Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Big E]

Thank you. :)

Just for the record, I have gotten and continue to get lots of advice from folks at Reef2Reef who are anemone experts, both planning the tank and dealing with this specimen. There are several threads in the anemone forum discussing it.

I’m not sure what you mean by mounted low. When the magnifica is on top of its planned rock island, the top of the anemone is in the upper third of the tank. That puts the par in the range that others at Reef2Reef keep them.

As to the location, it is as you describe, unable to touch any walls of the tank from the bommie top. The entire aquascape was planned with that design in mind. It has never left the bommie by touching the side walls and moving onto it. It leaves the bommie by detaching from the rock entirely and floating free. Same when it was on the glass at the tank top: it released.

I don’t think inadequate light is the issue that causes it to move. It has sometimes moved from higher to lower light, and did not move back.

While I do not know for sure, I suspect it has some foot problem that causes it to be unhappy with the grip it gets, regardless of the nature of the location or the nature of the surface.

Pics can be deceiving, but the last pic you updated it looks like it's only 7" or so above the sand surface. I thought in the past you have had trouble with it moving up to the overflow box?

I think the idea is for it to be unencumbered by not touching anything else in proximity...............kinda like king of the hill with arms spread wide.
It may be moving lower to get flow but then not getting enough(hi par encompassing) light. In other words it likes both and will keep moving until it's happy.

The tentacles look short...............they should be 2-3 times longer.

I'm just passing along info to help...............I'm not an expert but there are a lot of falsehoods about keeping these healthy. I don't know if the foot is damaged.......from the pic it looks ok.

I only have experience with Malus and they are almost the exact opposite in care when it comes to flow and light.

Like I mentioned I can get you in contact with my friend if you want to bounce some ideas off him.
He isn't on forums.

 

[Big E]

If you read through the thread, he did all these things. The anemone moves

I have..........
Where he has it isn't how I see them in tanks with healthy mags. Near a wall is not ideal for one in regards to flow or light.

 

[rishma]

I have..........
Where he has it isn't how I see them in tanks with healthy mags. Near a wall is not ideal for one in regards to flow or light.

I guess I don’t understand. He didn’t place it there. He made a raised pedestal and repeatedly try to get it to stay there for quite a while. He eventually let it move to see if it found a place it liked.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I have..........
Where he has it isn't how I see them in tanks with healthy mags. Near a wall is not ideal for one in regards to flow or light.

Still not understanding the "near wall" comment, but I thank you for the input.

I'm not wanting to argue with folks giving input, certainly, but I do want folks to understand that I have taken all this sort of light and flow and aquascape design into consideration and have tried numerous things to deal with whatever the issue may be, and have gotten that advice from experts here at reef2reef who have kept many magnifica in many different tanks for many years. I'm happy to do more work for it, but I'm not seeing what that would be. Current plan is to let it go where it wants and decide what makes it happy. It's been doing that for a few weeks.

1. Light. Par at the rock island top is in the 300+ range near the top of the anemone, 245 at the rock itself. Raising the light intensity did not seem to help. When it was recently roving along the back wall, it was at 400 par at one section, and continued to move on to a lower light section (208 par) under a glass center brace, and stayed there for a couple of weeks. I experimented with a spot light on it, raising the par over time, but it ultimately detached and dropped to the rocks below. Then it reclimbed the wall, and roved along it again before detaching a number of days later, ending up back on the rock island. In it's current location on the rock island, where it has been for a week or so, it roved over the top but back down one of the sides and so now is in less light than it was in a few days ago. I have let it roam the tank looking for optimal light, if that is its concern, but if it is, it has not found it. I currently have a spot light on the rock island top, if it wants to move there.

2. Flow. There is a pulsed Tunze powerhead not far away, and another across the tank on a different pulsed timing. Thus the flow moves the tentacles around in a variable fashion. Not as high of turbulent flow as some I see videos of, but enough to move it around. I have tried re-aiming the powerheads, changing the intensity, and changing the pulse timing. All to no avail. As it roves around the rock island, it gets to test out different flow locations, and the flow changes a lot as it does so. When it was roving about, it stayed in the middle of the back wall at the top under the center brace for 2 weeks or so. That is one of the lowest flow areas of the tank. The fact that it moved there and stayed there suggests that flow may not be its primary concern. But flow is one thing I have good control over and could continue to experiment with it.

3. Water chemistry. While I cannot rule out some sort of organic toxin, detailed testing by Oceamo of the organic and inorganic chemistry profile does not indicate any clear reason for anemone unhappiness.

4. Rock island/bommie. The standard way to keep magnifica confined is on a rock island surrounded by sand where it cannot reach the walls to climb higher. That is how the left half of my tank is designed. The anemone does not touch the walls ever and has never moved directly onto the wall.

5. Foot. So that brings me back to the possible foot issue, which was also suggested by some of our resident experts. I have not heard of any folks who keep them suggesting theirs lift up part of the foot on a frequent basis. Mine does, and often looks like this picture.

