Am I ready for a Sebae Anemone?

cherubfish pair

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Skill wise? What do you need to know about my skill level?

I kept a condy alive for several months in a 10 gallon tank when I was still a beginner which probably tells you nothing.

Tank wise? I have an upgrade to a 50 gallon. It is literally being built by Glasscages right now. It will replace my 29 gallon.

Here is my build thread about where I'll put the Sebae. It's 2-1/2 pages long and I hope it will give you some indication about if I'm ready.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2076409

Thoughts? :D
 
Going to read through your build thread, but If you are upgrading you have two options. One is to just get the sebae now (if you had one you were already looking at) and when you move over to the larger tank keep an eye on water quality to make sure you don't get to much of a re-cycle, do water changes if needed.

Assuming here that you will be moving everything from your 29 gallon over, you will not get a huge cycle, sure you already know that though just by your post count.

The second option is to buy one after you have upgraded, possibly a month or two, depending on water conditions in the new tank. Sebae can be pretty temperamental so you may not want to go with the first option just becaues they can be less willing to accept the changes in water conditions as easily as say a BTA.

If you can get a healthy specimen I would not say they are any harder to care for then most SPS, the trick is getting a healthy one to start with :)

If you have been keeping a tank anywhere near as long as you have been a Reefcentral member, I am sure you would be perfectly fine.
 
Read through most of your thread, I will post some advice there. It may not be the be all end all advice but hopefully it will set you in the right direction. My general advice for now would be to wait until your 50g is established and nitrates are sub 15 before adding any anemone, especially a Sebae.

If this is your first nem you may want to try a BTA instead, you have been on the forums a long time so I would assume you have read that BTA's are the easiest to keep anemone that may potentially play host to false/true percs (which it looks like you have)
 
Copied from your Build thread

So from the Nem forum Ill post some things here. Without clear pictures of the display it is hard to tell how much of a nutrient problem you actually have. The funny thing about algae is that it masks your nutrients very well. You may read 1/0 nitrates when in reality it is all held up in your algae. When the algae dies off, either from a treatment or lack of nutrients (caused by the GFO pulling phosphates) you will see an increase in nitrates, unless you pull out the dying algae pretty quickly.

Bio-pellets have the potential to increase the appearance of cyano, even in tanks that have low nutrients, if you decide to run them start off with no more then half the recommended amount. Remember that in order to remove nutrients you have to keep the numbers in check, Carbon->Nitrate->Phosphates. The Redfield ratio explaines alot, 106:16:1 carbon/nitrate/phosphates. What this means is that bacteria can only consume the nutrients until it hits the limiting factor wall. In some cases your GFO will actually pull out to much phosphates, breaking the ratio, and causing a build up of nitrates. The trick is balancing the ratio, if you intend to carbon dose, this ratio is your starting point (bio-pellets is a form of carbon dosing made easy really).

I would go with reef octopus skimmers as well, I run them in all my tanks and I have nothing but excellent things to say about them. They are not only one of the cheaper skimmers price wise you can buy they are also one of the best performers. If space is a concern look into any of the SSS (super sump saver) skimmers from them, they place the pump under the skimmer to decrease the foot print, this does however usually increase the height of the skimmer a few inches.

From your earlier posts it would seem you had issues with the water level in your sump. If you have not already done so I would advice running an auto-top off to maintain sump levels. Skimmers work well only at a specific water depth, anything over/under that can cause overflows and or poor skimming. If an auto-top off is not an option, I would advise partitioning your sump into sections, having your drain go into the section with the skimmer. Your sump level will only fluctuate in the return section (the section with the return pump) so your protein skimmer chamber will always be constant.

Are you planning on buying a new light for the 50g? If you are and want to keep sebaes, they are more light needy then BTA's. If you intend on going with BTA's then you can get away with quite a bit less light. They are just about the least demmanding when it comes to lights for hosting nems.

From what I have read in this thread I would advice against getting any anemone until you upgrade and get your nutrient levels and algae all under control. If the source is over feeding (almost always is) decrease your feeding, as much as every other day if needed. If you feed one cube of frozen food a day you are probably over feeding for your stock list, you can probably get away with 1/2 a cube every day.

When you decide to do the upgrade I would vote on a BTA, they are much easier to keep and they are the best begginer anemone you can start with. They come in a variety of colors (I am sure you know that already) and make a great addition to any tank. Just remember they like to wander if not given perfect conditions, so any other coral in the tank are potential victims to its stings (although BTA have a very very mild sting).

Best of luck, if you need any more advice feel free to ask, PM if you want, I don't always check back on threads
 
Forgot to add, I would get rid of bio-balls, they are nitrate factories. While they hold the same bacteria the LR and Sand do, they also hold detritus and build up very well. If you want to keep them rinse 20% of your Bio-balls approx. every time you do a water change in the water change water to remove any of the build up.

I would also ditch the Deepsand Bed, while they have their potential, they also have their downfalls. They can crash a tank if buildup of toxic gas is released into your tank. If you really are set on having one I would advice doing a remote DSB in your sump that you can pull offline from your system and replace the sand every couple years to keep it from "fowling your tank"
 
Got a tan sebae nem. When and how will I know if it has "made it?"

Kinda hard to say but my guess would be after it stays in the same spot for a while and eats everything you give it, suddenly one day it will seemingly double in size over night and start growing like mad. To me thats when you know its a happy nem :beer:
 
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