Am I ready for anemones?

Hi folks, I've been a fish keeper for ages.. My current tank setup has
been going for years, but I'm not sure how healthy I've been keeping it.
:/ Here's my setup:

29 gallon
2x 55W compact fluorescent lighting (1 10k, 1 actinic)
2x reverse flow undergravel powerheads
1 Red Sea Protein Skimmer, Berlin air lift, in tank kind
1 Millenium piggyback filter
1 fully submerged heater
30 lbs ground coral
15 lbs rocks

Inhabitants:

1 red hermit crab (1")
1 monkey shrimp (1.5")
3 turbo snails (.75")
1 brittle starfish (8-9")
1 blue/yellow damsel (1.5")
1 maroon clown (3.0")
lots of algae

The salinity usually hovers between 1.028 and 1.30 from evaporation, I
try, but it's really hard to keep it steady. I only do real water changes
about every 3 months, but I add fresh decholorinated water about every 2-4
weeks. I'm not sure how comfortable my inhabitants are, but I find it
remarkable how self sustaining this tank is.

The maroon clown is occasionally agressive against the other damsel, but
it seems like the damsel kinda goads her into it. The clown also
really likes to move coral around the tank; about every 2-3 months I have
to rearrange the rocks in the tank back so things are flat again. My
hunch is the clown is doing this because she needs a place to take up
residence.. hence my desire to get a bubble tip anemone.

The monkey shrimp is never seen.. I think the clown fish thinks he's food.
I only see the monkey shrimp at night with a flashlight.

The tank also has a lot of algae. There's a little bit of bright green
algae, but it's mostly stringy red stuff. The starfish seems to really
like to eat it, he'll pull off large chunks of it and gobble it down,
there's still more in there than he can eat. I know he likes it because
when I got him he was 5-6" and he's grown at least 3" in 6 months I've had
him. I catch him sometimes in the middle of the night clung to the side
of the tank trying to scarf as much as he can...

So my question to the newsgroup... Do you all think my tank could sustain
a bubble tip anemone added to it? Is the algae a sign of high nitrates?
Is my lighting sufficient for an anemone?

-robert

Robert, I think you could house a BTA in your current tank, but you *must* get
your water parameters closer to NSW (natural sea water) first.

Salinity 1.026
Temp 78 to 82F
Nitrates - 10ppm or less (20 max ... anything above needs to be removed)
The undergravel filter could be adding to your nitrate issues. And yes, GHA
loves nitrates. Here are two articles for you:

http://www.melevsreef.com/reducing_nitrates.html
http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html

Decent flow.
Alkalinity 8 - 11 dKH
Calcium - N/A
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0

Plan on feeding the anemone a small piece of meaty food every 3 days. Top off
the evaporated water daily to maintain stable water conditions.

Get your tank in line with these parameters and you'll have a good chance for
success. I've had a BTA for almost 2 years in my 29g. You can find out more on
my site, linked below.

Marc


Robert Rose wrote:

Hi folks, I've been a fish keeper for ages.. My current tank setup has
been going for years, but I'm not sure how healthy I've been keeping it.
:/ Here's my setup:

29 gallon
2x 55W compact fluorescent lighting (1 10k, 1 actinic)
2x reverse flow undergravel powerheads
1 Red Sea Protein Skimmer, Berlin air lift, in tank kind
1 Millenium piggyback filter
1 fully submerged heater
30 lbs ground coral
15 lbs rocks

Inhabitants:

1 red hermit crab (1")
1 monkey shrimp (1.5")
3 turbo snails (.75")
1 brittle starfish (8-9")
1 blue/yellow damsel (1.5")
1 maroon clown (3.0")
lots of algae

The salinity usually hovers between 1.028 and 1.30 from evaporation, I
try, but it's really hard to keep it steady. I only do real water changes
about every 3 months, but I add fresh decholorinated water about every 2-4
weeks. I'm not sure how comfortable my inhabitants are, but I find it
remarkable how self sustaining this tank is.

