First Haddoni! Custom tank made for my wife

[andrewkw]

This tank will is my wife's first "reef" tank which will showcase the Haddoni anemone as well as a pair of clowns. It's also our first acrylic project. The tank I made out of 1/2" acrylic and measures 18x22x24 which is roughly 40 gallons. We made this tank so we could experience an acrylic tank so when it comes time to upgrade my 180 we can choose glass or acrylic. Speaking of the 180 this tank is plumbed into it so we did not have to wait 1year plus to get the anemone and buy another skimmer ect.

We seem to see giant red haddonis all the time but they are always gigantic and $500+, the blue ones I have seen over the past few months always are fresh shipments looking extremely stressed. With this being our first haddoni, we wanted a healthy specimen, so we went with one that had been at a local reef shop for several months that did not come with a $500 price tag. Still, I think it's a bit unique compared to the standard green ones and is more of a yellowish green. I have been keeping bubble tips, mini carpets and rock flower anemones for years so this is not my first anemone.

I kept it in a basket in my frag tank for QT for about a month then placed it in its tank 2 days ago. We were really hoping it would stay at the front of the tank since it will be the focal point. I had the front of the sandbed deeper than the back, about 4.5-5", where as the back is more like 3". Of course the anemone moved. Should I have put a rock under it? I just dug a small hole in the sand, turned off the pumps and placed it there. It was fine there for a few hours I turned the pumps back on went to bed and it moved to its current location, squeezed between rocks, where it continues to wedge its foot down. Assuming it's not stuck to the rock, can I move this rock or will it encourage it to move further?

We are not going to add clowns until it's settled in. Lighting is a evergrow / reefbreeders value fixture. Still fine tuning the colours, it was under a indirect 250w mh in my frag tank. Flow in the tank is quite low which I'm sure it likes but I will eventually add another WP 10 when it gets comfortable but still keeping the low flow theme.

Pics :

Thinking about attempting to move that front rock to provide a better view of anemone. Possibly move it behind it so it will be propped up instead of propped back..

Star polyps rock which will soon be covered

 

[REEFBUILDER1]

Its bleached

 

[Daniel62]

Great choice. Plus 1 for the sand bed. I find that mine likes to be up against something. Your light is strong enough. I have the reefbreeds, paired with a set of maxspect 16k razors. where this guys perchs is all about the flow. I run a pair of MP40, set on the lowest speed in my tank, along with the returns. Keep a eye on it for a while. Because if it decides to move, it will float around your tank like a fat beach ball. I have a trio of snowflake clowns in my tank. As you probably know the will eat just about anything that they can sting, and I mean anything!

good luck

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Its bleached

That is exactly what I said when I saw the picture. Sadly most phone cameras don't do a great job taking pictures with all of the blue lighting. Might not be as bad as the picture looks. Hopefully this is the case.

If it's bleached you will need to do a zoo transplant either using tentacles from another nem or I believe you can buy them at many saltwater stores or online. There are some great threads on this subject here on RC.

 

[andrewkw]

That is exactly what I said when I saw the picture. Sadly most phone cameras don't do a great job taking pictures with all of the blue lighting. Might not be as bad as the picture looks. Hopefully this is the case.

If it's bleached you will need to do a zoo transplant either using tentacles from another nem or I believe you can buy them at many saltwater stores or online. There are some great threads on this subject here on RC.

I'm pretty sure no one around me sells tentacles for transplants but there are probably around 15 stores nearby that sell anemones. Usually they don't last in the stores very long though. Is this the only way to fix it?

When I first saw it I thought it was a little bleached, but since it had been in the store 3+ months I figured it was just a lighter colour. I had no idea they required transplants and assumed like corals they would have recovered from bleaching in 3+ months. I even asked the owner if it would ever get darker and he said no. It may have been getting too much light in my frag tank but it was not directly under the MH.

It's eating fine, (silversides, pe mysis) and is very sticky. I had a hard time getting it off my hand when I moved it into it's display tank.

 

[Reef1589]

If it's bleached you will need to do a zoo transplant.

I mean... lets bring out the big guns shall we? :headwallblue:

what ever happened to just nursing a creature back to its normal state by providing the proper environment for it to live in?

That is not the only way to bring color back to an anemone..

Provide it with the proper lighting, proper parameters... you don't even need to feed it, and the natural algae within the anemone will come back.

also in my experience... the health of the anemone is not solely based on if its bleached or not.. yes if its bleached obviously there is an issue going on.
But as you stated its sticky, its feeding..

ive sometimes rather purchased bleached anemones over colorful vibrant anemones based on the fact that it could hold itself up and had a tight mouth rather than buy a vibrant colorful one with a gaping mouth and droopy look.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

If it's bleached you will need to do a zoo transplant either using tentacles from another nem or I believe you can buy them at many saltwater stores or online. There are some great threads on this subject here on RC.

Zoox transplant is not necessary for all bleached carpets. They regain their colors just fine under good lighting and regular feedings provided there is no bacterial infection. The anemone in question does not appear sick.

 

[Reef1589]

Also let me give you this

:thumbsup: :beer: :beer: :beer:

for not only getting your wife involved but she has her own tank..

that's half the battle when it comes to buying livestock or equipment or planning bigger upgrades
:rollface: :fish1:

 

[ct_vol]

Zoox transplant is not necessary for all bleached carpets. They regain their colors just fine under good lighting and regular feedings provided there is no bacterial infection. The anemone in question does not appear sick.

