Magnifica nem theory.

[atoll]

I have always like Magnifica anemones and have had a few Mag nems over the years complete with resident clowns. Now it appears to me they may often be given the wrong spectrum of light, well some anyway. The following is why I think that and what I did about it.

Most Mags appear to be collected in very shallow waters so as most of our lights are heavy in the blue spectrum but this might not be ideal for them.

My last Mag nem wasn't doing as well as I would have liked under the Radions I was using at the time. I decided to experiment a little with extra light. I decided to put a small cheap 16w 6000k LED directly over it.

WOW! did that make a difference, the nem soon perked up and clearly was enjoying both the extra brightness and the daylight kelvin added. The Mag certainly thought so.

A couple of days ago I bought a Mag nem for my new tank, I say new as it's only just over a year old since I set it up. I put the nem in what for me was the best spot for it. I placed it in the far right hand rear corner of the tank between the back glass and some barnacle shells.

To my delight it's stayed there with its foot firmly planted on the back glass. I have 2 clowns that had taken up residence in my cat coral much to it's dissatisfaction and was shrinking. The female travelled the 5' to take up residence in the nem the male following the following day.

I digress however, although the nem stayed put it didn't look it's best as before with my previous nem so I tried the spot light trick once again.

I should add my main lighting is made up of 2x Orphek Atlantic V4 2s us 2 Orphek 120 blue plus light bars. The Atlantic's are fitted with 2 custom light diffusers as they are only mounted 10" off the waters surface.

As with my previous nem within minutes my mag looked much healthier with the testicles fully inflated and the nem clearly loving the extra 6000k daylight. I only have the spotlight on about half power at the moment but I will experiment with the intensity.

I bought the spot light via Amazon UK for £36 delivered. The light is a Asta F20 Nano 6500K Dimmable originally meant for fresh water applications.

I only put the light on this afternoon so will monitor it's progress but for now its proving a worthwhile addition as I hoped it would.

 

[HuduVudu]

the testicles fully inflated

This might not be a good thing for the nem ... just sayin'

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Good write up But I feel like I've read it before.
Curious how many hours a day you are planning to leave the supplemental light on for.

 

[atoll]

This might not be a good thing for the nem ... just sayin'

Was previously with a mag nem as reported above

 

[atoll]

Good write up But I feel like I've read it before.
Curious how many hours a day you are planning to leave the supplemental light on for.

I will run it for 6 or 7 hours coming on an.hour after my main.lights go on and going off an hour before. However experimentation will.determine that over the next few days or week.
BTW I may have reported something similar a few years ago with my previous setup and Mag.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I will run it for 6 or 7 hours coming on an.hour after my main.lights go on and going off an hour before. However experimentation will.determine that over the next few days or week.
BTW I may have reported something similar a few years ago with my previous setup and Mag.

Please let us know your progress and what you find works best.

 

[atoll]

Please let us know your progress and what you find works best.

Will.do as suggested above. Its only on half power at the moment and it might stay like that but I will try various power settings.
For the money they are a good little light and they also do a marine spectrum one.

 

[atoll]

I did a video of the Lominie Asta F20 6500k cool white LED spot light over 3 years ago on one of my previous tanks that I used to supliment light for my magnifica nem back then. I have put a link to it at the end of this post.

I will do another of my new Lominie 6500k spot light once I have decided the best power setting or allowed the nem to acclimatise to it more. The power of the light can be varied from off to 16w with the inline dimmer switch.

In the meantime you can see just how healthy the nem back then was under this light when prior to putting it on the nem wasn't at it's best. The nem certainly perked up.with the addition of this little light.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

I have always like Magnifica anemones and have had a few Mag nems over the years complete with resident clowns. Now it appears to me they may often be given the wrong spectrum of light, well some anyway. The following is why I think that and what I did about it.

Most Mags appear to be collected in very shallow waters so as most of our lights are heavy in the blue spectrum but this might not be ideal for them.

My last Mag nem wasn't doing as well as I would have liked under the Radions I was using at the time. I decided to experiment a little with extra light. I decided to put a small cheap 16w 6000k LED directly over it.

WOW! did that make a difference, the nem soon perked up and clearly was enjoying both the extra brightness and the daylight kelvin added. The Mag certainly thought so.

A couple of days ago I bought a Mag nem for my new tank, I say new as it's only just over a year old since I set it up. I put the nem in what for me was the best spot for it. I placed it in the far right hand rear corner of the tank between the back glass and some barnacle shells.

