Is 1 AI Prime enough for a 'nem?

[2Sunny]

So one anecdote is by no means enough to make any conclusion, but for those regular readers perhaps you can file this away for future reference in case someone else has a similar experience. In any case, a year ago I started my first nano, a Fiji Cube 22. Love, love, love the mini-reef and only wish I had bought one years ago. However, the growth during the first year was a fraction of what I am used to in my 240 which has been running since 2007, but more important to this thread is the fact that about a month ago I added a Bubble Tip anemone.

The 'nem cruised the tank for a month in an endless search for a happy spot with seemingly no luck. Then even worse a week ago I found the 'nem floating freely in the water column spinning around. I gently tucked it into a a crevice and hoped nothing bad was going on. I tested everything I could and scoured the interwebs; the best I could surmise was perhaps the 'nem was not feeling an adequate amount of flow or light or both, but I was using 2 AI Primes on an 18 x 18 x 17 tank and showing 200-400 PAR on the rock work. What was worse was I really don't like the look of white LED lit tanks and both Primes were already at 100% on the blue, 80% on the UV, and 50% on violet, and 10% on the whites. Raising the whites would ruin the color in my view so that was out of the question. Anyways, long story long, I ended up lowering the lights to the lowest I could, and my return pump was adjustable and had been on the lowest setting so raising the flow required a simple turn of the dial.

After adjusting the Primes to a lower height, PAR on the sand bed went from 120-50 to 220-250 but still less than 450 at the highest point on the rock work. More importantly the 'nem has stayed put for over a week now. Hopefully it has finally found it's happy spot The point here is that if I had only 1 AI Prime I would not have been able to create 200-250 PAR all over the bottom of my 18 x 18 x 17 tank. (I took measurements with just one Prime and got 150ish) and that was surprising to me. Maybe folks here don't find that surprising, but honestly I would have figured one AI Prime was good enough for anything, SPS or 'nem, in an 18 x 18 x 17 tank, but now I really don't think one would be enough.

So there it is . . . my thought for the day

 

[aabjones888]

I would say one is plenty of light for a nem in that size tank. If it’s not happy you will see it stretch up to the light.

 

[2Sunny]

I would say one is plenty of light for a nem in that size tank. If it’s not happy you will see it stretch up to the light.

Not intending to be snarky, but I am getting old and curmudgeonly and my guess is you didn't read the post before responding. My 'nem experience in this nano in this instance seemed to indicate otherwise. As I said one anecdote does not make a fact, but maybe . . . just maybe . . . there are exceptions where 1 Prime is not enough for a 'nem.

By the way I have plenty of experience with 'nems, having kept them for over 2 decades under every kind of light available in this hobby.


2001

2009

2011

2017

 

[GoReefin]

Have kept my H. Aurora and my bubble tip nems under a single AI prime without problems for about 7 months now. Light is around 10 inches to a foot above the tank. I don't even have the light turned up all the way.

 

[ReefingwithO]

1 AI Prime HD over a 12 x 12 x 12 nem tank. Anywhere from 8 to 12 nems here.

 

[Afaylenerich88]

100% okay. Some prefer lower some higher. It will move to another spot if it dosent like it or may make slight adjustments to catch more light. Mine started in one spot and ended up 3 inches away from where I placed it had also grown and spred out so it may move from time to time depending on flow,par, and availability of food. Very special animals. Love my blue tip seabea he sits just outside center ring of my xr15 pro. About 380-320par. I'd say he's loving it.

 

[2Sunny]

1 AI Prime HD over a 12 x 12 x 12 nem tank. Anywhere from 8 to 12 nems here.

See almost all your threads are for sale threads so I’m guessing you’re keeping multiple bubble tips under an ai prime hoping they’ll split and you can sell one. I create reefs at home because I want to recreate ocean environments and witness natural behavior. That’s the difference between us. What you’re doing works but are the ‘nems thriving or surviving and making you a buck?

 

[ReefingwithO]

See almost all your threads are for sale threads so I’m guessing you’re keeping multiple bubble tips under an ai prime hoping they’ll split and you can sell one. I create reefs at home because I want to recreate ocean environments and witness natural behavior. That’s the difference between us. What you’re doing works but are the ‘nems thriving or surviving and making you a buck?

