Rose Tip Anemone lighting?

[baron1282]

I would like to add a rose tip anemone to my tank. While I think my lighting is excellent, I want to make sure. I have a four bulb lighting system that has two 10,000k white light and two actinic blue lights. A total of 320 watts which gives my tank about 3 watts per gallon.

I only had the light up for about a 2 weeks now.

I am also wondering about feeding. I am hoping my black clown will host it. They said that if you have a clown hosting you will not need to feed it, but if your clown does not host than you do need to feed it.

So any tips on keeping this thing? Here is my tank.

[BigRedsReefs10]

How old is the tank? And how deep?

[baron1282]

Two weeks and only 24in deep. It has rock and sand from the old tank. I moved it all from my old tank. Including all the filtration. The only new filtration is the large wet/dry i included.

All the rock is from my old tank (100 pounds) and all my sand is from the old tank (90 pounds) but 60 pounds.

This stuff has been in the old tank for over a year. The tank may be new, but everything in it has been established for over a year. I got pods and small star fishes everywhere.

The tank has been up for 2 weeks.

[baron1282]

I would love to be able to get this guy and start to get some growing in my tank to sale. I might buy a few and propagate them in a separate smaller tank. It does not seem that difficult to propagate anemones and it could help me supplement my hobby.

This of course would be a little down the road, I would like to get one first and see how it goes.

I also heard that a good way to get your clown to host is to get a small bowl and fill it up with tank water. Take the clown and anemone and put them in. Once the clown finds it he will never leave it. Of course this seems like a REAL risky method, but I have heard of it working on the most stubborn of clowns. I would just hope mine would host the anemone without any issues. Most people say that a clown not hosting it is rare and that usually they end up right on it within minutes. With my luck my clown would need the bowl method. LOL

[BigRedsReefs10]

I would say a 6 or 8 bulb unit would be best for nems in a tank that deep. There is also no way to force a clown to host IMO, even isolating them doesn't work 100% of the time, both animals have minds of their own and will do what they please. I would also wait at least 6 months before trying one, even though you transferred everything I would still let the system mature.

[baron1282]

I can always just buy another Dual lamp T5 lighting system and hook it up to a timer. That wouldn't be an issue at all. A 48in lighting system would work to add a little extra lighting to my tank. I do have lamps already that could work, I would just need to buy new bulbs for them. Should I just make them both 10,000K white lights or should I just add one white and one blue in it?

They are cheap if I buy 2 30in ones and hook them up to a timer next to my 4 light lamp system. So lighting won't be an issue if I need to add on.

[bribo12]

Originally Posted by baron1282

I can always just buy another Dual lamp T5 lighting system and hook it up to a timer. That wouldn't be an issue at all. A 48in lighting system would work to add a little extra lighting to my tank. I do have lamps already that could work, I would just need to buy new bulbs for them. Should I just make them both 10,000K white lights or should I just add one white and one blue in it?

They are cheap if I buy 2 30in ones and hook them up to a timer next to my 4 light lamp system. So lighting won't be an issue if I need to add on.

So you will have a 4 bulb that spans the whole tank, right? But the 2 30in ones would do half the tank each right? I guess I'm kinda confused lol.

[baron1282]

Yes, the 4 light system is 60in.

T5 Quad 60" Timer Aquarium Light Marine Coral Reef Cichlid LED 320W Odyssea | eBay

I also got 5 of these lamps already (pics below). They are 48in. I am only able to add one because of the other light taking all the space in my hood. So I can not add two, but I did add it already to check it out. The worst I will have to do is just buy new bulbs for the light. I bought the 5 lamps from a pet store upgrading their lights. I got them for 5 bucks each. I never used them in my tank because I felt they did not provide enough light and they all wouldn't fit into my tank, plus it would have made a huge mess of wires. LOL

So as of right now, I got 6 lamps shining in my tank. 4 are 60in lamp and 2 are 48in lamps.

The ones in my 4 lamp fixture are only 2 weeks old and the ones in the 2 lamp fixture, I have no clue how old they are. :-p So I will need to replace them before I put the anemone in. I am also thinking of getting new whites for my 4 lamp fixture that are not Odyssea. I am just praying my Odyssea has no issues like so many say they have with them. :-p

I said I was going to buy two new 30in ones to span my whole tank before I realized I already had dual T5 lighting fixtures. I forgot about them. LOL

[bribo12]

Ah ok got it. Yeah adding 2 more would definitely help.

[baron1282]

The one light makes it look more purple in my tank.

Would you suggest just making the smaller fixture just two more white 10,000K bulbs and only have the 2 blue ones in my 60in unit?

[Bectan01]

I am not really sure that fixture is enough lighting for a nem - I had the same one on my 55g (but my tank was shallower) and it was still not enough and your tank is deeper. I do think a 6 or 8 bulb would be better - but they need to be along side the ones you have for them to be beneficial. I also struggled with temp when I had the T5 so switched to led, not to mention the cost with replacing the bulbs! I keep 2 bubble tip nems and my clowns host a hammer coral. Can't make them do what you want them to do!

[baron1282]

Bectan01

That is why I am adding another to make it a 6 T5 fixture. The fixture I have now fits right along side the other.