The maroon clown is occasionally agressive against the other damsel, but
it seems like the damsel kinda goads her into it. The clown also
really likes to move coral around the tank; about every 2-3 months I have
to rearrange the rocks in the tank back so things are flat again. My
hunch is the clown is doing this because she needs a place to take up
residence.. hence my desire to get a bubble tip anemone.

The monkey shrimp is never seen.. I think the clown fish thinks he's food.
I only see the monkey shrimp at night with a flashlight.

The tank also has a lot of algae. There's a little bit of bright green
algae, but it's mostly stringy red stuff. The starfish seems to really
like to eat it, he'll pull off large chunks of it and gobble it down,
there's still more in there than he can eat. I know he likes it because
when I got him he was 5-6" and he's grown at least 3" in 6 months I've had
him. I catch him sometimes in the middle of the night clung to the side
of the tank trying to scarf as much as he can...

So my question to the newsgroup... Do you all think my tank could sustain
a bubble tip anemone added to it? Is the algae a sign of high nitrates?
Is my lighting sufficient for an anemone?

-robert

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

Robert,

I've had a bubble-tipped anemone for 4 years now. It (or one of the
clones) has split *three* times so far in my tank -- so now I have four.

In my opinion, you don't have to feed it very often, unless you want
it to grow big and divide in half. Feed it shrimp every 2 weeks, at
a minimum. Your lighting seems Ok, although mine prefer natural
sunlight over flourescent or metal-halide lighting.

I would get rid of the undergravel filter and gravel (if you have it).

Keep the power heads for circulation, and put down a DSB.

Vacuum out the algae and red cyanobacteria regularly.

Other than that, go ahead and try a BTA. Resist the urge
to try a different type (long tentacle, sebae, carpet, etc)
as these are *much* harder to keep.




Robert Rose wrote in
RST.EDU:


Hi folks, I've been a fish keeper for ages.. My current tank setup
has been going for years, but I'm not sure how healthy I've been
keeping it.
:/ Here's my setup:

29 gallon
2x 55W compact fluorescent lighting (1 10k, 1 actinic)
2x reverse flow undergravel powerheads
1 Red Sea Protein Skimmer, Berlin air lift, in tank kind
1 Millenium piggyback filter
1 fully submerged heater
30 lbs ground coral
15 lbs rocks

Inhabitants:

1 red hermit crab (1")
1 monkey shrimp (1.5")
3 turbo snails (.75")
1 brittle starfish (8-9")
1 blue/yellow damsel (1.5")
1 maroon clown (3.0")
lots of algae

The salinity usually hovers between 1.028 and 1.30 from evaporation, I
try, but it's really hard to keep it steady. I only do real water
changes about every 3 months, but I add fresh decholorinated water
about every 2-4 weeks. I'm not sure how comfortable my inhabitants
are, but I find it remarkable how self sustaining this tank is.

The maroon clown is occasionally agressive against the other damsel,
but it seems like the damsel kinda goads her into it. The clown also
really likes to move coral around the tank; about every 2-3 months I
have to rearrange the rocks in the tank back so things are flat again.
My hunch is the clown is doing this because she needs a place to take
up residence.. hence my desire to get a bubble tip anemone.

The monkey shrimp is never seen.. I think the clown fish thinks he's
food. I only see the monkey shrimp at night with a flashlight.

The tank also has a lot of algae. There's a little bit of bright
green algae, but it's mostly stringy red stuff. The starfish seems to
really like to eat it, he'll pull off large chunks of it and gobble it
down, there's still more in there than he can eat. I know he likes it
because when I got him he was 5-6" and he's grown at least 3" in 6
months I've had him. I catch him sometimes in the middle of the night
clung to the side of the tank trying to scarf as much as he can...

So my question to the newsgroup... Do you all think my tank could
sustain a bubble tip anemone added to it? Is the algae a sign of high
nitrates? Is my lighting sufficient for an anemone?

-robert