anemones and lighting

[hawk]

i,m setting up my first anemone tank and am new to reef keeping.
my tank is 32" x 15" x 22" and need advice on lighting.my plans for occupents are the anemone a couple of clowns,blennies,shrimp and polips. so please give me so direction on this.....thanks

[kccmc]

I have a carpet anem. bright green who lives in a 90 gallon tank at the bottom and i use just power compacts 96watts x 4 and 2 NO 40 watt blue spectrum. and its doing great

[GN138]

I was just @ Ocean Journey in Denver, CO and noticed that they had several tanks with huge anenome's and NO LIGHT. These ranged in size from the size of a small fist to the size of a basketball. Kind of wierd I thought....

[Reefland]

Hey gang and Welcome to Reefland!

I would go with the most intense light I could add; metal halide preferrably. You might browse through some of these threads for some additional info:
http://www.reefland.com/forum/search.php?searchid=10465

For a LFS to keep their anemones with no light is uncalled for, but not surprising; they never seem to surprise me anymore.

Regards,
Scott Z.

[zhenya]

All host anemones contain zoxanthellae and are photosyntetic and derive part of their nutrition from it. Perhaps NO light was ment as normal output fluorescent bulbs but no lights would be VERY wrong. I suppose LFS could keep them with normal output bulbs for a SHORT period of time but I highly doubt that this animals could be sustained for longer periods under such lights and would eventually bleach and then die after that. I totally agree with Scott that strong to intense light is prefered but enough PC's or VHO bulbs could work as well,providing that you feed your animal as often as it would accept food.

Here's another link to an article if you have not read it yet http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/intro.html
and another,
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen8.html

Hawk,

I would do my research first by reading anything that you can about anemones and clownfishes and what makes it work in keeping them and then make the decision on what type of animals to buy.

Good luck!

[hawk]

You might browse through some of these threads for some additional info:
http://www.reefland.com/forum/search.php?searchid=10465
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Hawk,

I would do my research first by reading anything that you can about anemones and clownfishes and what makes it work in keeping them and then make the decision on what type of animals to buy.

Good luck!
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thanks and points well taken....Mr Reefland and Zhenya

after reading the post anemone health i am surprised,i have a friend who keep an anemone for 6 months before shutting down his tank.i only saw it maybe 4 or 5 times and it always looked great.
he had a very basic set up,30 gallon tank,reverse flow under gravel filter powered by a canister filter with poly-filter inside. live rock and i clown

[zhenya]

Hawk,

6month is not a very long time if you consider that this animals can live for centuries or maybe even indefinitely ;)
I have one anemone that is in my tank for over two years but I don't consider this as great success and not even moderate yet. After I have it and keep it alive and growing for 5 or more years I might start thinking that I've been moderately successful ;)

[Elmo18]

IMO, a bubble tip anemone, either rose or regular green ones can be kept under PC's and VHOs. Had them in a VHO system of 4x110 and showed no problems. I did, however, have 2x55 pc's over a 25 gallon with a regular bubble tip, and it did not fare well, even with feedings.

Also suggest putting it higher up if it is a Bubble tip anemone, although they move around anyway. However, as Gene and others have said, metal halides is your best bet. Long tentacled anemones and carpets prefer sandy bottoms, which mean more depth of water the light must penetrate. Plus, if you have clams, they will appreciate the extra light

- Elmo

[zhenya]

The thing about BTA's and H.crispa or the LTA is that they prefer to have their foot in the shady spot and then just stretch out and bask their crowns under the light. I have my rose BTA under 250w MH and as you'll see in the pic bellow it still stretches far to get more light instead of just moving to the top and taking residence there.