Carpet anemone lighting requirements?

[DanG]

My LFS has a half dozen or so nice carpet anemone's, blue and green ones. I've done some research but can't find anything on lighting requirements other than High. I've got an 18" deep tank and have 4x39W T5's and 2x54W T5's, all with individual reflectors. The 54W are both 10,000k and 1 of the 39's is 10k, the rest are actinic.

Is that enough lighting?

[Tyson]

you sould be fine with that set up, my LFS has a bunch aswell and there all under 6 T-5's mostly kz bulbs.

[Black Phantom]

This is a cut and paste from "Live Aquaria". They are usually on the money as far as requirements go for livestock. If they say high lighting then that's what I'd do.

The Carpet Anemone lives singly on the reef or soft bottoms in the Indo-Pacific region and the Red Sea. Attaining diameters up to 2-1/2 feet, this colorful Anemone has short tentacles and a potent sting. These anemones serve as a "host" for many types of Clownfish including Amphiprion ocellaris, A. percula, or Dascyllus trimaculatus. In exchange, the Clownfish will provide the carnivorous anemone with "crumbs" of food that make up a large part of its diet.
The Carpet Anemone requires a tank with strong lighting and good water movement. The aquarium should provide a variety of sandy and rocky locations. The Carpet Anemone may prefer one more than the other, and will move about the tank until it finds the location of its choice. It has a potent sting and may harm corals and other anemones as it moves about the aquarium. It is not compatible with other Anemones within a 12" diameter, so monitor it when it is first introduced into the tank. The addition of a clownfish to the aquarium will immediately help with acclimation. When healthy, it will be very sticky. If it is able to grasp something (or someone), it is very difficult to convince it to let go without damaging it.

It is also one of the few anemones that can cause a severe reaction in humans, so keeping one requires care in handling.

Once acclimated, it should be fed a diet of fish, shrimp, and other meaty foods.

[Delphinus]

Boy there must have been some stash of carpets found. In ten years I have never seen such a large quantity of carpets come available like this.

Anyhow, without seeing yours, your description alone pegs these as the gigantea carpets that have been popping up all over the place.

So, do a search on "Stichodactyla gigantea".

I would think your lighting will be adequate. More important however is flow, carpets need a lot of flow. Ideally, a surging current or a wavemaker alternation of flow is good.

[DanG]

I've got ~600gph coming from my return, 2 K3 powerheads at 850gph each and a single K1 at 400gph, so 2700gph, which is roughly 38x turnover. I am looking at dumping the K1 and one of the K3's in favour of a Vortech though.

[wickedfrags]

Lighting should be adequate. One of my customers got one from me - you can check the pics and his set-up here:

http://www.aquariacanada.com/forums/...threadid=13268

[DanG]

That looks pretty much the same as the one I'm hoping to snag.

Thanks for the link.

[Myka]

Nice!!! I LOVE the blues!!!