Anemone wont grow

[Manny’s Reef]

I've got a rose bubble tip anemone that I've had for a little over a year now. It was small when I got it. It's probably just 20% larger than a half dollar. It's moved around the tank until finally landing on a spot where it's been since January. I also have a pink bubble tip anemone on the opposite end of the tank. Got it fairly small and its tentacles are now about 6" long. Both have beautiful colors under 5 kessil a360x. Parameters are stable and taken care of with the Neptune trident. The anemone doesn't look unhealthy. It looks amazing, just tiny. Any idea why?

Ca: 435
Alk: 9.1
Mag: 1385
Nitrate : 3
PO4: .08
SG: 1.025

Tank was established on December 24 last year but the anemone came over from my 300. Just seems weird. I'll try and catch a picture of it.

 

[Spare time]

How often does it get fed? Your tank is considered a ULNS, which could be the reason for slow growth. Could the other anemone possibly be catching more food? Any idea of the par levels at each of the spots where you have an anemone?

 

[jplace003]

Feed it krill every couple days, krill are high in Iodine which is critical for their growth. I switched to krill and my anemones have grown so much.

 

[Spare time]

Feed it krill every couple days, krill are high in Iodine which is critical for their growth. I switched to krill and my anemones have grown so much.

Any idea where that info comes from? I am curious as I have never heard anything about anemones and iodine. I also don't think OP's tank would be low in iodine unless op has a reason to believe so. Again, not saying anemones don't need iodine, I just can't find any reliable info on that.

 

[Angle 2 Dangle]

6 minutes into this video the host talks about dosing iodine after having a drop in iodine levels in his Anemone tank. He only quotes "people telling him" to check it. But I would suppose if his levels were low, at least lower than the iodine levels of the salt he uses, it could be deduced that the anemones are consuming it.

 

[laverda]

BTAs like a lot of light and higher nitrates. I am not surprised it is not growing with you low nitrates. They can uptake nitrates directly as a food source. As far as iodine goes I think it it like any other water parameters and needs to be kept at proper levels. If there are enough nitrates and light there is no need to feed them. I would also point out that as far as I know there are no true pink BTAs. Plenty of stores sell RBTAs that are bleached and pink.

 

[Manny’s Reef]

BTAs like a lot of light and higher nitrates. I am not surprised it is not growing with you low nitrates. They can uptake nitrates directly as a food source. As far as iodine goes I think it it like any other water parameters and needs to be kept at proper levels. If there are enough nitrates and light there is no need to feed them. I would also point out that as far as I know there are no true pink BTAs. Plenty of stores sell RBTAs that are bleached and pink.

There are two anemones in my tank. One has tripled in size within about 6 months. One has done nothing over a year. I’m sure lights are not the issue. If I don’t start my SPS low in the tank, they will bleach within the day.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Feed it krill every couple days, krill are high in Iodine which is critical for their growth. I switched to krill and my anemones have grown so much.

Every couple of days is considered power feeding. There's no need to power feed anenomes.

There are two anemones in my tank. One has tripled in size within about 6 months. One has done nothing over a year. I’m sure lights are not the issue. If I don’t start my SPS low in the tank, they will bleach within the day.

Some anenomes just grow very slowly. One of my oldest non split nems (rbta) has been roughly the same size for a year while others in the same tank have doubled in size, split, and doubled in size again.