setting up a Anemone tank, have Questions pls read

[MrManz1691]

So i work at the local pet store here in my town and i have been givent the job of setting up a anemone tank to sell anemones out of. So i want to know how you all would set it up. Lighting, filtrarion, everything. Its going to house Bubbles, Carpets and Sebaes. Well thats what my boss wanted to sell anyway. I dont know which can live in a tank next to eachother and not sting each other. So im hoping youc an shed some light there as well. Im going to do more reading about this over the next few days but i figured you guys might have some input. The only set thing is the tank. Its a 55 gal acrylic. Its taller rather than longer. Ill get measurements tommorw at work. So tell me how would you set it up? Sand lvl, LIght, amt rock, Filtration?

[aquaruki]

I had a single 250 watt MH (14,000K) over my 54 corner bow front and my carpet anemone did great. I had about 100 pounds of live rock (some of it in the fuge), 2" of live sand, moderate current, overflow with sump/fuge and a Remora Pro skimmer.

I would definitely recommend an overflow and a good skimmer, otherwise the water quality might go south since anemones produce a bunch of waste.

If the boss would consider NOT carrying carpet anemones, that would be wonderful for the environment as most of them die during shipping or shortly afterwards. But if you must have them, it would be nice to have a separate tank.

I know my carpet anemone got much happier once I added clowns to the tank. It might be good to have a small clown in your future anemone tank.

Hope this helps

[keefsama2003]

well first off you dont want any rock in the tank makes it almost impossible to get the anemone out and you dont want to damage it while a customer is standing there waiting.

I would setup 2 tanks and have a common sump good amount of live rock and run carbon. i would keep a tank for just the carpets and the bta/ seabae can share a tank.

As for lighting if your boss doesnt want to run halides i would setup like a T5 fixture which will be more than enough.

make sure no powerheads in the tank thats not a good thing but with the tanks plumbed usually there is a return in the overflow so in the bta tank just use some of the vinyl window screen to cover the overflow slots so the bta's dont accidentally get sucked in.

thats probably the easiest way to do it other than maybe putting a divider in the middle of the 55 with multiple holes drilled in it for water to flow thru between the 2 chambers but make sure your running a little carbon and keep all powerheads well covered you dont want any casualties.

Carpets sting a little more than bta's and seabaes plus with them seperated off it becomes easier to grab.

I see alot of very healthy carpets coming in lately. haddoni mostly but if your boss goes to a wholesale where he walks in and picks the ones he wants he should only grab anemones that have nice tight mouths.

If you already have an Saltwater section up and running with inverts in it i would tie in the anemone tanks so your not cycling a new setup but adding to a already established one.
i would not keep it tied in with your fish system dont want to chance any copper getting in with your anemones but that should be it.

[MrManz1691]

she is fine with halides. I agree with the no live rock. Its almost impossible to get them off without hurting them. Unfortunatly with the way that the store is setup, im not able to tie into the exisiting reef tanks they have. I could tie into the fish sytem but i dont want to. Im in the process of cleaning that part of the store up. The quality from the previous owner was left lacking. I am also setting up a 180gal softie tank that will have a 120 gal fudge. I think i will try and tie it into that. That might work out better.

I am going to mainly be bringing in Haddonis, Sebae and bulbbles. If i get anything that requires more care it will most likely go in the reef as a show piece. I have already tried to keep a gigantea and was not very happy with the outcome. I have personally kept the three previously mentioned with a good outcome.

So if lighting is open, what do you reccomend? How deep of a sand bed?

[keefsama2003]

i would say if you want sand 1-2 inches but in the store i helped run we didnt have any sand at all bare tank with T5's on top and had good amount of flow thru the system.

made it easier to get the carpets off the bottom as well as the seabae's

[AQUA DAVE]

Definately do bare bottom. If you want to make it look better and bring out the color in the anemones you can paint the bottom and the back of the tank white. Be sure to wipe down glass with alcohol to clean any smudges or debre because it will look like air bubbles under the paint if you don't. With the Sebae and the haddoni carpet I would definately run 150w double ended or 175 single ended hallides depending on how deep the tank will be, maybe 250s. If you want better color go with 20k. For the bubble tips, you could get away with some High output T5s easy. I also agree with running carbon especially if you are linking to a softy dominated system(chemical warfare). If you do run carbon you need to run it every once in a while for a day at a time. If you leave it running it will be used up and act as a nitrate trap which can cause problems in the long run. Or if you want to just get a phosban reactor and run a cup of carbon every two days and change it out and you shouldn't have that problem. Light, flow, and water quality are the three most important things. Also you might take some water from the existing invert system and do a water change. Use the old water for a quick cycle in the new tanks. Even then i would wait a month or two to start housing anemones and softies in those tanks or you could cause big problems in the long run. Also you might set up a remote deep sand bed in your sump or refugium. What i did was set up a remote deep sand bed and seeded it with the mix and match special from indo pacific sea farms(great deal and good quality)Not only will it help filter the tanks but you can help new customers out in seeding there new tanks. (good brownie points)