Loosing my anemones color

[shehzad]

Hello friends,

My name is shehzad and i am from india. I have very little knowledge about marine tanks as i am very new to this hobby. I have recently set a 36 x 18 x 15 (LxHxB) tank with 2 seabe clown, 1 three spot damsel, 1 pecock damsel and green and blue carpet anemones. After a week of introducing all these fishes in the tank, i am feeling that my Anemones are loosing it's color. I am feeding my anemone twice a week with a small pc of prone fish. The light i am using is full spectrum florecent white light. My water test kit shows normal levels of Amonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. What should i do to solve this problem? I want to see my carpet anemones back in bright eye catchy colors.

Please help me out...

[Parrothead]

Number 1 - exactly when did you set this tank up??????????????
Number 2 - That standard light will not support any type of ane.

I'm sure I'll have a couple of more questions after you answer my one question

[rluix]

By reading that you RECENTLY setted up the tank, i have a feeling that you bought everything without letting your tank cycle. Please Show us the test kit's Results. Then maybe we can tell you why your anemone its loosing its colour.

Thank you.

[shehzad]

Dear Bro,

On 3rd jan 2010 i introduce water with .024 gravity. I added crushed coral sand and 5 kgs of live rock on the next day. On 15th jan i added another 15kgs of rock for cycling purpose. On the same day I added 1 gram of BeneBecteria (AquaRemedies) and another 1 gram after one week. On 6th Feb (Sunday) i added the fishes and anemones all togather.

My fishes are taking food and doing good. Their colors are nice and bright, but the anemones are not giving me the same results

When jus two days back i tested my water (first time in my life) it showed me al normal results (The test kit manual says that). Well i dont know if anemones do need calcium, magnisium and all other suppliments in there food coz i dont have a test kit for all these minerals.

I bought this tubelight from a pet shop which says "Specially for Reef aquariums" . It is a Submarsible light which throws really strong. If i should not use this one then recomend me one. What should be the calculation.

will b waiting for your answer

Shehzad.

[rluix]

Dear Bro,

On 3rd jan 2010 i introduce water with .024 gravity. I added crushed coral sand and 5 kgs of live rock on the next day. On 15th jan i added another 15kgs of rock for cycling purpose. On the same day I added 1 gram of BeneBecteria (AquaRemedies) and another 1 gram after one week. On 6th Feb (Sunday) i added the fishes and anemones all togather.

My fishes are taking food and doing good. Their colors are nice and bright, but the anemones are not giving me the same results

When jus two days back i tested my water (first time in my life) it showed me al normal results (The test kit manual says that). Well i dont know if anemones do need calcium, magnisium and all other suppliments in there food coz i dont have a test kit for all these minerals.

I bought this tubelight from a pet shop which says "Specially for Reef aquariums" . It is a Submarsible light which throws really strong. If i should not use this one then recomend me one. What should be the calculation.

will b waiting for your answer

Shehzad.

What do you feed your anemone, and how many times per week?

[Parrothead]

Anyone who wants to contradict please feel free,

I Have never ever heard of a submersible aquarium light, heaters yes, somebody needs to go back to school

[Parrothead]

It's not a feeding issue, he does not have the proper lighting for one,

Also the tank is no where near mature enough to support the bio load he has in there, let alone support and anemone.

He should have waited and learned what he needed to do to support these creatures.

[Ninong]

Hi shehzad,




I'm afraid you moved too quickly in adding any anemones to your tank. It's much better to wait a few months before adding an anemone.

Another potential problem is that your tank is relatively small for more than one anemone. However, since you already have two of them, make sure to keep them as far apart as possible. Do you know if they are the same species or not? There are three different species of carpets and all of them can get pretty big.

Anemones are known to engage in warfare, both physical and chemical, so that's why you need to keep them separated. Feeding them twice a week, as you are already doing, is a good idea, so keep that up. Especially since your lighting is totally inadequate.

You can't keep any of the carpet anemones with just normal output fluorescent lighting. Metal halide lighting is best but since your tank is only 18" tall, you could get by with HO T5 lighting, power compact fluorescent lighting or VHO fluorescent lighting. If you choose VHO fluorescent lighting, you will need four 3' long tubes (assuming they fit over your tank). If you choose HO T5 lighting, you will need at least four tubes. I would avoid power compact fluorescent lighting as I think HO T5 lighting is much better. I included VHO fluorescent lighting in there just in case that's all you can get.

With metal halide lighting, you would need two 150w lamps over a 36" tank. You could use 250w lamps but 150-watters would be adequate since your tank is only 18" tall and you have a sand bed. If you choose only one metal halide lamp, you would be okay in the middle 22" or so of the tank but the 6-8" at either side of the tank wouldn't receive adequate lighting.

In any case, what is happening right now is that your anemones are loosing zooxanthellae due to the inadequate lighting. For them to recover, you need to increase the intensity of the lighting soon. Real soon.

Good luck!