BTA Questions

[Fishfish0001]

So I just reserved a GBTA at my LFS which Im picking up tomorrow because I had to get some other things done today.

So when I got home (with some more chem's for the tank that I needed), I began testing everything (did water change yesterday) and had to buffer up my PH because somehow it dropped down to ~7.6 after buffering Alk back to 8.0.

How long will it take to level out, Im about to go finish my test as I had to go to dinner, and will rerun that test, bust what would the optimal params be for the GBTA. I've had problems with them before due to low Alk and not realizing it.

They usually live for a few months, then shrivel up and just die off, no warning, just refusal to eat and all. Trying not to loose this one as it is ~3 inches and looks awesome, all inflated int he store, looks happy too.

Also, how should I acclimate it, I usually just float it for awhile then change a bit of water from the bag and add some tank water. After awhile though when I go to take him out he refuses to leave the bag at all, how would I go about removing him from the plastic?

Params (tested at 9:40pm):
PH: ~8.4
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Nitrite: ~0.1 - 0.25ppm (can't tell)
PO4: 0.1ppm
Alk: ~8.6 - 9.0 (added PH Buffer approx. 3 hours ago, PH was at 7.6 Alk was 8)

Heres a picture of the Nitrite test:

And heres my assortment of Chemicals, loving the bottles:

I might pick up a new API test kit as this one is pretty old. Any other things I should be testing for in the tank, especially with the Anemone. Any other suggestions for cool bottles that can be supplemented?

 

[preef]

If you have been losing Nems in three months please leave it at the LFS. You need to figure out what the problem is first.

How long has the tank been set up?
What do you have for lighting?
Are you really detecting nitrite in your tank? This needs to be 0.0.
Have you ever used copper in your tank?
Why are you dosing iodine? Don't dose anything you can't test for.

 

[Fishfish0001]

Tank has been up for almost 2 years now.
I have the standard Biocube (14 gallon) lighting in it. 1 24W 10,000K and 1 24W Actinic bulb, both changed recently.
I am bring a sample into my LFS tomorrow hen I go to pick it up to double check, my kit is hard to read due to the lighting currently. I did a 20% change yesterday, and this is the only test acting weird, the color doesn't match anything at all.
No, never have used copper.
I've been dosing that since I started, but will pick up a kit tomorrow when I stop by the store to test it.

Not sure if I posted wrong, but heres the Nem deal:
*First off, I have had this tank "two" times. It crashed badly after the caretaker poured a whole thing of food in, or something happened 2 days after we went on vacation for 2 weeks without telling us, so everything was destroyed. I had a BTA in it within 2 months of getting it, never had any problems for 5 months until vacation, when it died.

*After setting up the tank a second time, I got one a few months later, it did perfectly fine until it started dying. I'm pretty sure this was due to some water chemistry problems that we were unaware of at the time (still newbies at that point).

*#rd one was a bit later, had everything stable, it also did fine until it started dying. Presumably due to lack of food, as we were told to not feed it often to keep it small (which probably ment just not every day...), and we hadn't been testing or dosing Alk and PH at the time, so that could have combined.

It has now been about 2 months since that (we tried to save the nem, but he was to far gone), and I have been dosing Alk and PH as needed weekly, and changing the water weekly. I never noticed any problems with the lighting. My only thinking is that the water chemistry and lack of food killed the last 2. I've been reading a lot about them, and now know what the "Im hungry" signs are, which I didn't notice before, but now thinking back they all exhibited.

We already got the Nem, but it can be held for awhile there. If the chemistry isn't good tomorrow, Ill keep waiting for it to balance out.

 

[preef]

What kind of bulbs are those? Compact fluorescents? If so you may not have enough light.

Also do you have an auto tipoff system to keep the salinity constant?

Do you have a protein skimmer.

FYI, I never feed my BTA and it's so big it is crowding out my tank.

 

[Fishfish0001]

Yes, compact fluorescents.

Don't have an auto-top off, although my water level never really changes, and when it does I am able to notice quite quickly, I've gotten good at noticing that

Yes, one that fits the Biocube, fits in the first chamber.

