BTA lighting preferances

VG30DE-TT · Jan 24, 2019

I started my 29g tank almost a year ago, my main goal like most was some Clowns and an Anemone. (DUH!!!) I was told to wait 1 year before adding the anemone, I listened my first fish where a pair of "black ice" clowns and as I have discovered over the last 10months I'd really like some hammer coral and some zoas. My LFS had just Fragged some hammer coral and I really wanted some. But we agreed that the black ice clowns do everything a traditional clown does times 10x , that they would host the frag and kill it in days. They recommended a BTA now and the hammer later. We agreed the laws on nature would prevail and the BTA would end up wherever I didn't want it and then when I add the hammer coral the clowns would prefer the BTA over the boring coral. So I brought home the BTA and because nature will always prevail I placed the BTA not where I want it, but where I want the Hammers, and as I have read over and over the BTA opened up, and walked slowly under a rock and looked like I'd assume a dead BTA would look. I turned the lights down and the power heads to 10% instead of the normal 80%

Sorry for the long winded story, but here comes the question. I can control R G B and white on my lights 0-100 on all 4 (current orbit IC pro) right now I've got red and green at 0% blue at 80 and white at 30% and the BTA has come out but is still hanging at the edge of the rock. I bumped white up to 35% and it hid again. Normal for daytime is red and green at 20% blue at 100% and white at 50%

Is there a particular color spectrum that BTA hate or love? And it clearly HATES the powerheads.

I think everything will be fine just going up 1% or so on each color. But there are a lot of other critters in my tank that would like the lights and flow back on.

PDR · Jan 24, 2019

You may get some different advice, but I personally have never changed my lighting or flow when I add anemones. I do turn off all of my flow for 30~ min while it attaches, but after that, I leave the lights and powerheads on as usual.

If the bta is not happy, it will move until it finds a spot it likes. Now if it continues to move or looks super stressed, etc. Then you might have to look into changing up lighting or flow, but for now, I would turn everything on like normal.

James M · Jan 24, 2019

They need to adjust to your lighting but from what I’ve been told they like royal blues

VG30DE-TT · Jan 24, 2019

Thanks for the quick responses, I think I'll let them ride out the day today with the current lighting the BTA looks to be loving life, and let the pumps and lights fade back to normal for sunrise tomorrow.

It was looking rough 12hrs ago upside down, pooping out of its mouth, it looks great now.

PDR · Jan 24, 2019

Your anemone appears to be bleached. It may take some time for it to settle in and start gaining some color back. Give it a week or two to settle in, then try and feed it small amounts of frozen food every few days to help it recover.

Fshloover · Jan 24, 2019

I don’t think it’s bleached it might just be a light green color. I have one that is a light green and has been growing and thriving in my tank for a few months.

VG30DE-TT · Jan 24, 2019

I'd agree that it's not as green as it was in the store, but in have A LOT of blue lights on in those pictures. If I went normal dalylinging it's quite green with a brown foot. The corlainne on the back wall and rock is bright pink. All the blue is throwing off the colors

VG30DE-TT · Jan 27, 2019

I was talking to the LFS today, it's only a 1min drive and maybe a 10min walk, my BTA is colored exactly like the other ones that all came in at the same time. It's light green. They where in quarantine for 30days at the LFS and it seems like it's still on the same light schedule because mine is close the the LFS schedules. They said give it the rest of the week and see what happens, should be fine. It might have just found its home, they said if I feel like playing God to point a power head at it, but they say it's not going to go anywhere I want, that's just how it works, and the best plan is to let it be and in a few weeks it should out grow its home and find a new spot.

Ron Reefman · Jan 28, 2019

How deep is your 29g tank? Have you ever had the PAR levels in your tank tested?

The Current Orbit IC Pro fixture uses 0.5 watt leds which do not penetrate the water nearly as well as even cheap 3 watt black box Chinese leds. I had a Current Orbit fixture over my 14" deep 'spare' tank and at the bottom I got PAR readings of just 50 with all channels at 100%. That's barely enough to keep corals or anemones alive. I intend to turn my 16g 'spare' tank into a rock flower anemone tank and I ended up getting a better fixture. Now at 80% blue and 40% white I get a PAR of 200 at the bottom of the tank.

I agree feeding your nem may help it if it's at all bleached. And even if it's not, it will help make up for the lack of photosynthesis due to the low PAR of your fixture.

VG30DE-TT · Jan 28, 2019

You where getting 50par in 17" or water with the orbit IC Pro? That's not too good is it. My tank is 18" tall so after about 1.5" of sand and some space at the top I've got about 16" of water. I don't have a par meter but based on Currents (optomistic) par specs I would like to think I'm right at about 100 on the bottom and high 200's up on some of the rock work where I was hoping the BTA would gravitate towards.

Gonebad395 · Jan 28, 2019

The light isn’t the best the nem will move towards the light it needs and flow that it likes If I was you I’d invest in a better light tbh. And Ron was getting 50 par @ 14” @ 100%. So yours at 16” will be lower not a good thing for the nem

Ardeus · Jan 28, 2019

I am not sure about BTA'S, but magnificas seem to prefer a spectrum closer to daylight.

pickupman66 · Jan 28, 2019

FWIW, I keep my light at about 12-14K in color. my BTA love the high power from my AI Hydras. They are also in a very strong flow so that I sort of keep them off other corals. With proper lighting they should be very rich in color.

Ron Reefman · Jan 29, 2019

VG30DE-TT said:
You where getting 50par in 17" or water with the orbit IC Pro? That's not too good is it. My tank is 18" tall so after about 1.5" of sand and some space at the top I've got about 16" of water. I don't have a par meter but based on Currents (optomistic) par specs I would like to think I'm right at about 100 on the bottom and high 200's up on some of the rock work where I was hoping the BTA would gravitate towards.

IMHO the Current Orbit leds are great for fish only or small tanks that are 12" deep or less. I love the control of color and sunrise/sunset (not that the corals care much). LOL! They try to make up for using 0.5 watt leds by using twice as many of them, but that really doesn't help them penetrate into the deeper water. Chinese black boxes all use 3 watt leds and most drive them at 2.2 watts, and they work very well at 24 inches of depth. But some are even starting to use 5 watt leds, so you see the trend. I'll use mine over a very shallow frag tank.

I started looking in the used equipment listing here until I found the fixture I wanted. I ended up with a fairly new unit at about 60% of the cost new and the seller paid shipping. Just don't jump at the first thing you find. Figure out what fixtures YOU like and then wait until you find a motivated seller.