BTA behavior

[terryw]

New Anemone 10 days.
It secured in the same spot but every 2 or 3 days it’s shrinks. open fully at night and most of the day, but when it shrinks sometimes it has stuff coming out of middle.. I have fish that are 12 years old and the tank has always had higher nitrate and phosphate levels no matter what I do.
40% water changes 45 days.
Refugee 4 months old doesn’t seem to grow cheato but Cayno and GHA .
Elegance coral seems good.
Setup is 55G with 20G refugee.
4 fish, 2-3 SPS and LPS.
PO4- 1
PH- 8.2
NO3 - 80ppm
Salinity. 1.026
Alkalinity- 14.
New to using salifert test. It’s it’s correct I know it’s too high. Taking sample to LFS.. it could be based on mistakenly topped off with 2.5 gallons of Red Sea Coral Pro vs RODI.

Any suggestions or advice. Thanks

 

[Reefer1978]

Stuff coming out -- I believe it's just pooping.

 

[TX_REEF]

that first picture doesn't look good at all, mouth should be closed and tight. Do you run a skimmer? What do you do for filtration? If I were you I'd do something to lower N and P, unless all the other corals and inhabitants are happy. Are they? For water changes, I'd strongly recommend smaller more frequent water changes which will help with stability that your anemone (and everything else in your tank) craves. If you're doing a 45% water change, that means you're effectively reducing your N and P by 45%, which is shocking to inhabitants. A good rule of thumb is 10% weekly, if you're doing water changes.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Yes I believe it is pooping. Wether it's expelling zooxanthellae or excreting waste, who knows. It probably is not happy, though, given those parameters.

 

[KrisReef]

Presuming you are doing 45% water changes every 45 days?

Try doing two of those a week apart and see if the nem is happier? It seems to be trying to purge in the picture, but it looks ok otherwise.

I might also add a ployfilter in the water flow to collect other pollutants that might be present and bothering it?

Mine in my fish tank are starting to complain so I am going to increase my water changes going forward to keep them happy. I have no idea what my P or NO3 is currently but they are getting restless and moving about so I'm thinking they want some fresh water to live in.

 

[Spare time]

If you want the refugium to take off, I recommend dosing chaetogro and adding some turbo snails down there.

 

[TX_REEF]

and I also agree, 14 alk is too high. 2.5 gallons of saltwater instead of rodi for top off wouldn't have that affect without also affecting your salinity, which looks fine. Definitely get a second test for alk. If budget allows, I recommend the hannah digital alk tester: https://amzn.to/3L0o4zH

 

[Spare time]

To be fair I don't think anemones care about alk at all.

 

[TX_REEF]

To be fair I don't think anemones care about alk at all.

I'm not an expert on the topic but i think 14 alk may dangerous to inhabitants regardless... I may be mistaken, I'm sure @Randy Holmes-Farley would know for sure.

 

[D-Nak]

To be fair I don't think anemones care about alk at all.

They actually do. The closer to natural salt water conditions, the better. Any parameter that's way off will tick them off.

 

[terryw]

that first picture doesn't look good at all, mouth should be closed and tight. Do you run a skimmer? What do you do for filtration? If I were you I'd do something to lower N and P, unless all the other corals and inhabitants are happy. Are they? For water changes, I'd strongly recommend smaller more frequent water changes which will help with stability that your anemone (and everything else in your tank) craves. If you're doing a 45% water change, that means you're effectively reducing your N and P by 45%, which is shocking to inhabitants. A good rule of thumb is 10% weekly, if you're doing water changes.

 

[terryw]

Thanks for all the support and advice. This is been traditionally fish only and it’s done very well with some over 12 years old. I added the sump 3 months thinking control nutrients once I added better Lighting to go with SPS/LPs.