These issues aside, the anemone appears to be doing OK. It eats if I feed it (which is not very often), but feeding it scallop regularly (say, 2x per week) did not make it stay in place. It colored up with zoox just fine after coming in bleached.

This fabulous video from one of out resident experts, seancj, shows many magnifica in various flow settings, and some have more flow than mine, but not all. Same for tentacle length. Some are longer than mine, but not all. IMO, that video shows a good benchmark tank for thriving magnifica. Wish I could use a plasma light such as he uses. I love the look. :) @Seancj

 

[tripdad]

Definition: Anemone .........(1) As frustrating an animal as you will ever encounter. (2) A soft bodied invertebrate that has a large foot and a wandering mind. It specializes in driving people crazy.


Hang in there! It's a beautiful specimen.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

PC Rainbow Update

The PC Rainbow coral that was full brown before I moved it out of the path of the roving anemone continues to change color to more green. I like to better now. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Definition: Anemone .........(1) As frustrating an animal as you will ever encounter. (2) A soft bodied invertebrate that has a large foot and a wandering mind. It specializes in driving people crazy.


Hang in there! It's a beautiful specimen.

lol, thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Video

I took a quick video just now. I put in a little food (TDO chromoboost) just before taking it, hence the clownfish excitement.

One can also compare the anemone movement in the flow.

 

[Big E]

Still not understanding the "near wall" comment, but I thank you for the input.

I'm not wanting to argue with folks giving input, certainly, but I do want folks to understand that I have taken all this sort of light and flow and aquascape design into consideration and have tried numerous things to deal with whatever the issue may be, and have gotten that advice from experts here at reef2reef who have kept many magnifica in many different tanks for many years. I'm happy to do more work for it, but I'm not seeing what that would be. Current plan is to let it go where it wants and decide what makes it happy. It's been doing that for a few weeks.

1. Light. Par at the rock island top is in the 300+ range near the top of the anemone, 245 at the rock itself. Raising the light intensity did not seem to help. When it was recently roving along the back wall, it was at 400 par at one section, and continued to move on to a lower light section (208 par) under a glass center brace, and stayed there for a couple of weeks. I experimented with a spot light on it, raising the par over time, but it ultimately detached and dropped to the rocks below. Then it reclimbed the wall, and roved along it again before detaching a number of days later, ending up back on the rock island. In it's current location on the rock island, where it has been for a week or so, it roved over the top but back down one of the sides and so now is in less light than it was in a few days ago. I have let it roam the tank looking for optimal light, if that is its concern, but if it is, it has not found it. I currently have a spot light on the rock island top, if it wants to move there.

2. Flow. There is a pulsed Tunze powerhead not far away, and another across the tank on a different pulsed timing. Thus the flow moves the tentacles around in a variable fashion. Not as high of turbulent flow as some I see videos of, but enough to move it around. I have tried re-aiming the powerheads, changing the intensity, and changing the pulse timing. All to no avail. As it roves around the rock island, it gets to test out different flow locations, and the flow changes a lot as it does so. When it was roving about, it stayed in the middle of the back wall at the top under the center brace for 2 weeks or so. That is one of the lowest flow areas of the tank. The fact that it moved there and stayed there suggests that flow may not be its primary concern. But flow is one thing I have good control over and could continue to experiment with it.

3. Water chemistry. While I cannot rule out some sort of organic toxin, detailed testing by Oceamo of the organic and inorganic chemistry profile does not indicate any clear reason for anemone unhappiness.

4. Rock island/bommie. The standard way to keep magnifica confined is on a rock island surrounded by sand where it cannot reach the walls to climb higher. That is how the left half of my tank is designed. The anemone does not touch the walls ever and has never moved directly onto the wall.

5. Foot. So that brings me back to the possible foot issue, which was also suggested by some of our resident experts. I have not heard of any folks who keep them suggesting theirs lift up part of the foot on a frequent basis. Mine does, and often looks like this picture.

These issues aside, the anemone appears to be doing OK. It eats if I feed it (which is not very often), but feeding it scallop regularly (say, 2x per week) did not make it stay in place. It colored up with zoox just fine after coming in bleached.

This fabulous video from one of out resident experts, seancj, shows many magnifica in various flow settings, and some have more flow than mine, but not all. Same for tentacle length. Some are longer than mine, but not all. IMO, that video shows a good benchmark tank for thriving magnifica. Wish I could use a plasma light such as he uses. I love the look. :) @Seancj

When I look at that Mag tank the ones that look to be thriving the most are high up with the best flow and light in the "center" area of the tank. I know they can adjust to conditions

That is my suggestion where it would do best. From my experience this is also where you get the best par and turbulent flow for any aquarium setup. If you are closer to a tank side panel this becomes more of a challenge. Par and 360 degree coverage levels drop off and flow becomes more one sided. If an anemone is feeling/sensing this it may want to move.

