New Tank, Need some seriosu help with my anenome!

[Danley]

Hello,
I am new to saltwater aquariums, but I do have a basic understanding of thing's. I owned a freshwater tank and my neighbor has owned a freshwater tank for over 30 years now, and I have 100% picked his brain, but when it comes to saltwater, he knows nothing. I established my saltwater tank 11/27/09 and about 2-4 days ago, I added live corals, due to keeping a close eye on my tank, and solving multiple issues. I have had an intense rough start with this tank, it's a 50 gallon (I'll post a picture below) and I ended up redoing the rock in it 3 times. The first time I liked but we placed the power-heads wrong, and didnt have enough current, and we also removed some sane going from 4 inches to about 1-2 inches maybe 1/2 an inch. So, my tank it progressing very nicely, and everything seems to be thriving in my tank, the brain coral is opening nicely, and things are thriving like I said earlier. Here's my problem: I bought a $60.00 Anenome and I LOVE anenomes but lately I have been hating them. I have a very small anenome, but he doesnt seem to be attatching himself. Im not sure if I have to much current in the tank for him to settle, but I really want him to attatch himself quickly! There are other things in the other tank I would like to place with him once hes settled, but I dont want him to sting and possibly kill my corals. Last night he was caught between two rocks, and this morning he got sucked behind the rocks. I have a size 1 and 3 power head in each tank. My lighting is plenty, and the water conditions are wonderful! I have plenty of ledges, but he just seems to be getting caught in akward spots, and he doesnt seem to move too much around. What I would like to know is if there is anyway to get my anenome to be more comfortable so he will settle down. He still has bubbly tentacles, but hes just not attaching himself. The powerheads are behind the rocks for the most part, but theres a bit of a current in the tank, my fish still seem to be swimming fine, but it looks like theres a breeze in the tank, due to watching the featherduster in my tank. I have placed my anenome near the light at a top ledge, and I'm not sure what I should do. Will they really attatch firmly, and I dont see a "foot" it just looks like a pink bubble on his underside, how can I tell when hes going to attatch himself, and should I turn the powerheads off? If theres anything you guys could help me with as far as advice, I would GREATLY appreciate it!

 

[aquaph8]

try lowering your flow until it attaches and when it does slowly give it more flow. depending on its condition/health, it will attach when its happy with its surroundings. As far as the saltwater hobby goes, the best advice I can give you is to take it slow. Read as much info as you can find on reef central and ask a lot of questions. There are many friendly people that are more than happy to help, so dont hesitate to ask.

 

[garygb]

Generally you don't want to add an anemone until a tank has been up and running stable for 4 to 6 months. Considering you just set you tank up a few weeks ago, I would try to find someone with a well established tank who could temporarily house the anemone until your tank is stabilized. Anemones aren't usually recommended for aquarists with less than a year of experience. They tend to be challenging. Pics will help us tell you what type of anemone you have, but regardless, at this point it needs to be in a tank that has been established for an extended period of time.

 

[dalston]

[welcome]

If I am going to be honest, I have to say your tank is way too young to support an anemone. They are very finiky creatures and demand an established aquarium with stablilty to be able thrive. Your best option at this point is to return the anemone to the LFS for store credit. Give it another 6 months and see how things are, then give it another shot.

Good luck.

 

[Danley]

How do I lower the flow, I have a hydor Koralia power head one 3 with a flow rate of 850 GPH and a one with 400 GPH.

 

[Arkayology]

Way to early to have a nem in your tank. They need established tanks and yours is way new. Did it even finish the cycle?

 

[Danley]

My tank has finished cycling, I'm going to post a picture, and I think tomorrow I'm going to call the gentleman that sold it to me, what does everyone recomend, I really wanna make my tank look beautiful, and I just love bright colors, and tenticles hehe. Heres a list of what I have to the best of my knowledge:
Lobophillia
Wellsophyllia
Toadstool Leather
Disosoma
Heteractis
and Two Featherdusters, my last test results were:
10-24
alk .16
cal .23
A 0
N 0
N 0
P 0.50
pH 8.0
12/10/09

Also I guess the gentleman told me to add:
Iodide 1ml 3x a week
Iron 5ml 3x a week
Mag. 12ml 3x a week
Strontium 12ml 3x a week

 

[aquaph8]

I really agree with everyone else about waiting until your tank is more established, but as far as lowering the flow just move the power head until you get the right flow in your selected area of the tank. Use the search button and look for some threads on anemone care, there is some really good reading about nems somewhere.

 

[Danley]

Picture was removed due to size, more pictures comming...

 

[Danley]

I turned the lights on just now, so things aren't completly opened and looking as beautiful...