I can say one thing, the fixture I have is 10 times brighter than any fixture I have had in the past. This thing lights down to the very bottom of my tank. The lighting requirements for the bubble tip is between 2 to 4 watts per gallon and my fixture puts it to 3 watts per gallon. If I add another 2 10,000K lights, it should make my tank bright enough.

The only reason I want one now is because of my black clown fish, and truth be told if he does not host the anemone, I might just get a small 20 gallon tank and a strong light for it and set the tank up so I can start propagating the anemone. I could use the money to keep my hobby going without having to use money I earn from work which is very little. Especially now being I am having a daughter on the way. :-p

[Bectan01]

Ah I see. I guess if you have those fixtures go for it. I just was put off by the replacement bulb thing and if you are going to try and make a bit of cash out of this I would definitely consider led lighting, much more cost effective and no heat issues. Have you kept anemones before? They can be tricky to care for, I can't imagine propagating them,Too much hassle for me!

[Cichlid-dude]

Id wait a year or so before adding a nem. I learned this the hard and expensive way.

[baron1282]

Even when everything is already established? I have had everything in a tank for longer than a year. The sand has been populated since I had my 29 gallon a year and a half ago. I moved everything from my 29 to a 55 about about 6 months ago, and two weeks ago I moved everything to the 120 I have now.

I never rinsed my sand, I have always just stirred it up after I took most of the water out and sucked up the left over water. I then moved the sand to the new tank on top of fresh sand. I put only 60 pounds of new sand in my 120. I moved 90 pounds of old live sand from my old 55 to the 120.

My 100 pounds of rock have been in my 55 for 6 months. The oldest rock I have is more than a year old and that's 55 pounds.

All my filters are moved from the old tank to the new one. Everything in my tank is over a year old now. The only new thing in my tank is 60 pounds of normal sand that is on the bottom covered by my old live sand. The only new filter is my wet/dry for the bigger water supply.

So would you still wait a year, and why is it important to wait a year?

[baron1282]

If I were to propagate them, I would get LED lights. I watched people do it and it's really not that hard.

Really all you do is cut one in half to make two, and so on. It sounds harder than it really is. But you need to have a good tank set up when doing it because they need to heal after for about 30 mins.

There is more too it, but I want to learn so I can make money. If I choose to!

[BigRedsReefs10]

Originally Posted by baron1282

If I were to propagate them, I would get LED lights. I watched people do it and it's really not that hard.

Really all you do is cut one in half to make two, and so on. It sounds harder than it really is. But you need to have a good tank set up when doing it because they need to heal after for about 30 mins.

There is more too it, but I want to learn so I can make money. If I choose to!

IMHO this is an awful idea, I would never cut one of my nems in half to sell them, your more likely to kill them. If you want to subsidize the hobby why not try a zoa grow out/frag system. Z's/p's are extremely popular right now

[baron1282]

You may not cut one in half, but I will. Just because one person thinks it's awful does not make it wrong. A lot of the anemones you buy today where propagated this way to save the ocean from being plucked.

It does not kill them, and you don't do it every single day. Naturally they will split to make more, but this can be done artificially. Like I said its not a daily thing, and it does come with some risk, but if done correctly it can be profitable and save the ocean from people gathering them up and messing up the ecosystem. It's responsible fish keeping and its much like fragging corals. Like a worm you cut it in half it will grow a new worm.

I also would like to get into fragging corals as well.

[Mebbid]

I looked at fragging nems for a bit myself. Honestly, nems are way more fragile than corals and many times coral crags can tend to die off for no apatent reason. Adding on top of that nems can die from a small amount of damage to their foot and it turns into a risk vs reward thing. Personally, I would rather have a larger healthier nem than a few smaller ones id worry about dying. Its better to focus on coral fragging to make some extra money imho.

As for the age of the tank, I would give it at minimum 3 months before adding a nem. Switching over to a bigger tank can make things go haywire. Especially when you are keeping the old sand bed.

[baron1282]

Mebbid

I agree, I don't want to make this propagating thing the norm, I just want to make a few extra dollars to feed my hobby. It would also be nice knowing I helped save one anemone from being plucked out of the ocean. You know how many DIE just to feed our hobby, and we are worried about killing one trying to propagate it? The poor anemone is plucked from the ocean, put into buckets and then sits on the beach all day long in the sun. How many die from transportation? Yes it's risky, but without risk comes no reward. The reward would be a few extra dollars and knowing that I saved a few wild anemones.

We are all hypocrites in some way. We want to protect the ocean, and yet we take fish out of the ocean for our enjoyment. I know there is tons of fish out in the ocean, and I am sure our hobby really does not make a dent in the populations of the fish we like, but it still does not mean we can't try and breed our or propagate our own supply for the hobby.

We already ruined some parts of the ocean with introducing lion fish into parts they never were intended to be in. So I may want to risk killing one anemone to save many more, that does not make me irresponsible, it just means I want to make money and protect the ocean in my own small way.

I am not going to get the anemone first, I am going to get my fish all in the tank before I get the anemone. It might take me longer then 3 months to get 5 more fish. Plus I got to wait for the filtration to catch up.

I always have kept the old sand bed, but I always stirred it up and sucked up the dirty water. I have had tons of success keeping the sand bed and not having to worry about full tank cycle.