Light schedule for AI 26 Hydra for a Rainbow BTA

[Susan Edwards]

I'll be adding a beautiful and huge rainbow BTA to a 45g AIO Red Sea tank as soon as no3 is down! I need imput on a good light schedule. Right now, it is in my RS 3xl900 tank, in an acclimation box (with an additional wavemaker to make it happy). I'm running RS 160s 90%blue, 40% white. I figure that is in the 20k to 23k range (per them: 100/50=20k and 100/10=23k)

right now I have the HD26's at:
UV 74
V 74
RY 74
B 77
G 10
R 10
CW 50

I'd like to close to what the nem currently has. He's about 4" from surface. Lights about 12-14 above

 

[blaxsun]

Without a PAR meter it's hard to do a light-to-light comparison. Ultimately that's really the only way to match up the levels. While anemones do need light, they're not quite as light-dependent as most corals, though.

 

[Jekyl]

I would start off with what you currently have. Place the nem in some rock work with preferred area in mind when the lights are off. From there, just watch and see what the nem tells you it needs. Don't get hands on after it's in. It will most likely move and hide for a while anyway. Revisit the lighting after a month or so. If on the bottom or in a shady area, lighting may be too high. If reaching, slowly crank them up. My nems currently are about 7 or 8" below the surface with my kessils at 95%. So once acclimated, they can handle a ton of light.

 

[Jekyl]

Without a PAR meter it's hard to do a light-to-light comparison. Ultimately that's really the only way to match up the levels. While anemones do need light, they're not quite as light-dependent as most corals, though.

See I believe the opposite of this. They are very light dependent. I keep my nems at sps level lighting and haven't directly fed in years now.

 

[blaxsun]

See I believe the opposite of this. They are very light dependent. I keep my nems at sps level lighting and haven't directly fed in years now.

Mine are probably in the 150-175 PAR range. I consider that on the lower end of the scale, but I'm also not trying to actively get them to split and pro-create in leaps and bounds, either.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I used the david saxby light schedule as a preset based on what someone who has nems suggested. I adjusted start time is all. If anyone has other suggestions...

It moved down a bit and has been doing well. Earlier had some great bubbles forming. Then awhile later I went to take pics and it was all deflated! And small. Now it is back to normal minus the bubbles.

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Tank Type
Custom
Tank Size
12,000L (3170G)
Lighting
19 — AI Hydra® FiftyTwo HD | 9 — AI Hydra® TwentySix HD