nitrates and rbta

[shabreeson]

I recently purchased a rbta for my 55 gallon for my A. Allardi and i had next to no nitrates at that time, I purchased a trio of barlett's anthias from divers den at the same time I got my rbta. now my nitrates are at 20! the anemone tentacle tips are shrinking to the pont where it looks like there are glowing dots on the tips of the tentacles(were not there when I first got the anemone), and now I knowticed that it is rather shrivled up when my metal halides turned on, and only returned to normal when they were off. I have a 250 watt 10k MH light and I put the anemone 4 inches away from the water surface. I am having trouble feeding it mysis and brine because it doesn't digest the food for 10 minutes before it spits it out almost whole. its mouth is very puckered and started to spit out its insides a for a few minutes.

I moved the anemone away from the light and am doing a water change as we speak. do you think it was the intence light, or the high nitrates that were causing the anemone harm?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Do you know what type of lights the anemone was under before you got it?

Did you adjust your lights at all when you got it? Either raising them or shortening the photo period? While BTAs can handle a wide range of lights, they will still need time to adjust to brighter ones.

I am leaning more towards the lights being the issue, I can't speak of the 'trates, as I have been lucky, mine are always at 0.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

how old is the aquarium?

how old is the aquarium?

You have some intense lighting for a 55. Entacmaea usually move on their own- stop moving it around once you lower it. Forced feedings are not good. I don't think nitrates are the main problem here. I would do the water change, feed the Anthias and let the anemone acclimate while catching the leftover foods floating around.

 

[shabreeson]

it was under 20k 400 watt MH, I put it real close to the light when I got it. what would you suggest I do? it wasn't moving around much when I put it in that spot.

 

[shabreeson]

the aqarium is 1 year old under my care, I bought it used (came with LR.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

how long have you had this anemone?

how long have you had this anemone?

if you haven't moved the anemone yet I would leave it where it is.

 

[shabreeson]

oh crap, I already moved it towards the bottom. it was starting to move down today. I have been moving around the rock that it sits on too much, about 3 times(because of other situations I was having with my tank).

will it die from what I did?

 

[shabreeson]

i have had it for 2 weeks.

 

[DirtyHermit]

Leave it be for a day, see what happens!

 

[shabreeson]

ok, how long should I leave the MH on?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

lighting should be on timers so every day the lights turn on and off at the exact same time. Halides can be on from anywhere between 4 - 14 hours per day depending on your system. A 12 hour photoperiod is the norm.

 

[shabreeson]

i have my timers set as: antics on @ 9am off at 9pm and metal halide on @ 10am off at 5pm. what I am saying is, how long should I keep my lights on as the anemone is acclimating?

 

[bencozzy]

my haddoni carpet tolerated nitrates up to about 80ppms before there were visible signs of stress i usually tried to keep trates around 15-20ppms.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12314802#post12314802 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shabreeson
i have my timers set as: antics on @ 9am off at 9pm and metal halide on @ 10am off at 5pm. what I am saying is, how long should I keep my lights on as the anemone is acclimating?

personally, I don't adjust lighting for acclimating anemones. These animals are able to fold over and shield themselves from lighting if necessary.