BTA in sps reef tank or in seperate area

[rwb500]

i see lots of pictures of reef tanks filled with coral that also have BTA's. It obviously can be done just fine, as and as a matter of fact I currently have a 12" RBTA in my 40 breeder along with SPS corals. But is it really a good idea? If I am designing a new system, should I take the trouble to work in an isolated ~20g area for the RBTA and a pair of ocellaris? this area would also have no anemone-hazardous powerheads or dangerous intakes, and no corals.

good idea, or not worth the trouble?

 

[D-Nak]

Sounds like a good idea to me. The only better idea would be to have a species only tank dedicated to your nem and clowns.

I designed my 120 gallon tank to have two islands, one large one and one small one. The plan was to have the larger one have most of the coral, and the smaller "bommie" was dedicated to an anemone. I have two MP40s, one for the left side and one for the right, so I could adjust the flow to "please" the anemone. Worked well until my gigantea died.

 

[rwb500]

Thanks for the input. Yeah I think I will buy a non-reef ready tank and build an overflow that functions as a tank-dividing wall. It would probably be a 50 breeder (36x18x~18) or a 75g, so were not talking about anything big. The downside is I lose the total tank size for large fish and the tank must be 4-sides viewable to get 3 sides of each half. But I would get to keep two pairs of clowns.

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

When I set mine up I put the nem in first and let him pick his spot. Once he settled on a spot, I then added acros in the other areas. Just know its not an exact science, and sometimes nems just decide to go for a walk after years in the same spot.

 

[rwb500]

So how bad is it when the nem goes for a walk? How much contact does it take to kill sps? Like a minute or a day or a week or what? I have always just assumed it was immediate, but that is probably overly cautious.