 

[jwilliams860]

looks like a long tentacle??? turn the power heads off completely if you can, and only have the return pump, build it a wall with rocks, and place it behind them to shield it from flow, dont attempt to feed it yet, I have a purple long tentacle anemone, when I first got it, it wandered for about 3 weeks, never really happy, even got caught in my vortech once, they will push their foot through the sand and attach to the glass bottom of the tank.So cut the flow down and see if it settles in, or if you have apiece of tupperware, place it and some sand and maybe a small piece of rock in it, until its happy and opening up good, then move him to your sand bed, once mine was happy i moved him to my bigger tank and it immediately attached its foot.

 

[jwilliams860]

im im wrong about it being a LTA and its a bubble tip, stick it in the rocks they like a crevice and will attach their foot down inside the rock.

 

[dalston]

That is one bleached (unhealthy) anemone you have there, with your tank being so young, I would feel it's chance of survival is very low. You really should either return it, or pass it on to an experienced hobbiest that might be able to bring it back.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Like others have said, you need to slow down, and your tank (( and your experience )) is too young to have an anemone.

From that picture it appears to be an LTA (( Macrodactyla doreensis )) and a very bleached one at that. LTA are sand dwelling anemones, so it won't be happy on the rocks. Though, given the age of your tank and the state of the anemone, would be better off taking it back if it is possible, or at least giving it to someone that is better prepared for its care.

 

[Danley]

I actually got it, and it seems to me as if some of it's color is returning, if thats even possible. I'm going to try and work a deal with the gentlemen that I purchased it from, but if he's not willing to give me back the money, or give me store credit, I would like to try and attempt to keep him because I honestly don't know anyone that has saltwater. But trust me I'm going to try and work something out, I hate killing fish and corals if it's not necessary..

 

[Toddrtrex]

My tank has finished cycling, I'm going to post a picture, and I think tomorrow I'm going to call the gentleman that sold it to me, what does everyone recomend, I really wanna make my tank look beautiful, and I just love bright colors, and tenticles hehe. Heres a list of what I have to the best of my knowledge:
Lobophillia
Wellsophyllia
Toadstool Leather
Disosoma
Heteractis
and Two Featherdusters, my last test results were:
10-24
alk .16
cal .23
A 0
N 0
N 0
P 0.50
pH 8.0
12/10/09

Also I guess the gentleman told me to add:
Iodide 1ml 3x a week
Iron 5ml 3x a week
Mag. 12ml 3x a week
Strontium 12ml 3x a week

In addition... Those values for Alk and Cal don't have a unit of measure, and don't seem to be in any common unit of measure. Would have expected to see something around 3 or 8 (( depending on the UOM )) for the Alk, and around 400 for Cal.

Your phosphate levels are very high.

Don't see any listing for salinity/SG.

IMO, no need to add Iodide/Iron/Strontium. Mag should only be added if you are testing for it.

Also, what is the temp, and I didn't see anything mentioned about what lights you have.

 

[Danley]

Just out of curiosity, when you say bleached, it's refering to it not getting enough light, am I correct?

 

[Toddrtrex]

I actually got it, and it seems to me as if some of it's color is returning, if thats even possible. I'm going to try and work a deal with the gentlemen that I purchased it from, but if he's not willing to give me back the money, or give me store credit, I would like to try and attempt to keep him because I honestly don't know anyone that has saltwater. But trust me I'm going to try and work something out, I hate killing fish and corals if it's not necessary..

Honestly, I would be a bit concerned that he was willing to sell it to you, and would wonder about his advise. A) shouldn't be selling a bleached anemone --- unless the person buying it is fully aware that it is bleached and knows how to bring them back. B) shouldn't be selling an anemone (( let alone a bleached one )) to a person that set up their first tank a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Just out of curiosity, when you say bleached, it's refering to it not getting enough light, am I correct?

No, bleached refers to the anemone (( in this case )) losing all of its zoax (( internal algae )) that provides the vast majority of its energy/food. However, not getting enough life (( or too much light too soon )) can cause an anemone to bleach. --- along with other causes.

This is a bleached LTA that I received a couple of years ago,

This is what it looked like 2 months later,

 

[Danley]

As for the levels, I'm not really sure what any of it means... I got it tested and thats the strip I got. As far as the guy he sounds reasonable, hes a small buisness but he sounds like he knows a lot, but Im almost positive you guys know more... What should I do to get the correct levels to where they need to be... Im using the Brightwell Aquatics chemicals. I currently have calcium, strogntium, iodide, KH buffer, Magnesium, and Iron. is there any other things I need to pick up or how much of each should I add.