I set up a second small tank (36x18x18) for my little girl so she could get some of the things she wanted in her tank. It's been up and running for almost nine months now and recently (2 months ago), I changed the lighting over from 4 T5HO's to 2 250W Phoenix 14k halides & 4 T5HO Actinics. The only things in the tank are snails, a large breeding population of shrimp, and a 4" toadfish. Everything in the tank is doing well. There are about a dozen shrimp loaded down with eggs, so many pods thats it's almost annoying, and a very fat happy toadfish. Sponges are multiplying by the day and barnacles are doing great as well.
I added a 2 1/2" bicolor angel (after QT) and a 6" LTA about a month ago. They both came out of a system with only 2 T5HO bulbs and very little flow. The angel took a while to come out when the halides went on, but is eating well and seems to be happy. However, the anemone is a different story. I put screening over the lights to try to get the LTA used to it and placed it under an overhang on the sandbed where it quickly dug in and attached to the bottom of the tank. It stayed there for a few days, then the drama began. It seems that this anemone hates flow AND light. When the moonlights or actinics only are on, it is out, dug in and fully inflated, but when the halides come on, it semi-deflates, releases its foot and starts to move. It has been everywhere in the tank and never seems to stay put except when the lights are out.
I have 2 powerheads in the tank (1800gph flow total) plus my return. The heads face each other at opposite ends of the tank and don't create any crazy concentrated flows. I'm wondering if this is still just an aclimation issue as far as lighting and flow are concerned. The anemone has had a slight mouth gape from the beginning, but eats when I feed it, and seems to "poop" the next day after being fed. The discharge sometimes looks like charcoal and sometimes looks like dark brown balled up "poop". I placed the anemones base into a 3" long piece of 2" pvc stuck into the sandbed to try to help it stay in one place. It stays planted in the pipe when the lights are off and inflated fully, but then moves when the lights come on. I walked away from the tank for a few minutes last night and came back to find it sucked into one of the powerheads disk first. I was able to cut the intake screening enough to get it out without much damage (lost a tentacle tip or two) and placed it back into the pipe where it immediately opened back up and has been there ever since. I turned the big head off and left a 500gph head on and it seems happy now. The flow is just enough to gently sway its tentacles back and fourth, but I'm going to need to turn the other head back on soon as the one small head isn't giving the rest of the tank much flow.
I added a 2 1/2" bicolor angel (after QT) and a 6" LTA about a month ago. They both came out of a system with only 2 T5HO bulbs and very little flow. The angel took a while to come out when the halides went on, but is eating well and seems to be happy. However, the anemone is a different story. I put screening over the lights to try to get the LTA used to it and placed it under an overhang on the sandbed where it quickly dug in and attached to the bottom of the tank. It stayed there for a few days, then the drama began. It seems that this anemone hates flow AND light. When the moonlights or actinics only are on, it is out, dug in and fully inflated, but when the halides come on, it semi-deflates, releases its foot and starts to move. It has been everywhere in the tank and never seems to stay put except when the lights are out.
I have 2 powerheads in the tank (1800gph flow total) plus my return. The heads face each other at opposite ends of the tank and don't create any crazy concentrated flows. I'm wondering if this is still just an aclimation issue as far as lighting and flow are concerned. The anemone has had a slight mouth gape from the beginning, but eats when I feed it, and seems to "poop" the next day after being fed. The discharge sometimes looks like charcoal and sometimes looks like dark brown balled up "poop". I placed the anemones base into a 3" long piece of 2" pvc stuck into the sandbed to try to help it stay in one place. It stays planted in the pipe when the lights are off and inflated fully, but then moves when the lights come on. I walked away from the tank for a few minutes last night and came back to find it sucked into one of the powerheads disk first. I was able to cut the intake screening enough to get it out without much damage (lost a tentacle tip or two) and placed it back into the pipe where it immediately opened back up and has been there ever since. I turned the big head off and left a 500gph head on and it seems happy now. The flow is just enough to gently sway its tentacles back and fourth, but I'm going to need to turn the other head back on soon as the one small head isn't giving the rest of the tank much flow.
