I have had a carpet for about 3 to 4 months. very healthy about 12 inches in diameter. about 2 months ago he started shrinking at night. as soon as the lights go out he shrinks up and retracts under his rock. the anemones mouth remains very tight. there is no deflating only shrinking. there is only about a one degree temp drop. So here is what Im thinking..i dont under stand balancing Ph that much but I think when the lights go out it drastically changes. does any one else have any other ideas? or suggestion to keep it more stable? Or if there is any other reason for this?
carpet question
- Thread starter kellon16
- Start date
reefdogg1107
Steve
What kind of Carpet is it? Gagantea or Haddoni? Two very different nems. What are your water params? Are there clowns hosting the nem? What kind of flow do you have? Haddon's will not like the heavy flow, but Gigantea will need to have very strong flow. The more info you van give the more everyone will be able to help
haddons There are 2 onyx in it. I do have a ton of flow but it is in an area with low flow. it does great in the light its a monster but as soon as the light goes off it disaperes. I know my water perams are dead on my tank is heavely stocked with sps. the temp is 78-79 in the day and on the lower side of 78 at night. So I dont know if its just the anemones behavior or what I would like to know before I purchase another one. the anemone is perfectly healthy just this bizarre behavior at night
Toddrtrex
Premium Member
When you say that it disappears do you mean it goes from something like this,
To this? (( or even more under the sand ))
If so.... IMO/E there are 2 reasons that a Haddoni will do that, something (( a critter, or something falling on it )) has bothered it, or something is fairly off with the water. It seems to be a defensive mechanism. I would do some water tests --- at night, around the time it usually does this, mainly check the pH. Also, do you do any dosing overnight? If that doesn't show anything I would watch the tank, at night, to see if anything is bothering it.
To this? (( or even more under the sand ))
If so.... IMO/E there are 2 reasons that a Haddoni will do that, something (( a critter, or something falling on it )) has bothered it, or something is fairly off with the water. It seems to be a defensive mechanism. I would do some water tests --- at night, around the time it usually does this, mainly check the pH. Also, do you do any dosing overnight? If that doesn't show anything I would watch the tank, at night, to see if anything is bothering it.
reefdogg1107
Steve
What is your lighting scheme? Do you step up from actinic to daylight then back down to actinic at night? Maybe give moonlights a try..........
reefdogg1107
Steve
That is what I thought! I work part time in a LFS here and I have seen numerous people with nems and clams that absolutely hate having a light just go on full boar and off at night. Not to mention fish don't have eyelids so they don't like it very much either! I would recomend getting some sort of supplemental lighting to simulate dawn and dusk. This gives corals time to "wake up" and to "get ready for the night" so to speak. Not to mention it is most natural. The sun doesn't just appear and disappear ya know.
COreefer
Premium Member
Don't worry about that...these organisms adjust to captive life. Plenty of people are running lighting systems that come on and go off, and they don't have problems like this. Besides chance are that there is some sort of ambient light in the morning and evening that gets through.
Since the nem does this after the lights go off my money is on a quick ph shift occurring that is causing the nem to hunker down.
Since the nem does this after the lights go off my money is on a quick ph shift occurring that is causing the nem to hunker down.
reefdogg1107
Steve
Kalkwasser drip at night will help keep ph up, I would suggest having a decent means of testing ph 1st though, specifically a ph meter.
