Saltwater & Reef

Paddlefoot · 02-18-2011, 07:58 PM

Help my anemone is acting strange it is not opening up as much as it used to and it's mouth is wide open is this common or do you think it's sick?

Karlos69 · 02-18-2011, 08:02 PM

You have no cooraline algae? Or is that just the lighting? Sorry dont know much about anenemes whats your water parameters?

Paddlefoot · 02-18-2011, 08:36 PM

Water parameters are within the norm had water tested today at the LFS and they said it was good a little low on salinity so I added sitting right at 1.024 the tank is new about two months old that's why there's no coraline yet lighting is not the best but but a good start

Karlos69 · 02-18-2011, 08:45 PM

Ya from what ive read you need great lighting and an established tank to care for anenemes.

Paddlefoot · 02-18-2011, 08:48 PM

Yes I've heard that as well but then I've heard of people putting them in after just a few cycles we will see I here if they do die they will kill everything in the tank which worries me

**Zer0** · 02-18-2011, 08:59 PM

You've heard of people putting anemones under bad lighting and in newly cycled tanks? Where the heck did you read this? That's basically the opposite educate to keeping anemones.

It could just be the picture, but to me, looking at the tint of the picture i can already tell you don't have good enough lighting to keep a nem. Would you care to give us the exact type of lighting system you have? T5HO, NO, VHO, Metal Halide, LED's... We will be the judge of how good your lights are and if they can support your anemone.

I'm not even going to get in to the water parameters subject because it's all futile anyways. It already sounds to me like you don't know what you are doing and the LFS got away with another sale. Sorry to be harsh.

Paddlefoot · 02-18-2011, 09:07 PM

I have t5 lighting 96w I believe two atinic and six 10k I will take a pic you can tell me please I am a total nubb when it comes to saltwater equipment I appreciate all the advice oh btw the fixture is a current USA fixture

Just.A.Bit.Salty · 02-18-2011, 10:17 PM

Well the lighting you pictured is for sure strong enough for an anemone, how big is the tank? My guess is you added the anemone to early and your tank is just not ready for one. How do you feed it?

Paddlefoot · 02-18-2011, 10:23 PM

The tank is 125g I have fed it mysis and silversides he was in the tank for 4 days I've pulled him out and put him in a QT for now

**Zer0** · 02-18-2011, 10:32 PM

Well actually, at first i was going to say that your lighting system definitely was strong enough, but then you brought up the fact that you have a 125G tank. That's a BIG tank for only 96watts of T5HO light. I had 324Watts of T5 over my 55G alone. I HIGHLY doubt that your lighting system is sufficient enough to keep an anemone, sadly. You are definitely going to want to upgrade your lighting system, or return the nem. It will most likely wither away in your tank, or continue to move around until it gets torn apart in a powerhead or something.

One more thing. I could be totally wrong, but judging by how close each of those bulbs are to each other, it looks like you have PC lighting, not T5. See, each T5 usually is separated from each bulb and is under it's own reflector. Whether the bulb has it's own reflector or it's one large reflector just bent to mimic having separate reflectors for each bulb. In PC lighting, there's usually two bulbs very close together, almost like they are touching each other. Are you sure those are T5HO's? Either way, your lighting is not strong enough to house a nem in a 125G tank. Sorry.

See, here's what PC bulbs look like:

And here's what T5HO bulbs look like:

It's pretty obvious which ones your bulbs look like the most.

Paddlefoot · 02-18-2011, 11:06 PM

Yes your right they are def PC looks like I am def gonna have to upgrade, will the pc be enough for coral for now till I upgrade?

Karlos69 · 02-18-2011, 11:11 PM

How many watts are they and which corals some dont need much light

**Zer0** · 02-18-2011, 11:15 PM

Well.. All coral need light to survive, as they are photosynthetic. Some of them a non-photosynthetic, but i doubt he has any of those because most need a ton of care to survive in a reef tank.

I think... with that light you have you may be able to keep softies. But that's about it. A 96W PC light over a 125G tank is like having a Normal Fluorescent fixture over a 55G tank. There's hardly any coverage, and the PAR is terrible. But since it IS PC lighting and not Normal Output, you may be able to keep some softies. But i wouldn't count on those lights sustaining much else.

Karlos69 · 02-18-2011, 11:23 PM

Just buy a t5ho 6 bulb light from ebay

**Zer0** · 02-18-2011, 11:25 PM

Can you please give me the dimensions of your 125G tank? Then we will be able to direct you to the correct lighting solution. You will most likely either want to go T5HO or Metal Halide. LED's for a tank that size would be supremely expensive, and PC's are just useless on it. Unless you wanted to use them as actinic supplementation. But if you have the T5's you don;t need PC's at all.