What size tank?
55 gal tank and 15 gal refugium
What lights?
2 20 kelvin halides and 2 vho actinics 100 watt. Both are only a few months old.
What are your actual water parameters -- numbers please, include SG/salinity
Salinity- 1.025
pH- 8.2 (last time I personally checked, which was last week)
Calcium; >480 (over 480)
No detectable Nitrites
No detectable Nitrates
No detectable Ammonia
No detectable Phosphates
What all is in the tank, livestock wise.
AQUARIUM: 2 ocellaris clownfish, ~1.5-2 inches; 2 blue-green chromis, ~1.5 inches; 1 lawnmower blenny, ~2.5 inches.
2 Emerald Crabs; 1 Sally Light Foot Crab; 1 Halloween Hermit Crab; 10 Blue-Legged Hermit Crabs in Aquarium; 5 Red Hermit Crabs; 7 Large Turbo Snails; 5 small turbo snails; 15 small nassarius/sand-sifting snails; 10-15 other hermit crabs and snails.
REFUGIUM: Chaeto; 2 Blue-Legged Hermit Crabs; 2 Red Hermit Crabs; 3 Large Turbo Snails; 3 small sand-sifting snails; probably 2-3 other hermit crabs
Are you using RO/DI water? If so, what is the TDS?
Yes. Our TDS is zero.
About two months ago, we had a relatively small hair algae outbreak. Thinking we maybe had phosphates in our water that just wasn't being detected (after all, only a sample of the water gets tested), my boyfriend went ahead and decided to purchase new filters. When he called the company to order them, he ended up just buying a new RO/DI Unit (with new filters of course) because they gave him a "great deal" (I'm sure it really was, but you know how salesmen can be). Now we have an air water ice 4 stage unit. We used to have a 3 stage Aqua FX unit. We mix the RO/DI water with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. We end up topping it off about one every 2 or 3 days and do a 10-15% water change about every 2 weeks.
What did you try to feed it?
I tried to feed it the following frozen food thawed in its own aquarium water in a cup, then squirted with a syringe into its mouth: Hikari Baby Brine Shrimp, Hikari Brine Shrimp, San Francisco Bay Marine Cuisine. The only foods in the tank are the naturally occurring pods, the de-thawed frozen foods listed above fed every day or every other day, and about a 2x3" dried sheet of Nori Seaweed every 2 or 3 days for the turbo snails and crabs.
How large is the anemone?
As big as it can be, it is about 4 inches across. As small as it has been getting, it is probably only 1.5 inches at its smallest.
How large is the clown?
The Orange Ocellaris is a little closer to 2 inches, MAYBE two inches max but I doubt it and it is hard to tell. The Black Ocellaris is closer to 1.5 inches.
A few other things:
We have a small female Emerald Crab that was hiding in the rocks where the anemone was attached and I think was bugging the Anemone foot. I tried to get her out to put her in the refugium, but she kept going back into the rock. I haven't seen her or the other male emerald crab since (about a week to week and a half ago) and figured they were either molting, mating or both. Then again, I usually work from home but have been working from my mothers house recently as I have been housesitting for her this past week. I go back either tonight or tomorrow. Since my boyfriend is away from the house all day and exhausted at night, the emerald crabs could be coming out and tormenting the anemone, but I would think the anemone would move? I even put extra rubble at the base of the rock, in case it wanted to move down there. That same day I noticed the emerald crab bothering it, I noticed the anemone had moved over slightly. I then went to these forums and read previously existing threads (as to not bug people with my problems if there was already an answer listed) and thought that maybe it wasn't getting enough flow. I then moved it higher up in the tank (borderline between the top and middle third of the tank) and rotated it a hair towards the pump. The tentacles weren't waving like crazy, but just had a slight flow from the current. It also is more exposed and no longer in a corner between two rocks. My boyfriend is taking a picture when he gets home.
This all may be too much information, but I have found on this forum and in this hobby, that God is in the details and that too much information is better than too little information. If it is too much, I sincerely apologize. I tend to give too much information and I am still figuring out how to form appropriate questions and responses on this forum.
Any help anyone has would be very very much appreciated and thank you two so much for responding to my original post!