New Yellow Leather and Anemone

[JohnTK]

I put in a Yellow Leather coral and an Anemone about one week ago, when I received my new lighting to support corals. The tank had been up and running with fish only for about 10 months before that.

The Yellow Leather didn't look so hot last night. It looked as if it were shrinking in on itself, and half of it is drooping so bad it's almost touching sand (it's sitting on LR, lower level).

Is there anything I can do? My tank seems very bright now. Is it possible it's getting too much light or do they like an abundance of light.

The Anemone looked as if a few of it's tentacles shrunk down to almost nothing yesterday. By last night, I couldn't find those tentacles. Do they shrink and then come back that quickly? Or are the tentacles that I saw just hidden now?

Thanks
John

[reelfreak]

did you acclimate them, and what are your parameters?? Are they being affected by high nitrates or something??

[JosephineAd]

You have to acclimate them to the new bright light. Try the shading method.

[JohnTK]

Originally posted by JosephineAd
You have to acclimate them to the new bright light. Try the shading method.

What is the shading method? How should I shade it? I just checked it again and after having no light for a long time, it's filled back up with water (if that in fact is what's happening) and looks ok again. It just shrunk so much last night I was afraid I was going to lose it. It is low to the sand so it's about as far away as it can get from the lights, if that helps.

I checked ammonia, ph, nitrite and nitrate and all were either right where they were supposed to be or better.

[JosephineAd]

What you do is get something to cover the top of the tank like eggcrate. Then you get a whole bunch of layers of window netting from a place like Home Depot. You make about 5 or 6 layers and put them over the tank ontop of the eggcrate. Each week or like every 5 days you take a layer away. So that the corals slowly get use to the new light. When you do this you can keep the lights on for the normal amount of time too.

[reelfreak]

If your nitrates are low ( <20ppm) or so, then it probably is the light issue.....What lighting were they under when you got them?? and what kind of lighting are you using??? I have read others who acclimated tanks to new lighting by placing several layers of screen over the tank to shade it....then remove one each day or so....I've never done it, just read a little about it...

IME, my anenomes will inflate and deflate fairly often ( i feed them every 2-3 days).... It's natural for them, I would let the anenome be where it is since it will move where it wants too...

If your leather doesn't perk up soon(couple days)....move it to either more or less flow, depending on where you have it now....

I am just wondering though, if this tank was fish only for a year, what have you done to keep your nitrates low?? Liverock, livesand, skimmer??? Most FO tanks seem to be higer in nitrates than reef tanks.....

[JohnTK]

Originally posted by reelfreak
If your nitrates are low ( <20ppm) or so, then it probably is the light issue.....What lighting were they under when you got them?? and what kind of lighting are you using??? I have read others who acclimated tanks to new lighting by placing several layers of screen over the tank to shade it....then remove one each day or so....I've never done it, just read a little about it...

IME, my anenomes will inflate and deflate fairly often ( i feed them every 2-3 days).... It's natural for them, I would let the anenome be where it is since it will move where it wants too...

If your leather doesn't perk up soon(couple days)....move it to either more or less flow, depending on where you have it now....

I am just wondering though, if this tank was fish only for a year, what have you done to keep your nitrates low?? Liverock, livesand, skimmer??? Most FO tanks seem to be higer in nitrates than reef tanks.....

I have LR and LS. Have had it since I first put fish in it.

I'll have to check on the type of lighting. I know it's 2 X 65 watts for the day bulbs, and 2 X 65 watts for the night bulbs. All in one unit. What other info. do I need to know about them? Sorry, but this is all new to me. I went with what the guy at the store recommended, as he's been helping me with the tank since day one.

[BiGOrange]

The Yellow leathers need to be in a HIGH FLOW area. It makes a huge difference. The polyps on mine would not come out until I put him near the flow return.

Dr. Mac said they can take quite some time to acclimate, however mine was opened up after two hours and polyps extended as soon as I moved him in front of the flow.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/50569yellowtoadstoolacclimated.jpg

Also, I have mine under Power Compacts!