Sebae Anemone, Lack of Lighting – 3/5/08
Hi Crew,
<Hi Ashley, Brenda here!>
I recently purchased a small Sebae anemone for my 55 gallon tank. In this tank I have 2 false Percula clownfish, 2 Peppermint shrimp, 2 Scooter blennies, and a number of snails and hermit crabs.
<Crabs can become predators to anemones.>
I have 2 Emperor filters going and a 40 watt 48" light and a 65 watt 24" light.
<I strongly recommend a protein skimmer in place of the Emperor filters, especially when keeping anemones.>
The worker of the fish store said this should be enough lighting for the anemone.
<This is not even close to being enough lighting for this anemone.>
The clownfish are still very timid and have only explored it a bit and nothing else in the tank gets near it. The levels are as follows: specific gravity - 1.024,
<Needs to be 1.026>
pH - 8.2, ammonia and nitrite - 0, KH - around 7, nitrate - 20ppm,
<Nitrates need to be zero.>
and temp is generally around 80 degrees. It has only been a couple of days and for the most part it seems fine but a bunch of its tentacles shrink sometimes during the day, although at night when the lights are off it seems to extend more fully. It's nestled in the sand but I'm not sure if it's fully rooted. It is the occasions when the tentacles get small that worry me. Is this normal behavior or does it need more lighting (is yes, how much).
<Anemones do occasionally shrink to exchange water and to expel waste. However, this animal does need a lot more lighting. I recommend two 175 watt (minimum) metal halide or as many 54 watt T-5 bulbs (with individual reflectors) that you can get over the tank.>
Thanks,
Ashley

Clown and Anemone
Hi Mr. Fenner,
I'm thinking about adding a carpet anemone to my 29 gallon tank. I have a clarkii clownfish that has been in the tank for almost a year now.
This tank is a fish only tank. I have 100 watts of lighting. I'm wondering what the chances are of the clown fish to adopt the carpet anemone. 
<Hmm, if you can obtain a healthy specimen there is a very good chance they will form a ready alliance>
Also, I'm wondering if I have enough light for the anemone to be happy.
Thanks for your advice
Kent Krupicka
Auburn, AL
<A hundred watts of... PC fluorescents? Only experience will show... if there is a chance of starting the specimen higher in the water column (more towards the lighting) I would. Bob Fenner>

Lighting
Hi Bob, before I add any anemones to my tank I would like to know if I have the correct lighting?
First of all my tank is 90 gallons dimension 48"x 21"deep x 18" wide about 100lbs. of rock been set up for 18 months now. I have two 24" 65watt power-compacts smart lamps in one fixture and two 22" 55watt 8800k ultra daylight power compacts in the other, so with your help do I have the correct lighting or do I need to add more light to house anemones. I was looking to purchase a carpet anemone for my Percula clowns, would be grateful on any advice. Thanks Brian
<About twice this lighting would be about right... You may be okay with what you have, depending on where the anemone decides to situate itself... but I would add more intensity here. Bob Fenner>

Bubble Anemone Lighting:
First off here are the water parameters:
Salinity 1.024
Temperature 78
pH 8.3
Calcium around 400
Ammonia 0
Nitrate .1ppm
<what is your alkalinity? I'm guessing it is a bit low...do test and correct if necessary>
Lighting is around 10.5 watts per gallon (VHO 4x110w) on a 40 gallon
<very nice!>
I have just bought this Bubbletip about 4 days ago he has attached himself to the live rock and opens up around 6-7 inches. The Gold-stripe maroon clown loves it found it in about 5 min. of it getting put in the tank. It is the brightest green I have seen in a long time. 
<an excellent sign and you have a very good system overall>
The lights are on for about 11.15 hrs, and it seems about every night around hour 9-10 the mouth becomes gapping open and you can see the insides hanging out a bit. Then the lights go out and about 2 hrs later it is back to being opened up again with the mouth tightly closed. Is this a sign of acclimation? 
<a bad sign when so... but perhaps not in this case>
Is this a sign of to much light for to long? For the first 8-9 hrs it is open and very beautiful then it does that. 
<indeed...that would be my first educated guess <G>>
It also seems to be moving during this period however very slowly being nudged by the Maroon clown. Thanks for any info you have, wonderful website you guy's have going on here.
<again... it sounds like you have a nice system, do tweak the alkalinity and photoperiod though (8-12 hours is standard but you do have bright light for the sized aquarium... 8-10 hrs will be fine...back down slowly over days. And be sure to feed this anemone weekly at least with finely shredded meats of ocean origin. Necessary for long-term success. Best regards, Anthony Calfo>
Thanks again, J.Wesley

Marine Lighting, Anemones, 
Hi Anthony,
I have a total of 340 watts of lighting now and my tank is not that deep its 20".What do u think?
Thank u so much for the reply
<cheers, Kim. It helps that the tank is less than 24". Still... its not a lot of light over such a large/diffused area. If the anemone moves it will be comprised by the static position of limited light. Still... I can only see a Sebae or perhaps a LT or BTA living under this outfit. The sebae is actually tied for first as the best liked anemone by clowns (hosts 14 species!). It is also the hardiest. Find a brown or green one (darker the better). The pale white, crème and yellow ones (too common) are bleached and stressed animals. I am quite certain that a Ritteri or carpet anemone would not live to see 2 years under these lights. Quite frankly... they might not even make it much past 6 months. The watts per gallon rule is quite lousy for us to go on... still: the fluorescent you have do little for PAR (photosynthetic activity) beyond 10" of water and by virtue of the color of the bulb. And a 150 watt halide covering half of the tank (18"x36" perhaps...somewhere around 4-5 ft2) is weak by anemone/coral standards. Still... a very nice lighting system and attractive color! Just not enough punch for these most demanding creatures. This is one of the reasons why most anemones are dead within 6 months of import. kindly, Anthony>