GBTA and my tank

[madsalt]

Ok so I have been reading a lot about anenomes and when they should be put into your tank as well as how to care for them

One of the biggest things I have been reading is that you tank should be a mature tank like 6 months to a year.

So what I haven't seen is the explanation as to why the tank has to be mature, what the magic ingredient is in a mture tank that is good for your anenome.

Can anyone break this down for me and explain the true reason behind a mature tank.

Thanks.

Edited April 24, 2012 by madsalt

[JamesL]

During the first months of a tank being set up, it is common for the water parameters to fluctuate. This is especially true during the first month or so when a tank normally goes through the nitrogen cycle. But even after this, algae blooms work their way through as a tank matures. All of this can stress an anemone and cause it not to survive (this is true with a lot of corals/fish too).

Anemones are a super-long lived creature in the wild, but in lots of cases tend to live only a slim fraction of that in captivity. So by providing a nice mature and stable tank, you can increase the likelihood of the anemone surviving.

[George Monnat Jr]

+1 to JamesL

Do you already have the GBTA in your tank? If yes, you can use Aquatic BioControl StartSmart (I get mine from Fishy Business) to help prevent ammonia spikes. If your ammonia spikes and your tank isn't mature enough to handle it (as in your clean-up crew [CUC] are slow and the bacteria responsible for breaking it down in the nitrogen cycle are overwhelmed) then your BTA could die and nuke your entire tank.

If no, then that's good - ignore this post and just refer to the one above.

[Timfish]

+1, your chances of succcess are much better. As to your question:

. . .So what I haven't seen is the explanation as to why the tank has to be mature, what the magic ingredient is in a mture tank that is good for your anenome. . .

Unlike cycling a tank where all you have to do is monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, there is no definition or test to determine when a tank is "mature". Even when I use live rock and live sand to bypass the cycling stage of establishing a reef system and even if I have stable water parameters there are still noticable boom and bust cycles with the various nuisance algaes and various copeopods and stuff. Each "cycle" lasting from as little as a week to a couple of months. Whenever I have looked closely there are multiple things going on at the smae time. I myself would not consider a tank mature for at least 8 to 12 months even if I've bypassed the initial "cycling" stage. As long as my pH, alk and calcium are stable I myself will add hardy inverts/corals I have grown in my tanks or am very familiar with. A species or variety I am not familiar with I will not put into a tank I do not consider "mature". Having corals/inverts die in a tank is unavoidable but it needs to be minimized as much as possible. Having corals die during the maturing process can lead to much worse algae problems. For an inexperience aquarist a measure of patience is worth a whole lot of frustration of seeing expensive animals die and dealing with algae problems that are feeding off the added nutrients.