Gigantea Year Two Under t5s

[nl146]

Wow! That anemone is fantastic!

 

[cubman20]

mine turned dark blue under radiuams


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[Conrad25]

Hey Bonsai... Whats that nem under for lighting? And bulb? Mines under 250W Phoenixs and not nearly that color yet. Ive had mine for 6 months.... Heres what mine looks like. It has longer tentacles if you look at him, but its probably 3" tentacles and hes maxed at 20" probably when he fully stretches

 

[BonsaiNut]

It was less than 12" under a 175 watt Radium. It was in a 20L plumbed into a larger system. The MH reflector sat on the rim of the tank and the bulb was just over the water.

 

[hypnoj]

Following discussion

 

[aday2remmbr]

why are its tentacles so long? i mistaked it for a magnifica at first! haha. what a nice anemone mine in my 40 gallon is still very little and has very short tentacles, only had him for about 6 months though

 

[Cheebs]

Well it's been a little while and I've had the nem and clowns for a few years now so I thought it might be time for an update. The anemone is healthy as can be, and after some reaquascaping it is higher up in the tank. I've also added some supplemental LED lighting. It has a ton of light now and the tentacles have indeed gotten thicker and stubbier.

I'll post some pics soon!

 

[BonsaiNut]

Well it's been a little while and I've had the nem and clowns for a few years not so I thought it might be time for an update. The anemone is healthy as can be, and after some reaquascaping it is higher up in the tank. I've also added some supplemental LED lighting. It has a ton of light now and the tentacles have indeed gotten thicker and stubbier.

I'll post some picks soon!

Cool! Would love to see them!

 

[Cheebs]

Here are some updated pics of the setup + anemone! I installed a reefbrite strip and switched out one of my blue bulbs for a fantastic looking red one, and it added a lot of color depth to the tank.

I've reduced feeding over the past few months to once a week instead of once every 2-3 days. This seems to keep the anemone happy while keeping it a reasonable size. Enjoy!

 

[OCREEFLOVER]

Cheebs

Is that a 40 breeder? I really like your aquascaping you did on this tank. Can you give me some more info on this setup Lighting, Skimmer, Filtration?

Thanks

 

[ILLiDaN]

Woah niceeee!

 

[garygb]

Your tank is beautiful! Everything in there looks great.

 

[emdr888]

Great looking nem, i wish the uk got more healthy ones in

 

[Cheebs]

Cheebs

Is that a 40 breeder? I really like your aquascaping you did on this tank. Can you give me some more info on this setup Lighting, Skimmer, Filtration?

Thanks

Thank you. This system is a 40 gallon breeder. It is roughly 2 1/2 year old, but was downgraded from my 75 I had before for several years, so the actual age of the tank contents is pretty old.
Lighting: 6 bulb T5 Tek Light, a mix of purple, blue and a red sun bulb. 1 all blue 15" reefbrite strip.
Skimmer: Coralife 220g superskimmer, fishing line modded.
Filtration: All I have other than the skimmer is a small HOB filter filled with live rock rubble and a small bag of carbon.

Woah niceeee!

Thanks!!

Your tank is beautiful! Everything in there looks great.

Thanks you very much!

Great looking nem, i wish the uk got more healthy ones in

Thanks for the kind comment!

 

[OCREEFLOVER]

Thanks for the info. Dix adding the leds add any shimmer to the t-5s?

 

[Cheebs]

Thanks for the info. Dix adding the leds add any shimmer to the t-5s?

Addidng the LEDs actually added a TON of shimmer, which I was surprised by. I was actually considering going with one or two AI LED units a few months ago, but after changing the bulb combination and adding the reefbrite strip, I'm getting exactly what I wanted, for much cheaper too!

 

[Tmoriarty]

Hi Phil; I don't know for sure, which is why I would love to see how it would change I've keep giganteae 12" under a 175 MH, and they still had long tentacles, but the purple color was more intense and covered more of the tentacles. Additionally there was some flourescent green pigmentation on the oral disk (particularly the mouth).

In the case of BTA's, the lower the light they are kept under, the longer their tentacles get. Under bright light, their tentacles are short and compact. Additionally, under low light they tend to lie out in the open, while under bright light they hunker down into cracks and crevasses.

There is also a big difference between PAR and UVR. Under bright PAR, an anemone will respond one way, while under UVR it will respond very differently. There has been research that shows that some pigments in Actinia species block UVR, and that under higher levels of UVR (ie shallower water in the wild, or UVR lighting in captivity) pigmentation darkens and spreads. So whereas UVR lighting in captivity might not benefit an anemone directly, it may cause it to "color up" so that an aquarist has a more vibrantly colored individual. You can see this quite often with SPS corals where their pigmentation darkens or lightens and changes color depending on the light under which they are kept.

Here's an interesting article on Photo acclimatization mechanisms - on corallimorphs versus anemones. I am not aware of any studies on anemones, and certainly nothing specific on S. gigantea.

You could be a world first

old post but I thought id toss this in. BTA's don't always shorten up under brighter light. I have 3 BTA's under 750w of total MH lighting. They sit only 4-6 inches under the water surface but there tentacles are very long. The two rainbow bta's i have have 8-10 inch tentacles under this lighting. Perhaps the coloration of the lighting matters more. The current lights are 20k bulbs and perhaps the color itself has lended it self to a lower par value increasing the tentacle length. i have a similar light setup to mobert, and her nems have similar length tentacles. perhaps If I put 14k MH bulbs in the fixture my nems would "bubble" up more.

 

[Agioniko]

Looks awesome!