Anemone closed up could ph be the culprit?

[Michael Stetz]

My Red BTA has been closed up for at least a month or 2. I took a picture and a water sample to my lfs yesterday.

Parameters:
Alk-3.76
Salinity-1.024
Mg-1290
Ca-460
Po4-0.03
Ph-8.0

The water sample was taken in the morning about 2 hrs after lights ramped up. I do run a chaeto reactor on an opposite light cycle.

Other than the BTA the tank is a 20G long FOWLR.

The owner suggested my ph might be the problem and sold me a buffer that states it will not raise alk.

I do not dose anything I just do biweekly water changes. I am hesitant to get into dosing and would like to keep it natural and low tech.

I always spot fed the BTA with mysis about 2 times per week prior to it closing up.

Should I get into buffering ph or is that a losing battle since I was close to the low acceptable range?

Here is a pic of the anemone the buffer.

 

[zachxlutz]

pH is likely not the culprit. 8.0 is fine and well within range.

Alk = 3.76 meq/l??? = 10.528h dkH. Alk may be a little high but I doubt that is causing problems.

Nitrates? What sort of flow? What sort of lighting? What is lighting schedule? Do you know PAR numbers? How long has tank been running?

 

[Michael Stetz]

The Jaebo PP-4 is on the opposite side running with 3 bulbs lit. There are 2 Eheim compact 1000 returns. One feeds my macro reactor and the other is just the AIO return. Flow was always decent but never overpowering, and he has never move to seek more or less light. My light is a orbit Marine led by current. All API test kit parameters were 0. Tank has been up for 11 months. I'm not sure I'm par but the anemone is about 6 inches from the light.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

The owner suggested my ph might be the problem and sold me a buffer that states it will not raise alk.

First, how did you measure the pH? Is the measurement accurate? If so, I doubt the pH is the issue. Many reefers struggle to get a pH of 8.0 or greater without dosing anything.

Second, there is no buffer or additive that I know of that will raise pH and won't affect carbonate alkalinity. Aquavitro Balance is a sodium and potassium hydroxide product. To understand how hydroxide will raise your carbonate alkalinity, check out Randy's article on kalkwasser. To sum it up, hyrdoxide combines with atmospheric carbon dioxide to form bicarbonate, which is the main contributor to alkalinity in a reef tank. The only difference between a product like Aquavitro Balance and kalkwasser is that kalkwasser is calcium hydroxide. Aquavitro Balance is sodium and potassium hydroxide.

That's not to say that dosing a hydroxide-based additive is a bad thing. Dripping kalkwasser or adding calcium hydroxide to your topoff water can be a very effective way to manage carbonate alkalinity, calcium and pH. It just can be limited by the tank's carbonate and calcium consumption.

The only effective long-term solution to manage pH without additives is to control the amount of CO2 dissolved in the tank water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The owner suggested my ph might be the problem and sold me a buffer that states it will not raise alk.

Normally I'd blast the giver of incorrect advice, which that is, but in this case, ALL of the blame goes to Aquavitro who make the untrue claim (as Chipmunk notes).

That product does increase alkalinity, and there is no product that can be added to a reef aquarium that raises pH and not alkalinity.

pH 8.0 is no concern to an anemone, and assuming your alkalinity measurement is in meq/L (3.76), that isn't a problem either.

 

[Michael Stetz]

So could anyone else think of a reason for my anemone closing up for all this time?

If it was lighting or flow wouldn't it have moved to find more affordable conditions?

Lighting schedule:

Channel 1 (actinic)
On 0800
Off 1600
Max intensity 80%
Min intensity 30%

Channel 2 (white)
On 0830
Off 1500
Max intensity 40%
Min intensity 0%

I realize 40% white probably sounds really low but I have also ran it on preset timer M1 which is 100% for a while with no notable change. I remember lowering the intensity prior to installing my macro algae reactor to prevent algae growth. Apparently I never raised that setting back up. I bumped them up to 75% for the time being.

If low light was the problem wouldn't it stretch towards the light source and or move it's foot higher?

 

[joekool]

Hey bud,

To answer your question yes your BTA will move to a location that suits it best so don't necessarily worry about that.

There was a question asked of you.... Was the test of your water at the LFS for the Alk reading DKh? or meq/L

If it was DKh then Houston we have a problem. Please clarify this question for us???

Another note. I notice not to much in the tank is it fairly new???

I also noticed you are only running your lights for 8 hours but sense you don't have any real corals inhabiting your tank than it would be fine. 12 hours is what most people run on there tank total with ramp up and down. Now don't go changing it just because I said something but when your ready for corals I would suggest slowly increasing your lighting hours.

 

[Michael Stetz]

It must have been meq/L because he said it was acceptable and if anything on the high side.

The tank is about 11 months old and I don't plan on adding a ton of coral anytime soon. Maybe a torch or hammer but that's about all. If I can't keep this BTA happy I probably shouldn't hurt anything else

I am very new to the chemistry side of things other than just my API saltwater test kit.

 

[Michael Stetz]

As far as lighting I would be happy to increase the duration of lighting it will give me more time to view the tank thank you for the suggestion. I only had them cut down to prevent algae growth early on but that seems to be under control now. I will slowly increase duration.

 

[Forsaken77]

It must have been meq/L because he said it was acceptable and if anything on the high side.

The tank is about 11 months old and I don't plan on adding a ton of coral anytime soon. Maybe a torch or hammer but that's about all. If I can't keep this BTA happy I probably shouldn't hurt anything else

I am very new to the chemistry side of things other than just my API saltwater test kit.

Anemones can actually be more difficult than some other corals.

 

[joekool]

Also just so you know sometimes the BTA will not inflate it's tips so don't take that as a sign of it not being happy they could not inflate them for months on end sometimes

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Also just so you know sometimes the BTA will not inflate it's tips so don't take that as a sign of it not being happy they could not inflate them for months on end sometimes

I've had some where the tips in the brightest light inflate to bulbs, and those on the same anemone in more shaded stayed as tubes.

 

[Michael Stetz]

Yeah I have heard that lol. But with just one I thought i might be able to get away with frequent waterchanges and zero or minimal dosing

 

[Michael Stetz]

Also just so you know sometimes the BTA will not inflate it's tips so don't take that as a sign of it not being happy they could not inflate them for months on end sometimes

Joecool do you mean it would look like the pic for months or do you just mean the tips may not "bubble"? This one always had nice bubble tips until it closed up

 

[fnlyreefready]

Anemones can actually be more difficult than some other corals.

I agree nems are actually a pain and the slightest swing in any parameter/ water chemistry can literally make them fall apart. They are not for the faint of heart. And honestly if you don’t have your heart set on having one..... rehome it. I had my alk drop almost 2 weeks ago and even tho all of my corals have recovered. My bta stays closed. I would recommend having a dosing system to make sure everything stays perfect. If you choose to manually dose. Test 24/7 not just when things are acting funny. I recommend testing during weekly maintenance Much love. And good luck

 

[DeniableArc]

Have I missed it or has anyone questioned 0 nitrates and phosphates?

 

[LeftyReefer]

I'd probably try to feed it.
In a tank that clean, it may be struggling for nutrients.

You say its been closed for a month... when does it open/close exactly? does it open at all at night?

 

[Cory]

What are you using to measure salinity?

 

[fnlyreefready]

I'd probably try to feed it.
In a tank that clean, it may be struggling for nutrients.

You say its been closed for a month... when does it open/close exactly? does it open at all at night?

You guys must not have seen I posted on a 3 year old post lol sorry guys