Filtration:
Fluval FX6, mixed foam density w/2 trays as biohome ultimate media.
HOB protein skimmer.
Trigger Systems Emerald26 Refugium.
Setup as foam filtration from overflow.
1st chamber mix of Ceramic bio, biohome ultimate, marine pure block.
2nd is Cheato only chamber w small pump to spin. Light over section is a full spectrum 460-660nm. Foam filter between Last sump pump.
Cheato last about 3 weeks before falling apart.

smaller water changes more frequently is great advice I will start.

The BTA only opened the middle twice. It seems to be a day after feeding.

I did try brightwell chaetogrow. Didn’t help.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

just pooping, if you're feeding it, maybe hold off for a few days

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Thanks for all the support and advice. This is been traditionally fish only and it’s done very well with some over 12 years old. I added the sump 3 months thinking control nutrients once I added better Lighting to go with SPS/LPs.

Filtration:
Fluval FX6, mixed foam density w/2 trays as biohome ultimate media.
HOB protein skimmer.
Trigger Systems Emerald26 Refugium.
Setup as foam filtration from overflow.
1st chamber mix of Ceramic bio, biohome ultimate, marine pure block.
2nd is Cheato only chamber w small pump to spin. Light over section is a full spectrum 460-660nm. Foam filter between Last sump pump.
Cheato last about 3 weeks before falling apart.

smaller water changes more frequently is great advice I will start.

The BTA only opened the middle twice. It seems to be a day after feeding.

Then the reason it is opening its mouth is because it's pooping; but I have never seen an anemone open it's mouth that wide unless it was on its way out.

 

[TX_REEF]

Thanks for all the support and advice. This is been traditionally fish only and it’s done very well with some over 12 years old. I added the sump 3 months thinking control nutrients once I added better Lighting to go with SPS/LPs.

Filtration:
Fluval FX6, mixed foam density w/2 trays as biohome ultimate media.
HOB protein skimmer.
Trigger Systems Emerald26 Refugium.
Setup as foam filtration from overflow.
1st chamber mix of Ceramic bio, biohome ultimate, marine pure block.
2nd is Cheato only chamber w small pump to spin. Light over section is a full spectrum 460-660nm. Foam filter between Last sump pump.
Cheato last about 3 weeks before falling apart.

smaller water changes more frequently is great advice I will start.

The BTA only opened the middle twice. It seems to be a day after feeding.

agree maybe hold off on feeding and let it relax for a bit.. what do you feed it and how often?

 

[Spare time]

In what way? What evidence do you have for that? I've kept anemones with an alk of 12-13 with no issue.

 

[Spare time]

They actually do. The closer to natural salt water conditions, the better. Any parameter that's way off will tick them off.

In what way? What evidence do you have for that? I've kept anemones with an alk of 12-13 with no issue. They don't have the same problems that stony corals do with high alk.

 

[Spare time]

I'm not an expert on the topic but i think 14 alk may dangerous to inhabitants regardless... I may be mistaken, I'm sure @Randy Holmes-Farley would know for sure.

I know it can cause issues with stony corals but since anemones lack a calcium carbonate body, I can't see how it would influence them other than pH issues when dosing alk.

 

[terryw]

Target feed every 2 days. smalls cuts from frozen calamari, shrimp octopus, muscles.

Regular feeding is prime reef flakes., pellets mysis. Weekly reef pulse for star polyps.

food is gone within a few minutes before restarting pumps.

 

[TX_REEF]

Target feed every 2 days. smalls cuts from frozen calamari, shrimp octopus, muscles.

Regular feeding is prime reef flakes., pellets mysis. Weekly reef pulse for star polyps.

I wouldn't feed more than 1-2x a week.. I feed mine at this tempo and they never expel any excess. Also make sure the food you are feeding is raw, thawed and doesn't contain any shells/bones that may be later expelled as waste. Yes I know anemones in the wild eat whole fish/other organisms, bones shells and all, but in our tanks I think it's prudent to reduce waste if possible since our water volume is obviously more finite and prone to pollution than the ocean.