Rbta's have suddenly become unhappy about lighting

[rennjidk]

I have an 18" 25g cube with a Prime HD. I put a nem in and everything was fine for about 5 months. Then, the nem split and they both suddenly decided their conditions were unacceptable. Both have have healed and they are back to full size, but now they spend all day racing around the tank and stretching for light. The prime is maxed out and set to AB+ spectrum. They still climb to the top of the rocks and then up the back wall. I usually just place them back on the rockwork and they're good for a few days until it starts again. Last night, one was pulled into the overflow and is now (hopefully) recovering, though it went from being around 6" to the size of a quarter.

 

[Timfish]

What have been your water parmeters been and what are they now? What do you dose? ANy significant events in hte last 6 months besides the split?

 

[rennjidk]

What have been your water parmeters been and what are they now? What do you dose? ANy significant events in hte last 6 months besides the split?

0.03 po4, 5 no3, 8.5 dkh, 35 ppt

I dose 1/4tsp kalk in the ato monthly and a trace/amino weekly. No major changes and I've had an icp recently which came back fine.

My flow is pretty even. It's just a rfg on the return at 20x. The top of the tank where they end up has almost no flow at all. I really think it's lighting, but they're moving to areas that have to have 400 par.

 

[littlefoxx]

I have an 18" 25g cube with a Prime HD. I put a nem in and everything was fine for about 5 months. Then, the nem split and they both suddenly decided their conditions were unacceptable. Both have have healed and they are back to full size, but now they spend all day racing around the tank and stretching for light. The prime is maxed out and set to AB+ spectrum. They still climb to the top of the rocks and then up the back wall. I usually just place them back on the rockwork and they're good for a few days until it starts again. Last night, one was pulled into the overflow and is now (hopefully) recovering, though it went from being around 6" to the size of a quarter.

My nems like to walk around my tank and find different spots in the rockwork all the time!

 

[exnisstech]

but they're moving to areas that have to have 400 par.

Mine sit under 400+ par and haven't moved in over a year.

 

[Timfish]

What was PO4 a month ago and when you added your BTAs? Looking at what you've posted my first guess would be your anemones want more food. PO4 at .03 is borderline low. Additionally phospholipids are stored by animals and are stored for rainy days just liek we store fat. Since they just split a guess is they'r enot happy because they're hungry. Be patient but the first thing I would do is feed your fish more. You can try directly feeding your BTAs but I would stop ofter a few weeks as fish poop is likely a better source of nutrients. (I never feed any BTAs in my systems.)

 

[Dom]

In my experience, Nems that look like yours are unhappy with water conditions, particularly alkalinity.

Also, Nems are not coral and move around the tank for conditions they like. So placing your Nems where you want them after they have relocated stresses them out.

I believe you should look at the flow in the tank. When Nems gravitate toward overflows and power heads, it’s a good bet that flow is the issue.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

never let anemones split and be in the same tank because when they’re together they start talking about par and start complaining that you didn’t get them Radion. Lol jk. My guess it’s not the light. Your flow is lacking, I would add a Wavemaker, and start feeding your anemones with store bought raw shrimp. Do a waterchange, check the temperature day vs night. Also you’re adding kalkwasser only once per month probably creates Ph CA alk and Po4 swings. My guess Ph and po4 swings irritate the nems more than the light. Either use it consistently or don’t use it. That’s my .02

 

[rennjidk]

What was PO4 a month ago and when you added your BTAs? Looking at what you've posted my first guess would be your anemones want more food. PO4 at .03 is borderline low. Additionally phospholipids are stored by animals and are stored for rainy days just liek we store fat. Since they just split a guess is they'r enot happy because they're hungry. Be patient but the first thing I would do is feed your fish more. You can try directly feeding your BTAs but I would stop ofter a few weeks as fish poop is likely a better source of nutrients. (I never feed any BTAs in my systems.)

I do direct feed them, well semi direct feed them once a week. I basically dump the de-thawed cup of mysis over top of them when I feed my fish. I've been dosing phosphate but it's still getting absorbed by the rocks and wont budge from 0.03, though it never drops.

