coral rock help please

abong · 06-21-2006, 10:12 PM

If i put a bubble tip anemone in a cycled 29 gallon tank with 5lbs of cured live rock, live sand, and plenty of light/water movement will it survive?

jdbassin · 06-21-2006, 10:44 PM

that depends, are all the water specs stable? nitrite, nitrate, phosphorus, salinity, ph, kh etc, What is plenty of lighting, what is your light set up?

jd

abong · 06-21-2006, 10:47 PM

the water specs have been stable for 5 months. The lighting is pc's. Its doing just fine now with fish and everything in there. i was just wondering if i removed everything but the anemone and the rock its on would it survive?

jdbassin · 06-21-2006, 10:49 PM

ok read your link info on your tank, first don't add any more fish and definately no tangs in that small of a tank. Is the anemone the one in the pic, It looks like a long tentacle anemone not a bta, in general i'd say you'd need 3-55w power compacts or two 75w vhos to adequately house an anemone, doesn't mean it cant be done just if they are to thrive they need a lot of light

jd

abong · 06-21-2006, 10:56 PM

im taking everything out of the small tank and putting them in a bigger tank. And I'm also returning the damsels to the lfs. So whatever type of anemone i have the lights to support it. I was just wondering if the anemone needs fish or lots of lr to survive.

jdbassin · 06-21-2006, 11:12 PM

no, it doesn't, just light. clean water and an occasional feeding

jd

jenajet · 06-22-2006, 05:11 AM

I have a condy in my 24 it only has 64 w pc lighting. I have the anemone placed at the very top off the tank and its doing well. I will be upgrading my lighting tho. Agree it will do fine as long as water is good and you feed him from time to time.

Loverotties · 06-22-2006, 07:18 AM

No it won't.You need more LR then 5# in a 29.And 2nd you need the tank running fine for a good yr before adding a Anomone.

jdbassin · 06-22-2006, 08:39 AM

I believe the question was, does the anemone need the live rock to survive, and strictly speaking no it does not, Though without the addition of the live rock some other type of filtration will need to be employed, And I have to disagree that the anemone simply will not survive because the tank has not been up for over a year, The conditions needed for the anemone to survive are, 1 clean stable water, 2 adequate lighting, 3 some supplemental feeding. If those parameters are maintained there is no reason why the anemone will not survive, though I do agree that the conditions described in the tank are not ideal for the anemone to prosper. for water quality purposes or at least making it easier it needs more live rock and I believe more lighting, though the lighting issue can be supplemented to a degree by feeding the anemone regularly.

jd

Twitterbait · 06-22-2006, 10:36 AM

You must be careful about the fine line of having just enough to allow the creature to survive and having the right amount. you can use less light and LR in the tank but if you have a small problem you will probably lose the anenome. better to have the perfect conditions so the creature will be able to survive when something goes off a bit (which happens in all tanks at some time). I recommend no less than 6 months to a year of seasoning of the tank... this is not for seasoned water but to allow you to reach a consistent program of husbandry with your tank. you should provide MH lighting for most anenomes, I have seen them do ok under other lighting but they will all appreciate MH over anything else. And lastly, you want at least 30lbs of LR for a filtration buffer in your tank to have the extra help should anything go awry.
just some helpful suggestions, love your critter by going a little further on the tank before you move it in