Bubble Anemone

Mikek

Mikek

Reefing newb
Thinking of getting a Bubble Anemone...any advice?
I have a 20g long, established coral with live fish tank, consisting of 2 clowns, a damsel, a goby, a few Turbo snails, and a dozen hermit crabs. For corals I have some Mushrooms, zooanthids, and a some Kenya Tree...thanks in advance :)
 
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 40, PH 8.0, Salinity 1.023-1.025, and Alk 300. So yeah, Nitrate is a little high, but not climbing. Just bought some Shaving brush plants to try to help bring it down a little.
 
I would not add a BTA to a tank over 10 nitrates, and that's pushing it. Aim closer to 2-5. You may have to rehome a fish or two in order to achieve that unfortunately.
 
+1 to chichimom nitrates at 40 are very high 18 in of fish depending on what kind of golby and damsle you have is alot for a 20gal tank but i wish you the best of luck with your tank
 
What's your filtration Like ??? For all we know you could have a 30gl sump with tons of rock in it.

If not you could alwys think of adding a sump / Refugium To help. not only will the added water volume help but the Refugium will help bring down nitrates and you can add a big skimmer to help also.

But defenetly don't add a Nem with nitrates that high.
 
Well, right now I only have about 12 inches of fish, and I am using an HOB filter rated for a 75g tank. The weird thing about my nitrate is the ammonia and nitrate have never moved from 0, I have had no algae blooms (just regular algae you only notice if you look closely...i.e. not impairing the view into the tank), and everyone in the tank is doing fine...even the corals are growing and spreading. I'm using strips, but I almost wonder if I am getting a false reading. Even after 25-30% water change I get no change in the nitrate level.
 
I agree with the others about not adding an anemone. The thing is you would be introducing an already stressed anemone into a system with high nitrates. That would not end well. I have seen people make it through some nitrate problems with anemones that were already established in their systems. I would suggest another test or take a sample to your LFS and see what they get to compare.
 
Bubbles are one of the hardiest anemone's 40 is high but i've seen people with upwards of 80 keep an anemone without issue. Get a decent HOB refugium and pack that sucker with some macro algae and that should solve the problem for you. Orrrr if you're able to Rig some LED's inside that HOB filter and you can keep that algae in that.
 
Its not worth introducing an anenome now. Just wait until the smoke clears and go ahead with it. Its not worth the money for it to roam your tank and get sucked into a powerhead. Putting a small amount of cheato in a hob is kinda pointless. You will need to constantly remove some b/c of growth. Pulling to much, wont absorb the amount of trates being produced, to little and it will die from lack of trates. With your tank, w/c's is what is necessary to export your trate problems
 
Nutrient export in any fashion is always a fantastic idea. HOB fuge would help you with that.

Are you using the pads in your filter or are you just using it for water movement? I would pack that sucker with live rock rubble and cheato and use that as an HOB fuge. The filter could be contributing to your nitrate issue as well.
 
Here's what I used for my 30g

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Finnex-External-Refugium-Breeder-1-Gallon/dp/B005VFLAG2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371486362&sr=8-1&keywords=HOB+Refugium]Amazon.com: Finnex External Refugium/Breeder Hang-On Box/Air Pump and Air Tubes, 1-Gallon: Pet Supplies[/ame]

It's a simple 1gallon HOB and it caused my nitrates, which were always above 50, to drop to constantly around 5 or lower. Just get this and a light for it be under $50 bucks
 
this is my fuge. 24x18x8. look at the ball of cheato and my trate and phosphates are undetectiable. Good luck, fyi, I change 5g every other day.
 

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ok as far as the inches go use the adult size of the fish that helps from over stocking. as far as not seeing any ammonia or nitrites in the tank means your bio filter is keeping up with the load but in turn your nitrates climb faster and harder to get them down. as far as your corals they are some of the easiest corals to keep and will do well with higher nitrates. but to check your test kit take a sample of water to your lfs and have them test it and see if ti differs from what you get
 
OK, great advice all around, and I thank you all. I had planned on getting a refugium (as a matter of fact I have that very refugium from Amazon in my cart already), but in the meantime I picked up a few shaving brushes and put them in the tank. Now, stupid question, in a refugium I'm just putting nitrate eating plants, like the shaving brushes (and of course some sand for them), right? Or is it more complicated?
 
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