Anenome not Acclimating to New Lights
 

I have recently got an anenome and some coral frags and I am having a very hard time with them and the lights. Andrew (previous owner) had Ati T5 and I have 2 x 250 watt metal halides. We raised my lights about 6 iches higher and I am only running one light at a time. I have been slowly increasing the lights but everything will look happy one day and the next everything has closed up and even more so when the halides are on. I was up to 3 hours on the side with the corals and 1 hour on the side where the nem was, everything looked great and next day they were all closed. I have checked all levels and everything is good. I have less then 2.5 nitrates.
So my question is do I raise lights even higher up and should I just keep increasing lights or turn them off if things are not looking happy. I have a lawnmower blennny so a little concerned his food will run out if lights aren't running much.
Any nem experience would be appreciated.

Leanne

Bump for help :)

What are the indications the anemone is having troubles?
Ken

Also what type of lights are you currently running?

Just some info from myself, as I sold her the nem.

I was running 6 ATI T5 bulbs. She is running 250 MH (on and off through the day)

The nem is closed up most of the time in her tank but she has been feeding him a lot more then I ever did. Also the nem had a clown host in my tank, hers does not.
He has been in her tank around 3 weeks now. I feel he will still need to get used to the light and tank but only time will tell,.

When I am turning the lights on the nem is closing up once I have the lights on after 20 minutes or so. Not sure if I should keep increasing the lighting time even though he is closing. I am going to raise the lights up another 6 inches and see if that helps.

Leanne

One thing I've seen suggested before to help acclimatize new inhabitants is to put multiple layers of window screen between the tank and the light. Every few days you can remove one layer of screen to let more light through. Probably both easier than raising your lights and allows you to cut the intensity a lot more than just raising them 6 inches.

Feeding could be the problem, maybe the nem is just digesting and ready to poop soon

Window screen is a great suggestion. I will try that. Thanks for the tip. As for the pooping, yes he has and I do know the difference when he is digesting. It is definitely the light as I have watched him when I turn them on. Thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

Leanne

It just took me 1.5 months to aclimate a nem to my tank.. he would wander all around the tank, hid in the rocks for weeks (thought I was going to loose it!!!), and then finally he picked a place and has been happy ever since. They will sometimes be very picky.... and in my case I suspect it was my lights, even though I dropped them 50 percent for the first week, and slowly ramped up from there. He's now out fully, and eating like a champ...

be patient.