My anemone's keep dying!
- Thread starter bryceps
- Start date
Rockhead21564
Member
Well beyond the advice frm Jiddy, you don't have enough light,period. T5's or MH would be best, or good Power compacts. Your lighting shouldn't even be good for anything other than some softies and fish. Also, if it's a white sebae an., it needs to get the best lighting it can to re-establish its zoo's to become photosynthetic again. It'll turn brownish or yellowish when it becomes healthy again. Good luck.
SEAFLOWERS
Premium Member
how much research did you do before your purchases? It saddens me when I read things like this. Please refrain from new purchases until you can get a handle on what is going on in your tank. When you post on this site and tell us something is dying on you it is always helpful if you would include your water parameters, the measurements with good test kits like Salifert.FWIW
boomsticks
New member
It sounds like the only problem you are having is with the lights. Anems require a good deal of light about as much as some SPS. I have a BTA under a 150 watt MH and it is doing great. They are one of the less demanding of the anemones I would start with one of those or if you don't care about clownfish hosting you could always go with a condy! I had one surrive a Sea Apple "nuke" even my fish didn't make it though that one but now I have him with the BTA in my Aquapod.
I have a BTA under PC that looks great and hosting my GSM.
Of course I have much more light.
110 on a 40 gallon is only 2.75 watts per gallon
You need to have 5-6 watts per gallon to keep an anenome alive.
i currently have a 45 gallon with 288 watts of PC lighting and my BTA is happy as a clown in an anenome.
Best of luck, but you should up grade your lighting if you ever want to keep one alive.
Of course I have much more light.
110 on a 40 gallon is only 2.75 watts per gallon
You need to have 5-6 watts per gallon to keep an anenome alive.
i currently have a 45 gallon with 288 watts of PC lighting and my BTA is happy as a clown in an anenome.
Best of luck, but you should up grade your lighting if you ever want to keep one alive.
dantodd
New member
Hi Bryceps.
Welcome to ReefCentral
Anemone are fairly complex animals to keep in our hobby aquariums.
There is a lot of good information and experience available to you here on ReefCentral.
Please post more details about your current tank. Include how long it's been setup like it is now. What are the dimensions of the tank. This pretty important because often lighting is adequate/inadequate based on distance from the anemone rather than total watts per gallon. More information about your lights would be helpful too, what bulb and what size bulbs. You said 110w is that 2 55w bulbs that are both half actinic and half 10K. Finally run a full set of tests on your water and post the results.
PH
Alk
Nitrites
Nitrates
Ammonia
Phosphates if you can
We can work from there to help you find out what is going wrong and what will work to help you be successful in keeping an anemone.
Welcome to ReefCentral
Anemone are fairly complex animals to keep in our hobby aquariums.
There is a lot of good information and experience available to you here on ReefCentral.
Please post more details about your current tank. Include how long it's been setup like it is now. What are the dimensions of the tank. This pretty important because often lighting is adequate/inadequate based on distance from the anemone rather than total watts per gallon. More information about your lights would be helpful too, what bulb and what size bulbs. You said 110w is that 2 55w bulbs that are both half actinic and half 10K. Finally run a full set of tests on your water and post the results.
PH
Alk
Nitrites
Nitrates
Ammonia
Phosphates if you can
We can work from there to help you find out what is going wrong and what will work to help you be successful in keeping an anemone.
phender
Active member
Your lighting is not enough to keep an anemone long term, but that is not why your recent anemone died. Poor lighting causes slow starvation/malnutrition, it doesn't cause death within days or even weeks for that matter. It is very likely that your anemone was in poor health when it was purchased. The change in water conditions from the LFS to your tank likely pushed it over the edge.
Being able to pick a health anemone is critical to short term success as is a gradual acclimation process by dripping your tank water into the anemone's water over the course of an hour or two.
For success over the long haul, you need to make sure you have good/stable water conditions, better lighting, and proper types and amounts of food.
Being able to pick a health anemone is critical to short term success as is a gradual acclimation process by dripping your tank water into the anemone's water over the course of an hour or two.
For success over the long haul, you need to make sure you have good/stable water conditions, better lighting, and proper types and amounts of food.
bjonesjr1
Premium Member
Mine has never aloud anything near it without eatting it... My condy and BTA are doing fine in my tank, I have a 55 gallon with 2x96watts PC over my tank... Never had a problem... My tank has been up and running now for 3 months or so... And my condy was bought in the early days of the tank, since I didn't have too big of a cycle from buying cure LR from a buddy... I just upgraded to a little bigger light, & I am waiting on that to come in the mail, its a 4x65 jgj formosa so well see how much brighter that is to my current light
Fat Surgeon
In Memoriam
Bryceps, I agree with Phender. Your water quality is not up to standards. Couple questions for you. How often do you change water and how much? What type of water do you use (tap, Ro, Ro/Di??) Anemones have to have the most pristine water conditions, much more so than our fish. If you use anything less than Ro/Di, you outta try Chemipure. Chemipure will help to remove dangerous metals in the water that threaten and will kill inverts, especially stars and anemones. IMO though, start using Ro/Di. And finally, when you do get your tank parameters in line, please make sure you purchase an Anemone from a reputable lfs ONLY source. Not a mass market multi-animal store, know what I mean? Good luck 
Thank you all so much for your responses. It's amazing that after all the years I've been in the hobby, I never kept anemones, so I figured since my corals(bubble, green star polyps, white/pink brain)were healthy and blooming, the animal would be just fine. The tank is a 40 gal. acrylic, with a good 3 inches of live sand/cc substrate, and 45 lbs of live rock. I use a UV sterilzer/skimmer/plenum/standard filter mix. There is probably only 30 gallons of actual water in the tank. And it has been running for just over 2 years. I only use RO water when refilling it as well.
So I guess what I'm asking is the light wattage in proportion to the actual size of the tank, or how much water is in it? And I did test the water, and the phosphates were a little high, so I went and got some buffer for that. Thanks again ya'll!
So I guess what I'm asking is the light wattage in proportion to the actual size of the tank, or how much water is in it? And I did test the water, and the phosphates were a little high, so I went and got some buffer for that. Thanks again ya'll!
angelsj247
New member
i believe the watts are per gal of the accual size of the tank. so if you have a 40 gal tank the watts should 5 watts per 40 gals. so you would need 200 watts of lighting at least.
cweder
Member
You still did not mention your water parameters. This is very important. I do not know how you intend to buffer down phosphates. Can you please explain. Sebae's (H. Crispa) are some of the hardest to keep, even though frequently available. They seem to do very poorly just from shipping and have poor survival rates, I'm sure you know. Acclimation to your tank water must be gradual over a couple hours using the drip method preferably. Your water must be phosphate free and very low nitrates to none. Specific gravity 1.024 - 1.026 is best. I am more concerned with water quality than lighting for starters, than lighting for long term success. Best of luck.
