BTA in intake! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

There is something inside the blue filter cartridge which I'm assuming must be carbon, no? Dbl-checking now...I bought a 6-pack of those filters the other day.

 

Really? Why would you say that a year would be too soon for an anem???

 

Tanks need to be very established to sustain an anemone and keep it healthy. People recommend a year. Which is basically spent getting familiar with your tank parameters, nitrates/ph/ect. Once you are familiar and able to keep them stable, you should ideally, be ok.

 

Well than I am certainly screwed! I thought I may have rushed into stocking my tank...it's so hard to be patient and it doesn't help when you have a wife and 3 kids saying "c'mon c'mon...more fish, more fish!" I'ma cpl months in and my parameters, (which I've tested every other day if not daily) are fine...WC's once a week. I'm going to order a skimmer and sweet lighting on nxt payday, but I don't even want to clue you all in on what's in there now...it's a 37 G....*sigh How everything is alive is a miracle.

 

The 37 gallons are kind of a pain, I got rid of mine after a few weeks. They are so tall its very hard to reach the bottom. They look cool, but are a pain. They are about 23 inches tall. You would need at least a 4 bulb 24" t5 fixture or a 150w mh for lighting if you want to turn it into a full blown reef.

 

Whenever an anemone gets stuck in any form of an intake turn the pump off and let the anemone remove itself. You will do more harm than good by pulling it out.

 

What lighting do you use now? If it is just standard lighting then your lighting wasn't strong enough for the anemone in the first place.

 

Yep I'm ordering a T5 HO 4x24 w/ind refl

 

The anemone wasn't happy in the tank, which is why it wasn't attached to a rock, which led to it getting sucked into the intake. First reason for that would be the tank is way too new to sustain an anemone. An anemone is ~90% water, which means it is very intolerant to water quality changes. Any signs of ammonia or nitrites and it will freak out, which is probably what cause it to move in the first place. Your best bet on its survival would be to find it a temporary home if possible.
Now all that being said, you said you want to make it into a full reef. How big is your tank and how deep is the water? Generally a tank that is more than 24" deep, you will want MH. As strong as T5 lighting is, they do not have the penetration power of MH. You will be limited in the corals you will stock with T5, and will need to place them near the top of the tank. Then the next thing to consider is your filtration system. You have a bio-wheel filter, which really has no place in a reef system, unless modified for specific use. Do you have a protein skimmer, and if so, what kind? You may also want to consider incorporating a refugium before your system stabilizes more. Adding that refugium system will create a small cycle, so it's best to get it done all at once. But that is personal opinion.
I have learned the hard way here, trust me. I learned by taking a bunch of lumps and lots of heartache, as did many of the great people here. We try to give advice from hard lessons so new hobbyists don't have to "learn the hard way" too.

 

Sounds like stock lighting. Between that and the age of your tank, I would definitely get that nem out of there. A healthy one probably wouldn't make it, let alone an injured 1. Upgrade your lighting, let the tank mature, then maybe try again.