I'll leave it at that......................it's your nem. I offered you the ability to contact my friend if you want more info. There may be more he can provide in the other conditions you mention. If I get a chance and remember I'll take a video of his Mags as a video is much better than words. If I remember correctly I don't think he's ever had his Mags at less than 500par. Currently more like 600-800. I don't know if this is better or not but what he prefers.

I hate this back and forth type stuff, but here's two video clips in the wild. This is certainly higher flow and more what I see in my friends tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

When I look at that Mag tank the ones that look to be thriving the most are high up with the best flow and light in the "center" area of the tank. I know they can adjust to conditions

That is my suggestion where it would do best. From my experience this is also where you get the best par and turbulent flow for any aquarium setup. If you are closer to a tank side panel this becomes more of a challenge. Par and 360 degree coverage levels drop off and flow becomes more one sided. If an anemone is feeling/sensing this it may want to move.

I'll leave it at that......................it's your nem. I offered you the ability to contact my friend if you want more info. There may be more he can provide in the other conditions you mention. If I get a chance and remember I'll take a video of his Mags as a video is much better than words.

I hate this back and forth type stuff, but here's two video clips in the wild. This is certainly higher flow and more what I see in my friends tank.

Thanks very much! Videos of happy magnificas are certainly helpful. :)

I do agree that high light and high turbulent flow are very desirable for magnificas.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

New Algae for Fish?

I usually feed my tang and foxface either ulva from my refugium or dulse. I get the dulse from Whole Foods as that is cheaper than Amazon or reef supply stores.

My closest Whole Foods doesn’t sell the dulse, but I did try kombu yesterday. It is local to me, but it seems they do not like it. Too thick and rubbery, I think. I’ll leave it in another couple of days in case they finally eat it, but so far it’s a fail. Cooking it might help, but that’s too much work and I expect the smell would not go over well.

 

[skey44]

New Colony?

Since it seems like the anemone is happier where it is, I’m
musing about getting a hard coral colony to place on top of the rock island (center left in picture below). It’s a very central part of the tank that is clearly empty.

Since I had poor luck with shipped frags and better luck with local corals, I have been monitoring the local board for folks looking to offload colonies. I may contact some local folks as well.

I’m thinking something blue or yellow or green would look good on the rock island.

Thoughts?

Cali blue tort would fill that spot nicely. It’s also an easy acro with fast growth under most conditions. Commonly available. I have it coming out of my ears and two colonies in a little more than a year.

 

[skey44]

How’s the elegance doing?

I got an elegance frag sourced from ACI at my LFS. It worked out great for me. Just wanted to chime in if you’re looking for one that’s available commercially.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Cali blue tort would fill that spot nicely. It’s also an easy acro with fast growth under most conditions. Commonly available. I have it coming out of my ears and two colonies in less than a year.

Thanks. That is a good choice. I tried an Oregon blue tort from Top Shelf Aquatics, but it died shortly after arrival. I do want to try again. Dwest also sent me a Cali tort, but it died in shipping.

That said, at the moment the magnifica has reclaimed that area so that location is on hold. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Full Tank Shot

This morning:

 

[tripdad]

I can't believe the amount of coraline your getting. It takes forever in my tanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I can't believe the amount of coraline your getting. It takes forever in my tanks.

It has really taken off. Not sure why exactly, but when conditions are favorable, it may be like growing bacteria expanding by double in a certain time frame.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Mantis Update

The mantis that my daughter trapped a couple of weeks ago is doing fine. She bought it a 6.5 gallon tank, a powerhead and a heater at Petco. I gave her some old gravel, a chunk of live rock for cycling purposes, and some salt and water to take home.

It is now thriving in Rhode Island. She said yesterday that it was trying to open a little clam she got for it. She bought a couple of hermit crabs as friends for it, or meals as the case may be.

Interestingly, I’ve not heard any clicking in my tank since it left. I know there was another one, but perhaps all the clicking was from the one that left. Alternatively, maybe a lot of the clicking was a signal between them: territorial, romantic overtures, or whatever.

Edit: I heard a couple of clicks just now after
Posting this, so it is still around.

Here is was when she trapped it:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Magnifica Running Amok

After the full tank shot a bit ago, it has now nearly released from the island. Insanity is threatening. what is shown below is the foot mostly detached. Not the mouth.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Regardless of the reasons for the above situation, face down on the rock does not seem like something it wants, so I turned the flow way down (which was kind of holding it in place), gently flipped it up so the unattached part of the foot was in the rock top again, waited about three minutes, and turned the flow back up. It’s holding in a much more normal position now.

I also went back to the earlier 10 w 5,000k spotlight from the 5w 6,000k light that was in it earlier today.

Picture sequence:

Mostly detached.

Flipped up onto the top before flow restarted

Flow back on: