Ritteri questions..

[h2joe]

ok here it goes....

im alright when it comes to anemones and ive had a bubble tip before but today while at my lfs they had a really nice ritteri anemone labeled as an LTA which is almost half the price. so here we go... would a 55g with 2 250 watt EVC 14k MH work for lighting? the nem is also only about 6-8 inches across so would it be to big? next comes flow.. i have almost zero dead spots in my tank and that is helped by 2 penguin 1125s that push 300gph along with a 20g refugium/skimmer area. return pump is around 400gph i think. water quality is doing good. nitrites 10 nitrates 10 ammonia 0. i dont know my PH but i have some SPS so it mush be ok as well as salinity. they react if my topoff dosent keep up. almost forgot my tank is 7 months old and very well established. only fish are a true perc, black o. clown, chromis (1), and a royal gramma. so what does everyone think? could i try it?

sorry for the short story but i loved the look of this anemone and really would like to keep one. thansk you very very much,

Mark

 

[Ron Popeil]

first and foremost what concerns me for your tank in general and next a ritteri anemone would be your nitrites and nitrates.

having a seven month old tank, and im assuming a small refugium area with a protein skimmer raises some questions as to why youd have any nitrites, even nitrates, especially with such a very low bioload.

id say work on getting your nitrites to zero, then your nitrates as low as possible...again, preferrably to zero. either add on a larger volume refugium or a larger more efficient skimmer, and if youre feeding heavily, cut way back in order to limit those nitrites and nitrates.

as for lighting and flow, im sure you would be fine, as ive heard of and seen magnificas doing seemingly well with less. but more is definetely better. one of my magnificas is slightly below but directly infront of a 1200 gph 1" sea swirl. and another magnifica is positioned on the left side of my tank and seems to be receiving an extra large dose of the 3200 gph closed loop flow.

however, in the past, even with several more penguin powerheads than you have, a 29 gallon solely used for a refugium and dual 400w over my 50 gallon...i never had good luck with magnificas until i moved to a 120. i dont really know how to explain this. but again, ive seen and heard of people keeping their anemones in much smaller volumes of water with apparent success.

good luck, my first healthy ritteri was also purchased as a misidentified long tenticle!

 

[ezhoops]

Ritteri aka Magnifica anem's get Huge and will surely outgrow your 55 gal fast. I

 

[h2joe]

im aware of the outgrowing thing and by the time my 160g tank isready for anything besides fish it will be moved into there. the 55g is basicly my holding tank until everything is in order for the 160g. the 55g will probably be set up for well over a year before i decide to move anything into the 160. thanks for the answers Ron Popeil and ezhoops, i really appreciate it. reguarding the nitrates and nitrites i have since done several water changes and started running my skimmer wet. i have also cut back on my feeding and havent tested the water recently. im going to deffinitly get it tested before i decide to purchase this beautiful anemone but im glad to hear that my tank has acceptable flow, light, etc.