Dying Anemonees

[C5m7b4]

Hello all,
I'm very new to this so hopefully I can give you proper information. I have a 29 gallon biocube with an Apex hooked up to it. It stays from around 77 to just up to 80 degrees. Current ph is 8.37and salinity jumped up a little to 1.027 when I just measured it. Calcium is between 430 and 440. No amonia, no Nitrites and it looks like right around 5ppm of nitrates and the phosphates measured just above 2 but below 5. I am using api test kits so not sure if these are super accurate. One of the anemone i have had for a little over a week and the other two i have had for one week. out of the pair that I got, one still looks really good but one is totally gone(like I cant even find remnants of him) and the other is all shrivelled up. I have some pics that I'll try to post,
I tried the other day to target feed them for the first time using a little tank water and freeze dried brine that I got from the local fish store. Any advice you guys could give a newbie. I thought these guys were pretty hardy so I know Im doing something wrong. Its almost like right after my target feeding session, boom, dead critters.

 

[C5m7b4]

More information

One more thing to note: 2 clownfish, 3 blue/green chromas, 2 newly added banggia cardinals, and a lawnmower blinnie. Other than that just some other coral but but anemoes were pretty much not normally near anything.

 

[C5m7b4]

One more note. I am using two vortech 10pm and my light is a radion xr15 pro. pumps and lights programmed through apex fusion

 

[Sniperhank]

How did you acclimate them to the tank? Drip acclimate? Did you acclimate to the light?

 

[C5m7b4]

The guy at the fish store told me to temp acclimate them. like I said, one is almost two weeks old. I just hung the bag in the tank for 50 minutes and then let them decide where they wanted to go. The one in the shriveled picture almost had a run in with the vortech so that might have done some damage as well, but the older one has just been hanging out in his spot since i got him and then he just dissapeared overnight.

 

[Sniperhank]

Well that's the issue. These are very sensitive creatures. Not being acclimated to the water is a stress factor and then not being acclimated to the lighting is also one.
Keep the water stable and pristine and over time you will find things to improve. You may want to see if you can put your radion in acclimation mode for several weeks.

 

[C5m7b4]

So should I consider putting the light into acclimation mode when adding new corals each time.

 

[mr_X]

How about your alkalinity? What additives are you putting in the tank?

 

[C5m7b4]

I put kents nano reef in there daily and also prime. also from time to time amquel plus ammonia detoxifier. also been adding reef zoo plankon, reef plus, and phyto plankton. also use buffer max. For filtration I have ammo carb, and matrix in the second chamber in the back of the tank.

 

[mr_X]

Stop all of that stuff and do some water changes to get rid of it. You don't need any of that stuff, and it's probably contributing to your problem. Test your KH.

 

[C5m7b4]

Good to know Doug. I guess I'm getting in my own way, lol. I'll stop with the chems and let nature due it due dilligence.

 

[mr_X]

Even the foods....they contribute to fouling the water. Just feed the fish. That will be enough for the entire tank. If you need to add an ammonia binder on a regular basis, your bacteria colony is not able to process what you are putting in the tank.

 

[Toffee]

Another note to add, if I may. Anemone tense to do well in a mature tank. Ones that has been up and running at the very least 6 months. Personally, I like it at least 8months to a year.

Sent from my SM-N910T using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Dary421]

All good advice given here esp doug's , it's human nature to try to do too much at first by adding chemicals etc, one of the best pieces of advice I personally could add is to let your tank age for awhile b4 adding too much coral no matter what your tests say ,... Tanks need to age and become stable ,.. 8-10-12 months would be a normal range, let the tank do its work ,there's a lot going on behind the scenes ,Yes it's a very hard thing to adhere to and everyone thinks that their tank is the exception BUT your overall success rate will climb drastically by letting things settle in for awhile. Slow and easy .