 

[rennjidk]

never let anemones split and be in the same tank because when they’re together they start talking about par and start complaining that you didn’t get them Radion. Lol jk. My guess it’s not the light. Your flow is lacking, I would add a Wavemaker, and start feeding your anemones with store bought raw shrimp. Do a waterchange, check the temperature day vs night. Also you’re adding kalkwasser only once per month probably creates Ph CA alk and Po4 swings. My guess Ph and po4 swings irritate the nems more than the light. Either use it consistently or don’t use it. That’s my .02

I was told bta's do not like high flow. I can add a wavemaker, I've just been reluctant do to having the nems in such a small tank with it. My Po4, Ph and other perimeters are fairly stable. I add kalk once a month to my ato, which lasts 4 weeks before needing to be refilled, so 1/4 tsp dosed over an entire month.

 

[D-Nak]

As others mentioned, I think there's something else that's making the BTAs unhappy. They tolerate all shorts of lighting conditions, and typically just adjust their zooxanthellae population instead of moving. They usually move for other reasons, or an indirect result of something you did that affects lighting.

Are you using carbon, and if so, how often do you replace it? Sometimes when carbon is replaced, BTAs may be tempted to move. As the water slowly yellows, PAR will slowly go down, and as carbon is replaced, it quickly clears the water, and the PAR goes back up.

 

[rennjidk]

As others mentioned, I think there's something else that's making the BTAs unhappy. They tolerate all shorts of lighting conditions, and typically just adjust their zooxanthellae population instead of moving. They usually move for other reasons, or an indirect result of something you did that affects lighting.

Are you using carbon, and if so, how often do you replace it? Sometimes when carbon is replaced, BTAs may be tempted to move. As the water slowly yellows, PAR will slowly go down, and as carbon is replaced, it quickly clears the water, and the PAR goes back up.

I use it off and on, but don't really notice a change in water clarity either way.

 

[rennjidk]

In my experience, Nems that look like yours are unhappy with water conditions, particularly alkalinity.

My alk is fairly stable and consistently around 8.5dKH, same with my other tank parameters. There's not a lot of uptake in a soft tank that causes large swings.

Also, Nems are not coral and move around the tank for conditions they like.

I'm aware that they're inverts.

So placing your Nems where you want them after they have relocated stresses them out.

They've relocated to being sucked up into the rfg and overflow, so they're just going to have to get over it.

 

[Timfish]

I do direct feed them, well semi direct feed them once a week. I basically dump the de-thawed cup of mysis over top of them when I feed my fish. I've been dosing phosphate but it's still getting absorbed by the rocks and wont budge from 0.03, though it never drops.

Just FYI there's a lot more to PO4 being sequestered than just being absorbed by rocks. Biofilms significantly alter sorbtion properties of substrates, can take up a lot of phosphorus and grow on every surface.

Usually when I see BTAs split they stay close to where they split. And normally if BTAs start walking around I'd agree with the above about something else being the cause. But I do occasionally see newly split BTAs do a lot of walking. It is a good idea to see if there's some there's some other variable that might be an issue but considering the recent split, no change in lighting or flow and a borderline PO4 number I'd be trying to get the PO4 number up some.

 

[rennjidk]

How does the flow look?

 

[rennjidk]

Just FYI there's a lot more to PO4 being sequestered than just being absorbed by rocks. Biofilms significantly alter sorbtion properties of substrates, can take up a lot of phosphorus and grow on every surface.

Usually when I see BTAs split they stay close to where they split. And normally if BTAs start walking around I'd agree with the above about something else being the cause. But I do occasionally see newly split BTAs do a lot of walking. It is a good idea to see if there's some there's some other variable that might be an issue but considering the recent split, no change in lighting or flow and a borderline PO4 number I'd be trying to get the PO4 number up some.

I added 30ml of Neophos which should bump it up to around 0.30. How much of that will still be there tomorrow, I can't say.

 

[Timfish]

It's surprising how fast it can dissappear. I wouldn't want to see that much of a jump in a day but I'd say you do want to see some residual number above .03 mg/l a day or two after dosing. It would be intersting if the demand slows down in a week or so. It's to bad we can't test for or quantify the phospholipid levels in our systems or animals.