What's going on with my anemone?!

[chewitback]

So I broke down and purchased a rose anemone at a frag swap on Saturday (it is now Tuesday). I placed it in my 180gallon reef tank, and since it was not attached to any rock, I set it on one of the rocks, which it would attach to, detach to, then roll about in the current for a bit. It finally found a hole that it seemed to like, and stayed attached in it for 24 hours, before detaching and vanishing for a day. Now it's attached again to the bottom bit of a piece of rock, but for the past day or so it hasn't puffed much and is black and only the tips of it are rose colored. When the morning lights cut on he was flat and deflated, but perked up a bit shortly afterward. I'm worried because it won't accept food (krill, mysis, brine shrimp) and still looks nowhere near what other bubble tips look like. 8.2 ph, 7kh, 500cal, salinity was at 2.7 - now 2.5, ammonia, phosphates, nitrates, and nitrites are all at 0. The tank has been up and running for a while (Feb) and I have kept 60+ species of sps, lps, and softies growing for the 4 years I have been doing this, but I have never had an anemone before, so I'm a newbie in that regard.

[chewitback]

Oh, and tank temp is a steady 80F

[Shane Hoffman]

My anemones both wandered around for 5 to 7 days before finally finding a spot and sticking to it. Give him some time. Its not uncommon for them to not take food until they are all settled in. Also It sounds like your tank is fairly new if you set it up FEB of this year. Most will recommend you not attempt to keep anemones until the tank is 6 months old minimum. !2 months old is better. Anemones need a ton of light. What kind of lights do you have???? Your parameters look good although I am not familiar with your salinity measurement. What does 2.5 mean??? What are you using to measure salinity?? What do you have for water circulation?

[Inklinkerman]

I'd post on the clownfish/anenome forum. Some knowledgeable people over there.

[chewitback]

Lighting is a nova extreme pro HO T5 system. The salinity was supposed to be 1.025... Not sure where I came up with 2.5 either. I have an oceanic hydrometer suction cupped to the inner glass of the tank. The current is taken care of by my pump from the sump alone. It's a little giant and seems to push water about the tank quite well. It's just odd because the anemone chose a low spot on the tank (next to the sand) and in a place where the current isn't as strong as I would have thought it would want.

[Tuscaquatics]

They'll do this. He's gonna jump around until he finds a spot he likes. The main issue is having your tank "nem-proof" so that he doesn't get chopped up by a powerhead or something while he wanders.

[mr.maroonsalty]

Take that hydrometer to your lfs and double check it with a refractometer, or pick up a standard and calibrate to that, good chance your salinity may be anywhere from a little high to a lot, and those symptoms correspond well to that.

[chewitback]

Will do. I actually had the lfs check it a day ago when it started looking rough and they are the ones who told me it was high so I added 5gallons of RO to the sump to bring the salinity down and installed the hydrometer at the same time so I can keep closer tabs now. The needle sits around 1.025 and wavers a bit with the current. The other corals seemed not to mind, but they aren't 98% water.

[Trademark]

Hey chewitback, I live in Champaign as well, I have a refrac if you want to borrow it to check things out. If I can help just PM me