hey guys i bought a purple and white anenome about 2 months ago just wondering it was nice and big the first month it shrunk and its been moving around but it doesnt get big anymore. i have a small problem with the nitrates in my tank but nothing i cant control just dont know what to do.
anenome wont get any bigger
- Thread starter baldomero
- Start date
Lighting?
Feeding?
Species of anemone? Atlantic Condylactis maybe?
Feeding?
Species of anemone? Atlantic Condylactis maybe?
i have a 72 inch forgot the name of the light set but one is actinic and the other is a 10000k.he would always eat krill but after a month wasnt eating at all.i just dont understand the petshop had em in a 10gallon tank with barely anylight i was watching em for a couple days before i bought em. oh just checked the lights are coralife
hey gary whats up hum my nitrates are sometimes up to 20ppm and ive gotten them as high as 80ppm and i cant explain why cause i dont overfeed i took the bioballs out my wet dry ill admit im not a big water change guy but i do a waterchange atleast twice a month 30gallons or so,but this morning i checked my nitrates and they were up to 120ppm i did an emergency water change of 40gallons let the tank settle checked the nitrates and they didnt go down one bit so now im stuck i guess i will keep monotoring and do another water change.oh forgot i got t5 lights
Wow! I think your nitrates could definitely be your problem. Things to do for nitrates that work: a large ball (I would guess at least the size of a basketball) of chaeto with bright PC lighting about it so it grows fast, efficient protein skimming, a remote deep sand bed in the sump, and of course regular water changes. Until you get your nitrates way down, I would do at least 20% water change once, maybe twice per week.
With well established sea anemones, nitrates don't necessarily spell disaster. I once had nitrates over 60 with two H. magnificas--and I freaked when I realized how high it was. Frankly, it was always low when I tested, so I stopped testing--which was a mistake I suppose, but I still don't test often. Anyway, my mags didn't seem to be as happy as usual, not expanding as large, but they looked okay. Once I discovered how high my nitrates were, I began doing the water changes. Bought some chaeto. And tuned up the skimmer to skim faster with a lighter color skimmate. It took a few weeks to get them back to undetectable.
Out of curiosity, what salt do you use? Also, what is your specific gravity and temp?
With well established sea anemones, nitrates don't necessarily spell disaster. I once had nitrates over 60 with two H. magnificas--and I freaked when I realized how high it was. Frankly, it was always low when I tested, so I stopped testing--which was a mistake I suppose, but I still don't test often. Anyway, my mags didn't seem to be as happy as usual, not expanding as large, but they looked okay. Once I discovered how high my nitrates were, I began doing the water changes. Bought some chaeto. And tuned up the skimmer to skim faster with a lighter color skimmate. It took a few weeks to get them back to undetectable.
Out of curiosity, what salt do you use? Also, what is your specific gravity and temp?
wicked_NaCl_h2o
New member
Check your Mg on coralife..when I was using that salt my Mg was always low. It can have an affect on your anemone if Mg is low. IMO you brought your SG up really fast. This should be done slowly over a couple of days topping off with saltwater insted of fresh water. Am I wrong about this guys or was raising it from 1.021 to 1.025 in one day perfectly ok?
NanoReefWanabe
Active member
what you have written could be a tad bit disastrous especially for animals like anemones and LPS corals that inflate with water...sudden changes will not be good for them...however the SG he reported was 1.0021 to 1.0025 which is not likely to do squat in terms of hurting or helping the animals....i am assuming though he meant he raised from 1.021 to 1.025 though...
nitrates as high as you describing will be very detrimental to your tank...i would get another test kit to be sure there is a problem then i would be taking drastic measures to find the cause....dead sponge, clam, fish, etc...something is spiking those numbers and that is very bad....
Yeah, I'm with Christina, a change from 1.021 to 1.025 is pretty drastic for a few hours; however, in nature sometimes anemones are exposed to air at low tide and it rains on them. My guess is that the quick change in sg isn't going to kill your anemone, but in general, that much of a change would better be made by simply replacing evaporative water with full strength salt water over a few days.
Your temp of 79 is fine. I personally like ReefCrystals and there are several other good brands of salt, I know some like Coralife, though I can't speak for that one personally since I haven't used it.
Keep up with the water changes and do as Nano suggested and test your kit against another one, just to make sure yours isn't off. Is your skimmer efficient, i.e., do you get a decent amount of dark skimmate in the collection cup? Do check out the "remote deep sand bed." You can find info. on RC about setting one up. Basically it's a container with 10 inches or so of sand (it can be silicon sand or aragonite, with the aragonite having the benefits of calcium and trace elements). You run water over the top of the sand and denitrifying bacteria (the ones that lower nitrates) live in the deeper anaerobic layers of the sand. You don't want the water to run through the sand, that just makes more nitrates as it will be an aerobic condition. Some people fill an empty salt bucket with sand and then use a small pump to run water up to the top of the bucket and then have a hole drilled in the other side for the water to exit, or you could just let the water flow over the sides assuming the bucket is sitting in the sump. The point is, you want the water to be free of debris that could clog the sand.
Your temp of 79 is fine. I personally like ReefCrystals and there are several other good brands of salt, I know some like Coralife, though I can't speak for that one personally since I haven't used it.
Keep up with the water changes and do as Nano suggested and test your kit against another one, just to make sure yours isn't off. Is your skimmer efficient, i.e., do you get a decent amount of dark skimmate in the collection cup? Do check out the "remote deep sand bed." You can find info. on RC about setting one up. Basically it's a container with 10 inches or so of sand (it can be silicon sand or aragonite, with the aragonite having the benefits of calcium and trace elements). You run water over the top of the sand and denitrifying bacteria (the ones that lower nitrates) live in the deeper anaerobic layers of the sand. You don't want the water to run through the sand, that just makes more nitrates as it will be an aerobic condition. Some people fill an empty salt bucket with sand and then use a small pump to run water up to the top of the bucket and then have a hole drilled in the other side for the water to exit, or you could just let the water flow over the sides assuming the bucket is sitting in the sump. The point is, you want the water to be free of debris that could clog the sand.
wicked_NaCl_h2o
New member
What I have said could be disasterous or what he said? Please clear this up I'm a bit confused
nope and this morning i did another waterchange and still the nitrates didnt come down and the funny thing is i ran out of amquel and can u believe the 3lfs dont have anything to lower nitrates my last resort is do another waterchange tonite and go to the fosters and smith catalog and order amquel and wait maybe a week to recieve it
Rock anemones, Epicystis crucifer, are known to be quite hardy. Yeah, it's hard to imagine you can't get Amquel. Might they carry Prime or some other dechlorinator? I suppose you don't use RO/DI, the carbon cartridge in the unit would absorb the chlorine. It's not surprising that water changes aren't bringing the nitrates down too fast. Water changes do lower nitrates, but slowly. You deserve credit for putting so much effort to saving the sickly anemone. I certainly hope it pulls through. In any event, the rest of your animals will benefit from the improved conditions and lower nitrate.
hey gary just checked my nitrates and they r down to 20ppm i guess at the end of the day i was just gettig lazy with my tank i need to check it more often and be more careful with my tank and yeah the only dechlorinater i can find out here is stress zyme but i really like to use amquel it helps lazy people like me lower nitrites nitrates and ammonia in case of an emergency