The Nems would just kind of get droopy and very small, no tentacle puffiness, and then move to a far corner in the tank, and just fade away from there. Even if the water params improved (with the last one) it was just too weak to move itself out into the lighting to gain more energy. It was also pretty sudden after a few months, as in 1 or 2 weeks it would just end up dead. I can't figure out what was doing it, as the params are all good, running a Chemi-pure elite carbon filter sock in the 2nd chamber (just began with it actually) and was dosing Liquid Reef and Iodine (Far left and far right) every week after water changes.

Edit: That Nitrite test looks really messed up. That blue doesn't match, and it didn't match either when I was testing. Might try again in the morning. Thanks for the help so far.

Edit 2: As far as the lighting, they always looked fine, they didn't strech out as they usually do when they need more light, and they always seemed happy with the clown, they would "taco up" at night with the clown, was actually quite cute.

 

[clownfreak]

Once you figure it out and get the nem, drip acclimate. In a way its easier once you get it set up and is better on the specimen. I think I drip acclimated my BTA for close to 3 hours.

Edit: That is not enough light. I would say at least 2 24w T5s

 

[Fishfish0001]

I was told by my LFS that they would do fine, and have read of many people keeping them in the stock tank with no problems :|

I read on this site http://www.karensroseanemones.net/ about the anemone, and I never saw any of the signs of it needing more light, infact it never got really huge, nice and uniform with bubbles, or less bubbly if it needed more. Im not trying to shoot down, as I believe that they probably do need more lighting to really be huge and all, but I never noticed any lighting problems with them. They way they died just didn't seem like it was lighting.

It looked like the first picture on this page: http://www.karensroseanemones.net/thedyingrose.htm

 

[preef]

From what I've read nobody understands why they sometimes lose the bubbles. I've never heard of nems getting big due to low light. Quite the opposite IME. When I had compact fluorescents mine shrunk and got really small. It still had the bubbles but it just didn't look happy. It took about nine months for it to get bad. They can live a long time with poor lighting but they will eventually die. I saved mine by upgrading to T5s and that's when it got huge. I really think you need better lighting before you purchase an anemone. Sorry.

One last thing. You shouldn't believe everything your LFS tells you. They are trying to make a sale.

 

[clownfreak]

^ That

and my BTA hasn't had bubbles (even when I bought it) and continues to grow larger

 

[Fishfish0001]

Is there any way to improve the lighting on a Biocube for the Nem?

I keep trying to find good articles about this, but people keep going back and forth. Some say they do fine, others don't recommend it.

 

[Phyxius]

Is there any way to improve the lighting on a Biocube for the Nem?

I keep trying to find good articles about this, but people keep going back and forth. Some say they do fine, others don't recommend it.

There are kits to add another PC bulb but it still will be on the low side for lighting for a BTA. They also get pretty big when the grow out and may be a little large for a 14g.
Its not that it CANT be done but people advise against it due to it receiving the lower end of lighting it needs in these style systems . You want to do what is best for the needs of the animal you are putting in the system.
I have a had a few RBTAs over the yrs and they all have gotten huge over time but mine were all under VHO/MH combos.

You also want stability all the time in your system parameters for something like this. A bunch of fish stores WILL tell you it will work out fine just to make a sale and others out there will tell you no way to put one in there as its needs wont be met.

 

[Fishfish0001]

Checked Params again this morning:

Salinity: 1.021 (should be up a bit more by now, added some fresh salt water as it needed some)
PH: 7.9
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0
KH/Alk: 8.8

 

[NYCBOB]

power compact isnt enough light for most anemones. i suspect u hv a water parameter issue. u dont need all those chemical dosing. regular water change is enough to replenish trace elements. the only people that need to dose their tank r the one with heavily stocked sps or clam setup.

 

[L8ndeb]

+1 Not enough light.

My BTA went from tennis ball size to over 14" under TWO 175w MH and TWO vho Actinic03. What you have is woefully not enough light.