Man, people always told me that the forums could be snarky.

So first, since you took the time to look at my post history - you could have taken an extra minute to see that all of those were selling equipment, specifically getting rid of all my Apex gear. There was also a nice story about my nems and a friend that died.

Second, my nems are thriving - I've kept them under a bunch of different LED ssince I setup the tank in 2018. I had a tank crash in April 2019

I'm an equipment junkie so I like to try new things - I think this makes me well qualified to answer this thread. (photos with context below)

Also note the multitude of equipment/lighting changes on the Red Sea Reefer 350 beside it - I did say I was an equipment junkie.

Just to save anyone from scrolling to the end - My nems aren't just surviving, they thrive. Lots of people in the NYC area have nems from me, I also supply a local LFS. (If you're going to be at Reefapalooza New York, my nems should be there at the Manhattan Aquariums booth


I originally had them under an AI Prime. Loved them under this light.

I saw these Illumagic Blaze X Minis on sale at Manhattan Aquariums and decided to try them. I was surprised by the PAR output and my nems really thrived under them. The thing that got me with these LEDs is that you could change the lens array from really white to blue - I wanted to see if it changed how fast they grew. It didn't.

When the HD series of the AI lights came out, I tried the Hydra 32, the nems loved the additional PAR but I had to clean the glass every day. Way too much cleaning for a tank in my living room. Nem colors were better but they didn't split or grew faster.

A couple of nems got into my big tank under Radion Gen 5s and I loved the colors that they changed to. So I decided to try a XR15 Radion Gen 5 on the nem tank to see if my other nems would get that same color.
(They did not) - Boy if I thought that the Hydra 32 grew algae on the glass then the XR15 G5 was worse.

So in the end I went back to a white AI Prime 16 HD. No difference in growth between lights, definitely a difference in color and bulb tips based on nutrients and water flow.

Easiest way to get them to split? Leave the water change water a few degrees colder -3 or 4.

I hope that helped someone. I have PAR numbers somewhere saved for all but the latest light but I'm too lazy to go look them up, I think I've done enough in response to the lazy comment about me.

 

[aabjones888]

Nahh I did read the whole post and like I said it’s plenty of light for a 18x18x17 tank for about anything. Nems and corals adapt to a lot of variety. I’ve also kept nems for about 15 years. From rose, rainbow, Chicago and ultimate Chicago sunburst nems. I’ve had a lot of different lights over the years too. So 150 par at sandbed is a pretty good amount of light at the sandbed.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

@2Sunny, I agree that one Prime may not be enough on that size tank, especially if it isn't the new 16HD model. Even the new model has a max output of 100 PAR at 24 inches over air. That is with all channels at 100%. Once you start removing red, green, and white and adding water and flow, you are going to lower that PAR even more. There are so many variables involved, so what may work for one person won't work for everyone.

 

[TriggersAmuck]

I'm running 3 AI Primes (2 are HD13, the other is an original 13 LED) on a 15" cube tank. Two BTAs: one sits really high up, like 4" under the surface with nearly direct spotlight concentration, the other one has slowly descended towards the bottom of the tank. I have noticed that when I had fewer lights or did not allow the option of "spotlighting", I saw less bubbling of the tips. (I realize that is a whole other can of worms, but just my observation with this tank). Having multiple lights does allow for spotlighting, which given the large central rock structure in my tiny tank allows for getting rid of the shadowing which was occurring when I started with a single AI.

Clearly where the 'nem sits in the tank has a huge effect on the PAR. I note that in the 12" cube above with one AI, most appear to be in fairly shallow water, even reaching to the surface. I have contemplated "upgrading" my cube to an 18" or 20" cube to allow easier cleaning around the sides, but even with 3 AI's I'm a bit worried whether I will be able to offer the same level of intensity given the increase in depth. I did keep 3 AI's on my 125 gallon tank back a few years ago, and the one central big rose 'nem there was always reaching for light and looking pretty strung out.

 

[Islareef]

1 AI Prime HD over a 12 x 12 x 12 nem tank. Anywhere from 8 to 12 nems here.

What's your schedule please

 

[djf91]

Ahhh miss that tank from 2011. The perfect reef. Think it was my screen saver at one time (hope that’s not weird haha)

 

[djf91]

Come back to the bright side sunny