Acan looks worse in new tank. Causes?

So I'm almost complete with transferring all my corals from my 30gal to my 70gal. Only got the 2 anemones and goby left to put over.

In this picture of my 70, you can see the orange aussi acan. When it is in my 30gal, it's only a little higher up, and all of the heads extend and open up fully. In the 70, they kindof squish together

All of the levels in the tanks are the same, except the nitrates are lower in the 70.

Calcium and alkalinity are the same, but the alk is a little on the low end in both..Trying to get them back up to normal ranges.


My lights on the 30 are the LED marineland reef capable
My new lights on the 70 are the 120watt Taotronics hanging fixtures with the dimmers and seperate cords for each light

The only thing I can think of is either they are in shock from the new light and I need to dim them down, or they need to be higher up. What do you guys think?

Here are the pictures of the acan in the 30gal, and then the 70

30gal:



70gal:

Your nitrates are 70?!!! Um, get those down asap or you're gonna start losing stuff!


As far as the acans go, the taotronics light is a lot stronger than the marineland light, and they are probably in shock from the lights. Can you move them to your sandbed in a spot that isn't quite so bright? Oh, and for what its worth, they don't look all that bad.

EDIT - I know others have already said this, but it really doesn't look like you have enough rock in there. Most tanks with enough rock look totally full of rock (unless you have the majority of it in a sump somewhere)

FishyReef said:

Your nitrates are 70?!!! Um, get those down asap or you're gonna start losing stuff!


As far as the acans go, the taotronics light is a lot stronger than the marineland light, and they are probably in shock from the lights. Can you move them to your sandbed in a spot that isn't quite so bright? Oh, and for what its worth, they don't look all that bad.

EDIT - I know others have already said this, but it really doesn't look like you have enough rock in there. Most tanks with enough rock look totally full of rock (unless you have the majority of it in a sump somewhere)

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No! haha, my nitrates are 0 in the 70.
And I have more rock to put in, there's a big 20lb piece that has my anemone on it, but I'm waiting a little longer to put it in. Plus, I still have over 150lb of live rock that I'm trying to sell, sitting in tanks out in my garage.

Do I have to acclimate the anemone?

and the acans are already on the sandbed, so I'm just going to dim down the lights to about 25% power and slowly acclimate them to it

OKay - phew - my misreading!!

Yeah, I would definitely acclimate the nem. I've heard you can place a credit card or the dull side of a butter knife at the edge of its foot, and it should release its foot and move from its spot. Then you can place it in a container and acclimate it while moving the rock separately. I'll be curious to hear what others say....

FishyReef said:

OKay - phew - my misreading!!

Yeah, I would definitely acclimate the nem. I've heard you can place a credit card or the dull side of a butter knife at the edge of its foot, and it should release its foot and move from its spot. Then you can place it in a container and acclimate it while moving the rock separately. I'll be curious to hear what others say....

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Definitely, I'm looking for the easiest way to do it. The main anemone split months ago, and the other one is right next to it. I'm going to try and sell it or give it to a LFS once I take it off. I plan on adding it tomorrow or thursday.

Can I just put it into a bucket and drip acclimate it?

Only thing is..I want it to stay on the current rock that its attached to..So I'm hoping that when I place it back on the same rock, it will stay put.

The knife trick always worked for me. I would stick it in the fridge for a little while first (the knife, that is). They don't particularly like the cold.

ErinCahir said:

The knife trick always worked for me. I would stick it in the fridge for a little while first (the knife, that is). They don't particularly like the cold.

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So just a regular butter knife, then after it gets pretty cold, stick it under the foot slowly until it detaches? Or do I have to pull it a little bit?

(Its a RBTA, incase that matters) Pretty sure they're all the same though..

Don't stick it UNDER the foot... just right at the base where it's attached.

ErinCahir said:

Don't stick it UNDER the foot... just right at the base where it's attached.

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Oh, ok. And then it will just come off?

It should move away from the feel of it, and once it starts moving it will have detached itself and then you should be able to just move it off the rock.

FishyReef said:

It should move away from the feel of it, and once it starts moving it will have detached itself and then you should be able to just move it off the rock.

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Ok cool. Glad I brought the whole anemone thing up. I'll try it tomorrow and tell you how I did :D