Concerned about my anemone :(

[Bryce M.]

I'm so sorry but you should have not gotten a nem, from what I see your tank is new, I'd wait a year for nem, that substrate........ i-is that fresh water planted sub? if it take it out ASAP
your lighting, to the person that was saying freshwater planted lights would be just fine for a reef tank and it's just how colorful the corals all. that is wrong, completely and utterly wrong. our reefs need a special spectrum and intensity of lighting. white light is at the bottom of that list, you cannot keep a reef on white light alone, it's impossible. Fresh water plants and corals are different, corals are not plants. They need a whole different type of lighting, this also includes nems
and yes
don't go to that LFS

 

[crobs808]

Thank you all for the feedback thus far. It's very helpful! I appreciate it. My next step is to buy a glass top lids to replace the plastic LED hoods, because I DON'T want an open top tank (closed top makes maintenance of salt levels and nutrients way easier since evaporation is minimized). Then I'll get a light that can just lay flat across the glass top.

To answer some questions...

The substrate is safe, it's official CaribSea AgraAlive sand, just slightly bigger granules, BRS link here: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/hawaiian-black-arag-alive-live-reef-sand.html

As far as white light causing a lot of algae growth, things seem to be pretty under control with my cleanup crew. I have five turbo snails, five or six nassarius, an blue tuxedo urchin, a cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs, etc

For those asking for a picture of his column, here's one from today for anyone who can identify the species/type. He's definitely long tentacle, not bubble tip. He's continuing to climb up and wedge between these two rock columns so I guess that confirms he's trying to get more light?

 

[OrionN]

That is a M. doreensis, or LTA. He need a deep sand bed to be happy.
if you don’t have a sump, you must have open top for air exchange. The tank gets hypoxic at night so I highly recommend not cover the tank with glass.
Certain fish, wrasses, can jump very hard and will get fatally injured with glass top.

 

[crobs808]

That is a M. doreensis, or LTA. He need a deep sand bed to be happy.
if you don’t have a sump, you must have open top for air exchange. The tank gets hypoxic at night so I highly recommend not cover the tank with glass.
Certain fish, wrasses, can jump very hard and will get fatally injured with glass top.

I may replace the black CaribSea with their FijiPink sand that has smaller granules, but that's a bigger project as it'd take hours and I'd have to remove everything.

I have one powerheads agitating the surface, and bubbles are coming up and dispersing. I also have an algae reactor to help with the water levels. I'll agree the light needs to be swapped out (will do that mid March when I get $$ to do so) but water quality doesn't seem to be harming anything I don't think.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Long tentacle anemone and needs blue /uv rays in addition to white and moderate water flow

 

[crobs808]

Would two Kessil A80s ($130*2 = $260) cover that tank? It's a traditional long 55gal (pic on first page of thread). Or would I need to get something like a longer Kessil AP700 ($800 - ouch)

Also...if I swap out my substrate, do you recommend CaribSea FijiPink or another?

 

[Jet Sled]

Get a couple black box LED's. like 200 bucks for two of them. will be your best bang for your buck. You can grow anything under them

 

[Kodski]

Personally I don't think two A80's will provide enough light. You're better off going the route of black box LED's honestly. A single 300w or two 165w black box's will be perfect and then you can put pretty much any coral under them.

 

[crobs808]

Well, my anemone was looking sad around noon today...

I did a 30% water change this afternoon, then moved my anemone to the highest most point in the middle of my tank where it's get more light and he's looking a little better, what do you think?

Same guy...lookinf a bit browner Maybe I'll get by like this until I can get those "blackbox" lights (Is that a specific brand by the way? Is there a specific model number I need?)

 

[Gernader]

@crobs808 there are many black box models available. The brands that I recommend are Mars Aqua or Viparspectra on Amazon. I have a 165W mars aqua and it’s making all of my corals happy including SPS. Even, my anemone is growing and looks great.

 

[crobs808]

Oh ok, so by blackbox you just mean generic. I saw this Amazon one, 300W for $200.


I could afford two of those actually. Do I need that much or just one? Tank is about 3.5ft wide and 2ft deep.

 

[Arthacker87]

Mars aqua 300 watt 36in over my 65g clams sps acro nem.

 

[P-Dub]

Yup. "S" Boxes. Best bang for the buck. The photo in my signature is lit primarily by 3 SBReefLight Basic 16 inch black boxes.

 

[Admann]

Please give the nem to someone with an established reef tank until yours is sorted out.

 

[crobs808]

Please give the nem to someone with an established reef tank until yours is sorted out.

Why? How will I learn then? It's not a human child at stake here.

 

[OrionN]

Why? How will I learn then? It's not a human child at stake here.

While it is not a human, your anemone doesn't get the care it is needing, and most likely not going to make it.
You are a human, you should be able to learn from other people experiences, not just first hand by killing animals. How much emphasis and effort a reefer spend on taken care of his/her animal is of course individualized. However such callous attitude expressed above should probably best keep to yourself.

 

[Admann]

While it is not a human, your anemone doesn't get the care it is needing, and most likely not going to make it.
You are a human, you should be able to learn from other people experiences, not just first hand by killing animals. How much emphasis and effort a reefer spend on taken care of his/her animal is of course individualized. However such callous attitude expressed above should probably best keep to yourself.

Thank you for explaining that, I wasn't sure how to.

 

[MichaelReefer]

The fact that your LFS sold you an Anemone when you were only using cheap LED hood lights is a problem. That hood is made for like a fish only tank.

 

[snowhite]

Non Reef Light that's not strong enough will be your problem. Anemones take a lot of specific light.

 

[crobs808]

Hmm, you probably misread. I don't have a "callous attitude" at all, and didn't mean it to come across that way. I've worked for shelters, rescues, caring/loving all animals. I'm the guy that tells at others "Don't step on the brain corals!" very emphatically when snorkeling.

My anemone is already looking happier at higher elevation in the tank. Assume positive intent, don't read into my words pls Thanks.

I have all the info I need now to make this better Will get a 300W blackbox light very soon!!