To my delight it's stayed there with its foot firmly planted on the back glass. I have 2 clowns that had taken up residence in my cat coral much to it's dissatisfaction and was shrinking. The female travelled the 5' to take up residence in the nem the male following the following day.

I digress however, although the nem stayed put it didn't look it's best as before with my previous nem so I tried the spot light trick once again.

I should add my main lighting is made up of 2x Orphek Atlantic V4 2s us 2 Orphek 120 blue plus light bars. The Atlantic's are fitted with 2 custom light diffusers as they are only mounted 10" off the waters surface.

As with my previous nem within minutes my mag looked much healthier with the testicles fully inflated and the nem clearly loving the extra 6000k daylight. I only have the spotlight on about half power at the moment but I will experiment with the intensity.

I bought the spot light via Amazon UK for £36 delivered. The light is a Asta F20 Nano 6500K Dimmable originally meant for fresh water applications.

I only put the light on this afternoon so will monitor it's progress but for now its proving a worthwhile addition as I hoped it would.

I keep a couple Mag anemones and keep my spectrum whiter in that system for this very reason.

 

[atoll]

I keep a couple Mag anemones and keep my spectrum whiter in that system for this very reason.

You also find they do better with light towards a more daylight spectrum?
Do you also feed them directly?

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

You also find they do better with light towards a more daylight spectrum?
Do you also feed them directly?

Yes, i do find that they do better in a whiter/daylight spectrum. I dont typically direct feed them. Every now and again when feeding the clowns i will squirt the mysis into the tentacles of the anemone and they catch some pieces.

 

[atoll]

Yes, i do find that they do better in a whiter/daylight spectrum. I dont typically direct feed them. Every now and again when feeding the clowns i will squirt the mysis into the tentacles of the anemone and they catch some pieces.

When I had my first mag I have metal halides over the tank and it never moved from directly under one. Back then the lamp was 5400k. I found over a period of time it would shrink a little but if I fed it a piece of fish the next day it would become much bigger. By feeding it I was able to control.its size and I kept it about dinner plate size feeding it this way which I did about once a fortnight or so.

 

[atoll]

4 days on and my Mag is doing well. However, I moved the 6500k spot light from being clamped on the back glass above the nem to the side of my tank and aimed it at it so the light was at a better angle to the nem. I have not as yet upped the brightness of the spot light.

FTS.

Close up of my Mag with resident clowns looking healthy.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

4 days on and my Mag is doing well. However, I moved the 6500k spot light from being clamped on the back glass above the nem to the side of my tank and aimed it at it so the light was at a better angle to the nem. I have not as yet upped the brightness of the spot light.

FTS.

Close up of my Mag with resident clowns looking healthy.

I can see why the mag may not do well in that lighting. It is very blue, especially if that is what it looks like for the majority of the day.

Mine looks like this the majority of the day. It’s quite a bit whiter than yours.

 

[atoll]

I can see why the mag may not do well in that lighting. It is very blue, especially if that is what it looks like for the majority of the day.

Mine looks like this the majority of the day. It’s quite a bit whiter than yours.

It doesn't look that blue in real life it's my phone camera I can only set it to 10k no higher which it needs to capture the true colour. It always looks overly blue on camera. I do have some lens filters but I have never found an ideal one to capture the true colour.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

It doesn't look that blue in real life it's my phone camera I can only set it to 10k no higher which it needs to capture the true colour. It always looks overly blue on camera. I do have some lens filters but I have never found an ideal one to capture the true colour.

My picture is no filter, straight out of the camera. Just taken right before I posted it.

 

[atoll]

My picture is no filter, straight out of the camera. Just taken right before I posted it.

Only issue there is your camera is not my camera.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

Only issue there is your camera is not my camera.

This is true haha when I look at your full tank shot the area that you have the mag looks like how I keep my whole tank.

So I guess my point was that if you didn’t use that whiter spot light I could see how the animal may not do as well because your overall spectrum is bluer.

 

[Rtaylor]

This is true haha when I look at your full tank shot the area that you have the mag looks like how I keep my whole tank.

So I guess my point was that if you didn’t use that whiter spot light I could see how the animal may not do as well because your overall spectrum is bluer.

I keep mine pretty white as well

 

[flagg37]

@PacificEastAquaculture I thought you had posted about several species and the average depth that they were collected at. I thought that you had said the mags you collected were about 25 meters deep. If that’s true, there’s not much white light that deep. It may still be true that they like the whiter light but if they are found that deep then it can’t be a necessity.

Doing a quick google search, most sources say they can be found anywhere from the surface to 50 meters deep.