Blue snowflakes and pink anthelia lighting questions

[nicoleah]

My local reef club's frag swap was this past weekend and I picked up some pink anthelia and blue snowflakes. I'm new to the hobby and wanted to get some advice on how best to keep these. My tank is a 29 gallon (30" long by 18" tall) with a single 65 watt PC 50/50 bulb (upgrade coming in a few months.) I drip-acclimated them both for an hour and have placed the blue snowflakes about halfway up the tank on the left side. The pink anthelia were looking very unhappy at that level, so I've moved them up higher and more directly under the lighting. The 24" bulb tends to keep the sides of the tank a bit shaded (my purple shrooms prefer the sides for sure!)

I have read conflicting articles about their lighting requirements, so about where should they be placed for my tank and the lighting I have? I realize it may take them some time, but I hate to keep jostling them around if I don't have to. The blue snowflakes were popping out more since the move, but the pink anthelia still look grumpy, a few of them have stems that are bloated-looking and some tips are turning whitish... :thumbdown

Thanks for your input!

 

[frenchie]

i got blue snow flakes also at same swap and mine are at midlevel of my 75 gallon under 5 54 watt t5's and are open and doing good.

 

[Frogmanx82]

I saw where blue snowflakes can become incredibly invasive, taking over an entire tank. Supposedly they are worse than xenia or kenya trees because they come loaded with toxins. Can anyone comment on that?

 

[nicoleah]

I hadn't heard that before, but very interesting.

Mine are more than welcome to take over the rock I put them on, though!

They are looking much, much better since I moved them around a couple of times! :bounce1:

 

[Frogmanx82]

I'd like to hear how it goes. Could you update this thread from time to time as they grow. They are really cool looking, but I read some horror stories. You should google them a bit and see what you find.

 

[robot2222]

i havesome pink anthielia it grows lie a weed.

 

[mak3mydae]

I personally hate anthelia, but i have osme blue cloves myself. Actually, its the fastet growing thing . As long as you keep the blue cloves by themselves, they wont be a problem. They heal fast since theyre a softy and here in Boston people readily buy them. The only isssue ive had is when i was being an idot nd decided it woud look cool to mix some blue cloves with my zoa's and they grew on the side of the zoa. Yeah... Dont mix them. I have a 20H (16 inches high?) and i have two 65w pc's 10k and 50/50. They grow pretty well under them. Not sure if one would be enough, but i dumped one in a cave and it seemed fine. You should be fine.