When will I be ready for a ANEMONE

[Hannahmunt]

My 150 litre tank has been running for 22 days now with live sand and live rock.

I currently have Xenia on one of the rocks.

in the tank I have 3 chromis, 2 juvenile clowns and a small emerald green crab.

I’d like to add a bubble tip anemone for the clowns but not sure if I should wait a few months.

my water parameters are:

Alkalinity: 8.4
Nitrate: 8.1
Phrosphate: 0.17
Ph: 7.8
Calcium: 480
Salinity: 1.022
Temperature: 25c
lighting is fluval marine 3.0

 

[blaxsun]

I would probably wait at least another month before getting an anemone as your tank is still relatively new. Anemones will also need occasional supplemental feeding, so that's something you should plan for when you do get one. Note that most clownfish take a while to "figure it out" with respect to homing an anemone.

 

[Goaway]

Is this your first reef?

 

[Hannahmunt]

Is this your first reef?

Yes it is

 

[JonezNReef]

I would read up on treating sick anemones so your prepared for that. But if your water stays stable for a while and you make it past the ugly stage you should be ready then

 

[Hannahmunt]

What species anemone are you trying to keep?

Bubble tip, I’ve read this is the best beginner one.

 

[jda]

If you wanna be really safe, when your tank completely stabilizes and coralline starts to grow... could be 4-6 months and past the ugly phases. I know that nobody wants to hear that and most will get one sooner, but be prepared for the mess of a dying 'nem if it goes south.

BTAs are very hardy in a solid setup, but really nasty when they die.

 

[Goaway]

Yes it is

Give your tank time to go through ugly phases and visible coraline growth.

This is around a 6 month mark. If you can't wait. Only buy a bubble tip that was born in captivity.

They are still sensitive to fluctuations in water chemistry. Which can take a year to become stable.

 

[MaxTremors]

I recommend waiting until your tank is at least 9-12 months old, especially if you used dry rock. It’s not fully understood as of yet, but there is a quality of mature tanks, beyond the stability of the parameters we test for, that anemones and some corals seem to need to truly thrive. I think it’s most likely bacterial, or having a stable and balanced biome (new tanks are very volatile bacterially). IME, a 2-3 month old tank is nowhere near mature enough. An anemone may survive this early in your tanks life, but it’s very unlikely to thrive. In immature tanks we see anemones splitting far more often than they should (a healthy anemone puts resources into reproducing sexually), looking stringy and unhealthy, having drab coloration, looking sort of translucent, and that’s if they don’t slowly degrade and die.

Also, the Fluval Marine 3.0 is not adequate for a BTA. It might be okay if you added a second one, but even that might not be adequate (especially if your rockwork isn’t very high, where it can’t get right under the light). My advice to you would be to let your tank mature and in the meantime upgrade your lighting.

 

[Hannahmunt]

I recommend waiting until your tank is at least 9-12 months old, especially if you used dry rock. It’s not fully understood as of yet, but there is a quality of mature tanks, beyond the stability of the parameters we test for, that anemones and some corals seem to need to truly thrive. I think it’s most likely bacterial, or having a stable and balanced biome (new tanks are very volatile bacterially). IME, a 2-3 month old tank is nowhere near mature enough. An anemone may survive this early in your tanks life, but it’s very unlikely to thrive. In immature tanks we see anemones splitting far more often than they should (a healthy anemone puts resources into reproducing sexually), looking stringy and unhealthy, having drab coloration, looking sort of translucent, and that’s if they don’t slowly degrade and die.

Also, the Fluval Marine 3.0 is not adequate for a BTA. It might be okay if you added a second one, but even that might not be adequate (especially if your rockwork isn’t very high, where it can’t get right under the light). My advice to you would be to let your tank mature and in the meantime upgrade your lighting.

What light would you recommend. I’ve got a budge of around £200

 

[Sleeping Giant]

1 Noopsyche K7 V3 140w for light would be good.
The Fluval Marine 3.0 will work fine for quite awhile, since your tank is newer and will take some time to go through its stages the light isn't too worrisome for you yet.
I had the same Fluval Marine LED light on my 75 gallon with no issue, I had anemones and a toadstool growing perfectly fine under it.
There are light settings on here for the Fluval Marine that you can search up that might help you.

