Anemone color change

[Jesterman22]

I was wondering if anyone would have any idea why my RBTA has changed color? When i first got it it was a dark red color and now almost two years later it is a light pink. Thanks

[timjoemak]

Lighting is the main problem here..

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

For whatever reason, it is bleached in the pink version. That is, it is missing its zoox that are present in the orange version. Many factors can cause this. How are other things in the tank?

[Jesterman22]

everything else is doing great. The only other thing i am having problems with is my button polyps they closed about 4 days ago and have not opened. i had my anemones in a 24g jbj with compact lights and then i moved it to a jbj 28g HQI. They were that red color for like 3 months then turned pink. I tried putting them at the bottom of the tank but they all moved to the top.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, so perhaps the shock of the increased light or other change in the environment may have caused expulsion of the zoox. Hopefully it will come back over time. :)

[Jesterman22]

i have 4 bta in my tank now one is a bleach white one seems to be hidden and the other two are really small. they were doing fine a few weeks ago. I hope they get better to.

thank you for the help randy and timjoemak

[bexar]

We have a rose bta with T5 lighting. We've had it for over a year and it doesn't appear to be growing and has lost the bubble tips. We feed it mysis shrimp everyday. What is limiting it's growth? Do we need metal hallide?

[Jesterman22]

what is crazy is a few weeks ago one of the bta was at least 7 inches wide. It is almost like maybe the go through phases where they are really big and then they get really small.

[Anemone]

Lighting is the main problem here..

Probably. What lighting (I see reference to compact and HQI, but what wattage) and what size tank?

Kevin

[Jesterman22]

it is 150 Watt Double Ended HQI. the bta are located about 10 inches from the light.
the tank is a 28g.

[Anemone]

Since you have good lighting and had it for a while, I retract my statement about the lighting being the cause. What about the temperature in your tank? Has it gone up a bit lately?

Kevin

[Jesterman22]

The thermometer is still working, the temp is at 78 F. Now what would cause my water to be so cloudy? I did a 9g water change last week and my water never cleared.

[garygb]

Looks like a bleached RBTA. Not sure what is causing the bleaching, could be a few things. You didn't mention how old the MH is. I would say if it's a year or older, it's time to change it. As others have mentioned, temperature can be another cause of bleaching.

[Jesterman22]

The lighting is not even a year old. I was thinking about putting new lights in but that will not be till this summer.

[Anemone]

I hadn't seen anything about cloudy water before now (but I'm a notorious skimmer, so I might have missed it).

How long has the water been cloudy? Cloudy water could be several things, but a bacterial bloom is the first thing that comes to mind, caused by too much organics and not enough surface area for the bacteria that consumes the organics to grow on.

So, back to the basics - what type of filtration do you have in this 28 gallon tank? How much live rock? What substrate? Also, I would imagine that your MH lighting has increased your evaporation rate. What are you using for make-up water, and what are your current water test readings (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and Salinity for starters)?

Kevin

[Jesterman22]

I am using a stock skimmer that came with it. I have about 30 pounds of LR. The water has been cloudy since i did a 9g water change last week. So i did aother 3g change a few days ago.I get my water from the fish store. All my other water from there has been good.I have about 6 to 8 pounds of sand. I have a very small layer working on buying more. I try and buy at least 3g of water every two weeks to change out. I mix all my water and salt at my house. My filter is mechanical sponge, chemical activated carbon, and biological ceramic that is all stock to.

ammonia:0
nitrite:.01
nitrate:0
pH:8.4
Salinity:1.022

[Conrad25]

Wow your salinity is low. A reef should be minimum of 1.024 and ideal at 1.026. I wouldn't ever go that low and could be part of the issue. Also with using mechanical filtration. Do you mean floss and sponges? They should be changed weekly than along with cleaning out the sponges. I used to have a 20G Hex and never ran anything on the tank for filtration except the rock itself that did the trick and once in a while I ran floss to get any gunk out when doing some water changes

Just my opinion

Conrad

[Jesterman22]

"Conrad25" What do you mean by floss and sponages? I got the salt level up to 1.025

[katchupoy]

I know that this thread is old, but was wondering hows the RBTA?