I want to get a carpet anemone eventually? Are my PAR/Lighting good?

[brittanysmith18]

Eventually, I would like to get a large carpet anemone. I currently have a BTA, who didn't do well the first week, but we are on the second week, and he's looking much better! I have 2 ocellaris clowns, a blue tang, a fire goby, 2 hermits, and 4 snails, a mushroom coral, 3 little fan corals, and a green soft coral also in a 55 gallon tank. I have the live sand as the substrate and close to 35 pounds of rock, which isn't all live yet as I purchased it base rock, but it's beginning to show coralline. I keep my tank around 82 degrees (trying to breed the clowns), salinity at 1.024, and ammonia/nitrates are 0. Calcium is at around 400.

I have a T5HO lighting fixture with 2 12K daylight bulbs and 2 actinic bulbs for a total of 216W. The tank is about 26 inches in height.

Would a carpet anemone do well in this tank? Specifically with this lighting? I mentioned the height of the tank because I would be unsure of how far away to place the anemone. I know my BTA is happy around a foot away from the light itself. I would love to place the carpet on the bottom of the tank to spruce up the look of the tank and give my clowns a place to hide (they take to almost any anemone except BTA!) But I of course, want the right conditions.
Any advice is helpful! Thanks!

 

[ClownNut]

i would recommanded upgrade to 6 bulbs fixture(Tek or ATI) before the carpet/

 

[rssjsb]

Yeah, your actinics aren't really contributing any light in a spectrum that is useful to corals or anemones, so your light is effectively two bulbs. You would want to boost the lights for anything you're trying to keep on the sand in a tall tank like that.

I would stick to BTAs for now, assuming yours adjusts and stays healthy for a while. Maybe you could try a plate coral or some other sand-dwelling corals and see how they do in your tank.

 

[celamb89]

Carpet anmones are hard to keep... Think twice and prepare double if you want to keep it happy and alive.. Do some reading, they are killers and will probably eat a couple of your fish and as stated you will need more light...

 

[seamonkey84]

I also recommend at least 6 t5ho bulbs (and I recomend ATI blue+ bulbs instead of actinics). But honestly carpets need as much light as you can give them, so MH or LEDs are the recommended way to go.

 

[brittanysmith18]

Thanks! I just really enjoy how they look, and really want something nice for my clowns to host..

 

[Randys reef]

hey brittany about a carpet i have one for about 5 years now with maroon clowns do not plan on keeping anything with it fish ; crabs. shrimps.snails, anything in contact of course mine is 24 inch in dia . if you have a chance to feed one a larger one try it with no glove on mine will make your hand go numb when it wraps you up. 90 gallon 2 250 watt hamiltons .try the mini carpets, with you being new to hobby slow down trust me

 

[brittanysmith18]

Thanks. Maybe I'll get something that looks like a carpet, but isn't.