 

[Hannahmunt]

1 Noopsyche K7 V3 140w for light would be good.
The Fluval Marine 3.0 will work fine for quite awhile, since your tank is newer and will take some time to go through its stages the light isn't too worrisome for you yet.
I had the same Fluval Marine LED light on my 75 gallon with no issue, I had anemones and a toadstool growing perfectly fine under it.
There are light settings on here for the Fluval Marine that you can search up that might help you.

I keep hearing mixed reviews on the fluval marine. I’ve been looking at the reef flare pro: https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/s...-factory-reef-flare-pro-s-blue-spectrum-black

 

[MaxTremors]

What light would you recommend. I’ve got a budge of around £200

I would also recommend the Noopsyche V3. It’s what I’m using (was using an AI Prime before), it’s an excellent light for the price (they retail for $280 USD, but are frequently on sale for 30-40% off, and they do ship worldwide). With regard to people saying the light you have is fine, it’s important to sort of unpack that. A lot of corals will survive under this light, they might even grow a little bit, but they will not thrive and you won’t get great coloration out of them. BTAs do best in 200-250 PAR, the Fluval Marine 3.0 at 12” directly under the light is pushing around 100 PAR, right at the surface an inch or so from the light the PAR is around 300, assuming your rockwork reaches up to around 2/3 the depth of the tank, an anemone at the peak of the rockwork would only be getting around 150 PAR (if the anemone even chooses to stay there). Strip lights like these with 0.5 or 0.25 watt LEDs just don’t penetrate into the water column very deeply. The spectrum also isn’t great, but that’s an entirely different issue. Something like the Noopsyche V3 will penetrate much deeper, has much better spectrum, and will allow you to keep pretty much anything (easily get 150 PAR on the sandbed and 200-300 PAR on your mid level and higher rockwork). You could also use the fluval in addition to the Noopsyche (or whatever light you choose) to get a more even spread/even coverage/less shadowing.

One last thing, you also want to keep your salinity at 1.025-1.026 (or 35ppt) once you start keeping corals/anemones.

 

[MaxTremors]

I keep hearing mixed reviews on the fluval marine. I’ve been looking at the reef flare pro: https://charterhouse-aquatics.com/s...-factory-reef-flare-pro-s-blue-spectrum-black

This is definitely better than the Fluval, but you could do much better for the price. This light is only 80 watts. The Noopsyche, for example, is 140 watts for nearly half as much (roughly £215). Wattage isn’t everything, it’s not the only spec you should look at, but it does give you an idea of a lights intensity.

 

[Bph]

I would wait at least 6 months.

 

[Hannahmunt]

This is definitely better than the Fluval, but you could do much better for the price. This light is only 80 watts. The Noopsyche, for example, is 140 watts for nearly half as much (roughly £215). Wattage isn’t everything, it’s not the only spec you should look at, but it does give you an idea of a lights intensity.

Just looked at the noopsyche, it wouldn’t for my tank. My tank is 77 cm long

 

[Goaway]

Just looked at the noopsyche, it wouldn’t for my tank. My tank is 77 cm long

That's ideal for 1x 140 w lamp.
Or look into smatfarm led lamp on amazon. Exact same lamp. Different look

Thread about smat farm.

Smat farms led from Amazon

Any body tried this light? Mine just arrived and everything other than the Mount seems fine. Wondering what the ideal settings for a 29 gallon cube would be.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[MaxTremors]

Just looked at the noopsyche, it wouldn’t for my tank. My tank is 77 cm long

77cm/30” is a tough width. You could likely get away with one Noopsyche, but the outer edges would be pretty low PAR. Any puck style light is going to have this problem on a tank that size, it’s right in between where one light would be sufficient and two lights are necessary.

 

[Koh23]

Stable system yes, but putting time mark is in best case guessing.....

I seen days old tanks with nems with no problems, also old tank who become graweyard for anemones....

Good lighting, adequate flow,healty specimen, and it reall dont matter how tank is old or young.....

And stable parameters, wich is not that hard to achieve in new tanks....

 

[Hannahmunt]

77cm/30” is a tough width. You could likely get away with one Noopsyche, but the outer edges would be pretty low PAR. Any puck style light is going to have this problem on a tank that size, it’s right in between where one light would be sufficient and two lights are necessary.

Yeah it a custom built one to fit into an empty space I had. Have attached a picture.