Do I have 2 much light?? Anemones

[Liz Diaz]

I have a 22" tank and I used to have only led light, then I added T5, at fisrt everything in the tank liked it, corals loved it, but after 4-5 months later only the anemones are starting to act weird, as I turn on the T5s some start to shrivel, not right away but within hours, I also notice that some zooxanthellae is release (at least i think that's what it is) they used to poop normal pieces but now is brown see-through tissue, everything else in the tank is ok, I do waterchanges every week (i mean it). I also wanted to add a Gyre XF330 that I bought but I feel like it's too strong the slowest setting is 20% and that was upsetting the anemones as well so I took it off the same day I got it, kind of sad since it did help to lift off the food debri from the sand and hiding places. 

Also sometimes while deflating the anemones open their mouth and sometimes release food eaten a day before (feed once a week). The magnifica since to be doing better it had a bad time for a while but I set it up on top of rocks and it likes it, seems to be the only one to be fine with or without lighting. 

The bta in middle used to be bigger and very bubbly.

ANY HELP WILL BE EXTREMELY APPRECIATED. 

 

Tank species: Anemones; magnifica, 4 bta, 2 torch, 1 hammer, 2 galaxia, zooas, 4 gorgonians, 2 leather, 2 polyps, Duncan, mushrooms, sponges, pulsing x, and 3 mantiporas.

Clean up crew: emerald crabs, anemone crab, sand starfish, clams, bumblebee snail, and blue legged crab.

Refugium: pods, chaeto micro and gracilaria.

[mcarroll]

On 2/25/2021 at 5:54 PM, Liz Diaz said:

I have a 22" tank and I used to have only led light, then I added T5

What was the reason for the change?  The obvious answer is to undo the change and go back to what was working.  But...

 

Can you post all your water test results, including nitrates and phosphates?  Maybe we can tell you why it isn't working.

[DevilDuck]

They probably need to acclimate to the new light. Is there anyway you can dim it? I would stop feeding and monitor it for bleaching it until it has time to adjust to the new light levels.

 

 

[jservedio]

While lighting may be a problem for you, how long did you have the H. Magnifica with the BTAs? While many anemones can be mixed in small tanks, the larger nems are much, much different (magnifica, haddoni, gigantea) and will eventually try and nuke all the other nearby nems through allelopathy. You should notice that once the magnifica is in place, happy, and healthy the RBTAs over the next 6-12 months will start running toward the outer edges of the tank or up onto the glass to get away from the magnifica. If you are trying to keep one of the big nems in a small tank, rule #1 is they don't mix.

 

Even if you manage to run enough carbon to soak up the chemical warfare without stripping your organics, it's only a matter of time before the RBTAs (or the magnifica) have to go since the magnifica will take up at least half the tank in a year or two and never stop trying to kill the other nems. Their "range" for attack is about 4 feet. Something will eventually have to give regardless of your lighting.

 

You should also stop feeding for now as well for at least a month or two if they are expelling undigested food. If they continue to weaken, they won't be able to expel the food and it'll just start to rot inside them.

[Liz Diaz]

On 3/1/2021 at 10:43 AM, DevilDuck said:

They probably need to acclimate to the new light. Is there anyway you can dim it? I would stop feeding and monitor it for bleaching it until it has time to adjust to the new light 

On 3/1/2021 at 10:57 AM, jservedio said:

While lighting may be a problem for you, how long did you have the H. Magnifica with the BTAs? While many anemones can be mixed in small tanks, the larger nems are much, much different (magnifica, haddoni, gigantea) and will eventually try and nuke all the other nearby nems through allelopathy. You should notice that once the magnifica is in place, happy, and healthy the RBTAs over the next 6-12 months will start running toward the outer edges of the tank or up onto the glass to get away from the magnifica. If you are trying to keep one of the big nems in a small tank, rule #1 is they don't mix.

 

Even if you manage to run enough carbon to soak up the chemical warfare without stripping your organics, it's only a matter of time before the RBTAs (or the magnifica) have to go since the magnifica will take up at least half the tank in a year or two and never stop trying to kill the other nems. Their "range" for attack is about 4 feet. Something will eventually have to give regardless of your lighting.

 

You should also stop feeding for now as well for at least a month or two if they are expelling undigested food. If they continue to weaken, they won't be able to expel the food and it'll just start to rot inside them.

 

On 3/1/2021 at 10:43 AM, DevilDuck said:

They probably need to acclimate to the new light. Is there anyway you can dim it? I would stop feeding and monitor it for bleaching it until it has time to adjust to the new light levels.

 

 

What I did is bought another led light so I have two led lights now that I can dim, it has helped, Although corals are not as happy. How long until I can turn on the t5's again?

 

[Liz Diaz]

On 3/1/2021 at 10:57 AM, jservedio said:

While lighting may be a problem for you, how long did you have the H. Magnifica with the BTAs? While many anemones can be mixed in small tanks, the larger nems are much, much different (magnifica, haddoni, gigantea) and will eventually try and nuke all the other nearby nems through allelopathy. You should notice that once the magnifica is in place, happy, and healthy the RBTAs over the next 6-12 months will start running toward the outer edges of the tank or up onto the glass to get away from the magnifica. If you are trying to keep one of the big nems in a small tank, rule #1 is they don't mix.

 

Even if you manage to run enough carbon to soak up the chemical warfare without stripping your organics, it's only a matter of time before the RBTAs (or the magnifica) have to go since the magnifica will take up at least half the tank in a year or two and never stop trying to kill the other nems. Their "range" for attack is about 4 feet. Something will eventually have to give regardless of your lighting.

 

You should also stop feeding for now as well for at least a month or two if they are expelling undigested food. If they continue to weaken, they won't be able to expel the food and it'll just start to rot inside them.

Thank you for the info. I stopped feeding and that has help, I have lower lighting so I turn on t5s one or twice a week and mostly I ended up having 2 led lights that I can dim although most of the day they like the ice blue light, corals don't seem to like this as much but they are doing ok. 

And I think you are right about the big anemone at first she was the one that seem to be gone but has recovered, the other RBTAs seem to be doing fine now I also stopped one of the power heads for 3 days and that help all anemones enjoyed it but once I noticed the LPS were not happy I turned it back on and so far everything seems fine.

I might have to consider giving up on some anemones since it will get overcrowded over time, they all are little (2-4") but like you said, overtime one will take over. Sad because for so long they been just fine.

Thank you for taking the time to help 🙂.

[Liz Diaz]

Also going back to the gyre XF330, is it a good idea to have it in the tank? only one day I had it and all anemones and some corals were pulled to one side cuz of the current, I thought this being a "wave maker" was going to be more of a back and forth emotion but instead is like a continuous cycle in a circle, starting from power head - across higher part of tank - coming down the lower tank opposite way. 

Asking for advice because if it's useless I might return it or sell it, since it was kind of pricey.

Thanks 

[JustReading]

Too*

[mcarroll]

On 2/25/2021 at 5:54 PM, Liz Diaz said:

Gyre XF330

How did you end up with that pump in this tank?  Is that the smallest model they make?