Is my anemone dying?

[Jaydog]

I know you probably hear this all the time. I use to be a freshwater guy. Did it for years. I recently (about a year and a half ago) went to saltwater. I have not had any real problems where fish are concerned, but I can't keep an invert alive to save my hide. After I saw that my tank was in good standing, around 8 months into it, I decided to get a tomato bubble tip anemone for my Clowns. It would not stay high in the tank at all. Everytime I would stick it on the rocks, about an hour later I would find it under them. I didn't think this was a real problem, just anoying. I then purchased a Pink Condy, and it never did stick to anything. It just floated around the tank for a day or so, then it died. Meanwhile, my Bubble tip lived for about 3 weeks, then he went too. My PH was okay, 8.2; Nitrite was good at 0.0 ppm; Amonia was 0.0; but my Nitrate was extremely high at 80 ppm. I quickly got it under control though. Like a fool, I wiped out my biological filtration by cleaning my canister too well, and I think it spiked up so highly for this reason. Now, about 2 months later everything is back to normal. I still can't seem to get the Nitrate below 15 ppm though. My tap water comes out at over 20 ppm, so I can't really do a whole lot about that. I am using Fluval Clearmax in my canister. The other day I purchased a Chocolate chip Star. He did well for two or three days. He crawled under my rocks and melted into a pile of sticky, very nasty slime crap. Anyway, Thursday I decided to try another anemone again. I got a Pink Hatian Condy and I'm getting concerned. He was completly inflated, and very active. Now, Saturday afternoon he's very deflated, and not active at all. Is he dying? If so, is there anything I can do to help him, and also make it safe for more. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[sasquatch]

ugg, patience is a must, you really have to wait until your equipment is up to the job, canister filters and tap water will not make a livable home for anems, stability in all water parameters is essential for survival, lighting is another major requirement, I would suggest you return the anem to the lfs as quick as possible and remedy your tanks equipment. Steve

oops almost forgot Welcome to RS!

[lcstorc]

Welcome to RS!
I completely agree with SAS but wanted to add one more thing.
Condy's are not hosting anemones so if that is why you want one avoid them. They also get absolutely HUGE and no fish will swim near them.

[Jaydog]

Thank you both for such a warm welcome, and very good advice. Sorry to say, but he did die. I think my lighting is okay. I have a Coralife Aqualight with 4 - 65 watt bulbs, with lunar LED's. Two are 10000K sunlight, and the other two are True Blue Actinic. I purchased this in the hopes that this was my problem, but aparently wasn't. I didn't know that the Condy wasn't a hosting anemone. He was just the cheapest one. I know that my tap water is a pretty bad thing. I use those treatments that claim to make tap water safe, but I doubt their performance. I figured that it makes it "close" to usable though. Are you suppose to buy distilled water, and use that? I concidered it, but at around a dollar a gallon, this could get expensive in a hurry. I have priced deionizers, I think that's what it's called, but they seem to be pretty pricey too. I know API makes one for around $100, would this one work well? Also, I have a protien skimmer that I can't get to work corectly. I am using it as a "hang on" because I don't have a sump. I would like to make one, but I have so many questions about it I only get more lost. I have tried to research it online, but can't seem to find any real help. I'm a very visual person, and I can't seem to find pictures of one broken down. Is a sump an option over the canister filter? Thanks again.

[sasquatch]

hello again Jay, if you really want to keep an anem I hate to break it to you but "expensive" is the name of the reefing game, lighting needs a bump up can you add a metal halide some where? tap water is a lot more complicated than just neutralizing ammonia, an ro/di unit is the better option unless you have a very small tank, i would be quite willing to help you with your skimmer, describe what its not doing and a model would help too. Cannister filters are dirt traps and end up producing more nitrate than your system can remove, the best filter is live rock, 11/2 to 2 lbs a gallon is good, if your wanting to do this with any success your going to have to spend some money, you can do this slowly with a plan but you need to know what you want to do first. Steve

[Woodstock]

I would not consider getting another invert until you can set up an RO/DI unit. It is critical to keep nitrAtes below 10ppm (zero is the goal) for them.
You should also be able to maintain certain water parameters such as salinity, temperature, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. How do those test right now in your tank?
Shoot for the parameters found here: Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Some good test kits to use are Salifert, API, and ELos.

