. Putting disease and predation aside we can assume that an anenome could reach hundreds of years perhaps even longer!

So if people are saying that these anenome can be sucessfully kept under these types of lights for up to 3 years only underlines their lack of understanding of these creatures. What it basically tellls me is that the anenome is not sucessfully kept for 3 years but its acutally slowly dieing a death as its being slowly starved of the all important energy it needs.

Thanks

... But is there any that might do well under my lights?

 

[crazyelece]

Anenomes are just like any other creature. They all have different personalities and may or may not follow the rules. IME my anenomes never followed the rules. I tried BTAs and LTAs neither of which acted like they were said to in the books. The only reason I kept trying to keep one was for my clowns (which immediately took residence in all of them) and I liked the look of them especially the RBTAs. Most of the owners of successful anenomes I have talked with all say they killed a few before they had their success. It seemed from my research it was luck of the draw if the anenome would acclimate and like their home, and if it didn't it was doomed. This is one of the reasons I chose not to continue trying to keep one. It seems that it is just one liveform that doesn't do well in captivity.

That being said, the reason I chose to ignore most of the advise I was given to stay away from them is that one of my LFS has had an anenome (RBTA) under VHO lighting for over 20 years. Since they were sucessful I was taking their advise, and only their advise, ignoring anyone who said anything different. With my understanding now I see their anenome as the exception that proves the rule. It definately can be done, but at what cost?