Multiple Anemones?

[matman]

I have at the moment, 2 Ocellaris Clowns in a 12 g. Nano cube. My tank has been running for about a month, and my parameters are normal, other than my nitrates which are a little on the high side(40). My question is... How much longer until i can get an Anemone, and also...having 2 clown fish, can I put 2 anemones in the tank?

One other thing. What is the best strategy to do a water change?

[TCTFish]

You should wait about 6 months before putting in an anemone. During that time you can work on getting the nitrates down. Nitrates shouldn't be any higher than 10ppm in a tank with coral type inverts. A 12 gallon has little room for one anemone let alone two. Keep it to just a small one. It will grow and the clowns may actually share the anemone. It's also possible that they may ignore the anemone.

Water changes for a system with a protein skimmer would be about 10% to 15% once every two weeks. That's what I do on my 18 gallon. Check out my profile for tank specs and population. If you do not have a protein skimmer then do about 5% water change two to three times a week.

To lessen your nitrates...cut back on feeding. Offer about two to three minutes worth of food per day about five to six days of the week. Best to divide the feedings and divide the time period according to the number of feeds done in a day. Do about 10% water change twice a week until nitrates are near next to nothing.

[matman]

I'm just paranoid about taking water out and adding more and having my salinity readings be all screwed up.

Do I just mix up the salt as I would normally and add the new saltwater in?

[TCTFish]

Use a hydrometer to monitor [acronym:c9edd9dd40="Specific gravity"]SG[/acronym:c9edd9dd40]. That's your salt readings. Always check it before doing a water change. If it's high, just add freshwater. This will happen from evaporation. If it's normal then do the change with premixed salt water with the [acronym:c9edd9dd40="Specific gravity"]SG[/acronym:c9edd9dd40] to the [acronym:c9edd9dd40="Specific gravity"]SG[/acronym:c9edd9dd40] in the tank. If the [acronym:c9edd9dd40="Specific gravity"]SG[/acronym:c9edd9dd40] is low, then mix the salt with a [acronym:c9edd9dd40="Specific gravity"]SG[/acronym:c9edd9dd40] of a point or two higher than the tank before changing. [acronym:c9edd9dd40="Specific gravity"]SG[/acronym:c9edd9dd40] should range about 1.021 to 1.024. Anything above 1.027 and the system can break down. In a small tank, you will want to monitor the [acronym:c9edd9dd40="Specific gravity"]SG[/acronym:c9edd9dd40] daily.

[TCTFish]

Forgot to ask...do you have a protein skimmer?

A 12 [acronym:360a9d5499="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:360a9d5499] tank is no place for a hosting anemone species, it's simpley too small a water volume. If you where to get a much larger tank, allowed it to mature porperly, it would be possible to have more than one anemone and species.

Cheers
Steve

[matman]

No protein skimmer....i'll be honest, i dont know what they do....newbie remember

[Jason]

don't get an anemone.

I know it's hard to say no, but just don't.

Just don't do it, the clowns don't need it if they are in the tank.

That's just my own personal opinion on them, I still have one in my 10 [acronym:7e3c44ca6e="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:7e3c44ca6e] but I'll never get another one (well probably not ever).

Now with that being said, you can keep an anemone in a 12 gallon tank, but you are going to need more light than the 24 watts that came with that nano cube.

[lando]

No protein skimmer....i'll be honest, i dont know what they do....newbie remember

Skimmer remove [acronym:c2cf4298cc="Dissolved Organic Compounds"]DOC[/acronym:c2cf4298cc] from the water by mixing current with oxygen. Have you ever been to the ocean and noticed a brown foam along the edges of rocks and along the shore? This is natural protein skimming. As the waves crash and break they are mixed with oxygen and create the foam that contains the [acronym:c2cf4298cc="Dissolved Organic Compounds"]DOC[/acronym:c2cf4298cc]. This is how it was explained to me by the [acronym:c2cf4298cc="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:c2cf4298cc]. [acronym:c2cf4298cc="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:c2cf4298cc]

[malkore]

that's a pretty good description of protein skimming Lando.

To get a little more scientific, those [acronym:588889ddda="Dissolved Organic Compounds"]DOC[/acronym:588889ddda]'s are both attracted to, and repelled by water...so the millions of tiny bubbles in a skimmer capture them since the walls of the bubbles are both water and air. The [acronym:588889ddda="Dissolved Organic Compounds"]DOC[/acronym:588889ddda]'s stick to them like a magnet, and then when the bubble bursts in the collection cup, the [acronym:588889ddda="Dissolved Organic Compounds"]DOC[/acronym:588889ddda]'s are left in the cup.

When you skim a tank, you end up collecting a dark, coffee colored liquid, which stinks to high heaven.