sumphead
Aquarium Advice FINatic
The "theory", and accentuate the theory part because it is just that, a tank should age before placing an anemone to my knowledge is for two reasons: First being it allows the tank to mature in stabilty. The more your tank ages and the more seasoned hobbyist you become the more stable your water parameters are. Stable water params are a must for the health of any livestock but moreso for the more delicate and sensitive creatures like the anemone. Secondly, and closely related, while you can learn and maintain your water husbandry on a new tank more quickly than say six months to a year, there are things that are not or cannot be tested for such as dissovled organics and micro-life. Personally I have succesfully placed an anemone in a tank less than a month old. While I would never recommend this to anyone, I used LS, LR, and water from an existing "aged" setup and it was a situation where I had an anemone injured and needed a hospitable envorinment.
Now that you already have these creatures and want to give it a go here are my suggestions:
1 - Identify your creatures. Not only will you then know the exact requirements for keeping these alive and happy, but you'll know where to look for help if needed. Also your "rock" anemone, depending on the origin of your rock may be an aiptaisa or mojo anemone, which can be harmful to your other livestock and/or spread like wildfire.
2 - Lighting: as master James wrote, lighting will be critical for most species. This again reinforces the above. While Metal halide is probably the preferred method it is possible to keep certain specimens with PC, HO, VHO lighting in the right amounts. It is highlt doubtful 110 W of PC on a 75 Gallon tank will suffice. Again I refer you to the above.
3 - Water quality. Test, test, and let someone else test to verify.
I am 100% positive we all started somewhere and just as positive about making errors in judgement and taking ill advice (mostly from LFSs). But while we all started somewhere through learning and sharing experiences we gained knowledge and a passion for the hobby that can easily strike up into debate. I doubt it was a lack of caring that would cause any offensive comments by the AA family members. Please continue to post and remember most of us are here to help where we can.
Good luck with your little piece of the ocean and keep us updated.
R-
Now that you already have these creatures and want to give it a go here are my suggestions:
1 - Identify your creatures. Not only will you then know the exact requirements for keeping these alive and happy, but you'll know where to look for help if needed. Also your "rock" anemone, depending on the origin of your rock may be an aiptaisa or mojo anemone, which can be harmful to your other livestock and/or spread like wildfire.
2 - Lighting: as master James wrote, lighting will be critical for most species. This again reinforces the above. While Metal halide is probably the preferred method it is possible to keep certain specimens with PC, HO, VHO lighting in the right amounts. It is highlt doubtful 110 W of PC on a 75 Gallon tank will suffice. Again I refer you to the above.
3 - Water quality. Test, test, and let someone else test to verify.
I am 100% positive we all started somewhere and just as positive about making errors in judgement and taking ill advice (mostly from LFSs). But while we all started somewhere through learning and sharing experiences we gained knowledge and a passion for the hobby that can easily strike up into debate. I doubt it was a lack of caring that would cause any offensive comments by the AA family members. Please continue to post and remember most of us are here to help where we can.
Good luck with your little piece of the ocean and keep us updated.
R-
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