[Jaydog]

I'm sorry, I guess I'm more confused than I thought. I don't have any reef items in my setup yet. I'm doing okay keeping fish alive, I just can't manage to get anything beond fish. I guess I wanted to get started with the cheaper items first, then if I can make it work with the cheap stuff, then go to bigger, better, and more pricey things. I live in Ohio, and aquarium things in my small town are pretty expencive. My wallet is pretty limited as well having two small childern, 30 years left on my house, and not to mention the cost of everything else in the world skyrocketing. I pretty much do what my buget will allow, (saddly isn't much).
I might show my inexperience here, but how do I make rocks filter everything. My LFS is no help at all. I asked their "marine specialist" for some advice on setting up a refugim. After getting a very confused look from her, she replys, " you don't really need one of those. What you need to do is buy a larger tank, with a sump overflow built in". Somewhere I think she misunderstood what I was asking. Now getting back to the rock filteration, do you still have to suck the poo out? How do you keep everything clean on the sand? I guess I just don't get this reef thing. Maybe I will just stick to a FO without inverts. Sorry if I have waisted your time. Thanks again though for all the help you have given.

[sasquatch]

its never, ever, a waste of time, only dumb questions are the ones unasked, ok why not we go simple, lets work with what you have, you can build up when you have a foundation of knowledge, rule #1 ask us, not your fish shop. so what we would really like right now is a list of everything you have, tanksize, lights, live rock amount, salt mix, skimmer etc, you dont need to go all fancy, beauty is in the eye of the beholder lol.

[Jaydog]

Hello again. I have a 55 gal tank with about 90lbs of live rock. The tank is about a year old, and when I bought the rocks I got about 40lbs of actual live rock and another 50lbs of nonliving. I have around 80lbs of Agra alive white caribbean sand. I am using a Penn Plax Cascade 100 canister filter, with a Odyssea ps75 skimmer. I am using a Coralife Aqualight with 4 - 65 watt bulbs, with lunar LED's. Two are 10000K sunlight, and the other two are True Blue Actinic. I remember you saying I need to add a few MH lights, but I'm not sure how. I just spent about $350 for this light so I don't really want to replace it. Also, it takes up almost all the space at the surface so I'm not sure how to add extra lighting. I'm sure it could be done though.

I do have quite a bit of coraline algae growing in several places, so I think that's a good thing, right? I know I need to get rid of that canister, but what do I replace it with? And yes, Nitrates have always been a huge problem. I also know that I need to do something about using tap water. I just received the deionizer filter today. Before I open it, would you recommend selling it on eBay and geting a RO/DI filteration? If so, what brand and type would you recommend. I found one that connects under your sink and I believe you are suppose to use it for drinking water as well. Here is a link to the one I am looking at. Products, Premium Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Filters Systems, Portable Purifiers, Filtration Parts I concidered the RO-45 or even the RO-90. Water is something my family needs to drink more of anyway. I thought that this might just help in both areas. If this isn't what I'm looking for, or it there is something I can make, or maybe this is more than I need, please let me know. My father use to work in the water filtration business years ago. I think he would make pond filters for stocked ponds. I asked him and he still has the know how but he primarily worked with carbon and fiberglass filters. He has never done RO before but I thought about asking him to help me make containers that replacement filters or membranes would fit into. Please just let me know what would be best.

I also was not very impressed with my skimmer either. After about two weeks I still can't get it to work right. I understand the concept behind it, and I know what it should be doing, I just can't make it do it. I concidered getting rid of it and getting a Remora. I have heard that this is a good one, and seems to be very reliable.

Well I think that about covers it. I don't have a refug or a sump. I am very interested in making one though. If you need more info I will of corse be more than happy to give it to you. Thanks so much.

[rmlevasseur]

Your nitrates may also be coming from your cansiter filter. Contrary to what you might hear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with canister filters so long as you clean the canister at least weekly. Otherwise they become nitrate factories.