This... :thumbsup:

 

[andrewkw]

Lighting is for sure fine, we are still dialing in the reefbreeders fixture but obviously they are proven to grow sps so it will be fine. Currently we are feeding a few smaller silversides about once a week. Actually she is feeding it since it's her anemone / her tank.

I have been watching the mouth everyday and never other then eating have I seen it open. It also has not moved since it's initial move. I touched it twice, when we first got it to make sure it was super sticky and when I transferred it from the frag tank. The foot is firmly attached both to the side of the tank and about 3 -3.5" into the sand. The sandbed depth where it is is only 4". I was hoping it would stay in the front of the tank since the sand there is more like 5.5" but I can always push more sand around it, but it has not yet reached the bottom of the tank. It's also very reactive to the light coming on and off.

I did most of the research, and have about 10 years experience in the hobby but this tank was designed entirely by my wife. She came up with the dimensions, aquascape ect. She decided she wanted the carpet anemone, what other corals will go in ect. The only things I will veto is if they are not compatible but she generally has an idea of what will work. We could have just bought a 40g breeder or an off the shelf cube tank, but we wanted to do something custom, both so it's our own and so in the future we have experience in case we want to build our upgrade tank. We have already planned a 300g to happen in about 2 years when we move.

 

[rt67ghy]

The whole set-up looks great and the nem looks happy. I have had a bleached haddoni for 3 months now and it's doing great. It has even got some colour back without having to resort to any drastic measures so I think you have nothing to worry about.

 

[andrewkw]

One month update :

We still haven't gotten clowns. A couple of reasons. First off we've been busy, second we are going away for a week soon and try and limit the amount of different tanks people have to feed for us while we're gone as they would not finish QT in time. 3rd this tank has basically become a critter refugium. Baby snails, mysis and pods everywhere. We still plan on getting fish of course as clownfish was the purpose of this tank but probably won't for another month.

The rocks have all coloured up nicely. I'm amazed to see bits of macro algae growing that I will one day have to remove. The rock in this tank I had for years some of which it spent dry, other times in a dark tank with just a powerhead. Still things are coming back. Stuff that is not growing in the 180 that it's plumbed into.

The anemone has not moved, it's foot is all the way down now, still looking rather light but not as bad as in the pictures. I find these led's worse then kessils as far as getting the correct white balance for pictures. I almost think someone should invent an aquarium only slr that focuses on led lighting and the bluer end of the spectrum. I also do astrophotography and there are slrs that focus on the red end of the spectrum and I gotta believe there are more aquarium photographers then astrophotographers.

Here are the pics :

New lobo

The anemone is not that white nor is the sand that purple

 

[Jonnywhoop]

definitely start feeding the anemone, it may color up more. But Its gonna outgrow the tank very quickly.

 

[GTR]

If it's sticky I would feed it. Other than clowns that will host those things are fish eaters. Mine has more than tripled its 3" size in 3 months while consuming 4 fish. lol

 

[andrewkw]

Haven't updated this thread in a while. I was planning on monthly but plans rarely happen. We still have not gotten clownfish for the tank. Soon though. For now it continues to act as a super refuge for critters of all types. Stometellas have bred like crazy and mysis shrimp run free even during the daylight. Not to mention pods of all shapes and sizes. The anemone looks to slowly be colouring up. Switched from fish food grade sliverslides to human grade silversides. Big difference in quality and how fast the anemone grabs them. Some of my NPS corals love them too. Feeding about once every 1-2 weeks.

Some new stuff has been added and coral growth has been fantastic. I dare say these value led fixtures are better for growth then my Kessils over my 180. Yes they are just simple soft corals in this tank but when the star polyps "frag" has overtaken the colony in size and the tanks are plumbed together I start to question it.

 

[videsilva]

The NEM is 100% bleached. It is the normal tan green type. The carpets are a VERY strong nem. and almost bulletproof. They WILL eat your fish. Fed it small store bought shrimp etc. If it is sticky it is fine. If it grabs food that is a good sign. Keep feeding it the more it eats the bigger it will grow and color back up for you

 

[andrewkw]

The NEM is 100% bleached. It is the normal tan green type. The carpets are a VERY strong nem. and almost bulletproof. They WILL eat your fish. Fed it small store bought shrimp etc. If it is sticky it is fine. If it grabs food that is a good sign. Keep feeding it the more it eats the bigger it will grow and color back up for you

It can't be 100% bleached, its darker now than when I got it. What fish? I feed it silversides mentioned several times in the thread.

 

[GTR]

It will eat live fish in your tank.

 

[andrewkw]

It will eat live fish in your tank.

What fish?

I'm done updating this thread. If I could delete it I would.

 

[OrionN]

The anemone looks great, he start to regain his Zooxanthellae in some area. This will spread to the rest of the anemone shortly (week).
I keep lots of anemone and don't feed them fish food. I use seafood mean for human consumption. These food are fresher and have minimal chance of being spoiled. Frozen fish food sometime don't get the care like those mean for human consumption. Feeding them spoiled food mean a very sick, likely dead anemone.
Haddoni are fish eater. If you keep fish other than clowns with carpets, you may loose them. Not always but may.
Lastly, I would not recommend macro algae in that tank. Mark my word, you will be sorry if you eradicate them right now.
Nice tank, best of luck.
And please don't get bother by some of the comments. You cannot control them, and some people can post things that they will not say to a person face to face.