BTA Light?

[happyclam]

Do I have enough light for BTAs? If not, what would you recommend?

(My light specs are below)

 

[jubjub]

personally i wouldnt have a anemone with anything less then T5's ... MH's are preferred by what i've read even on my 18" deep tank the anemone has found his way pretty high up and im running 250w MH's!

but if you watch the anemone closely he will let you know if he's not happy. watch to see if he keeps moving around. if he keeps moving around it means he's looking for either light or flow......also if he doesnt inflate as much etc. could be a sign......

 

[garygb]

You have plenty if the anemone is located in the top 12 inches of the tank and the bulbs aren't old. More daylight and less actinics would be preferable.

 

[happyclam]

Is that light also enough for RBTA? B/c I remember reading somewhere that they like more light than BTA's.

 

[garygb]

If you have all daylights, it would definitely be enough for a RBTA if it is located in the top part of the aquarium. Also, preferably there will no acrylic shield between the bulbs and the water.

 

[happyclam]

OOOh, that may be a problem. I have a glass cover over my aquarium to prevent splashes. My lights are 8" away from the waters surface. But if water does splash on the bulbs, would the bulbs crack/explode? What should I do, and do I have to worry about fish jumping from the aquarium?

 

[dorm_reefer21]

rbta's dont need any more light than anyother bta. like stated before, plenty of light, just keep it above halfway down.

 

[garygb]

I would personally never keep pc's 8 inches above the surface of the water. I'm also not sure why you would have water splashing on your bulbs. Glass would definitely reduce the intensity of the light significantly. MH will explode if water splashes on them because the bulbs are very hot, pc's not likely unless it's very cold water, but splashing water shouldn't be an issue. If you are concerned that a fish might splash water onto the bulb and it explode, I've never had a problem and I've had tanks with pc's for years. For BTA's I think PC's are actually preferable to MH. T-5's would be great as well.

 

[happyclam]

So I could keep RBTA's in my tank even though the P.C.s are 8" away, as long as I take off the glass cover and replace the two actinic P.C.s for Daylight P.C.s? Also, if I fed the anemone regularly, would that help it since I seem to have rather low light levels?

 

[garygb]

You would likely be fine if the anemone is in the top 12 inches of the water. I personally would try to lower the bulbs to say 3 or 4 inches from the water, but if that isn't an option, then I still imagine you will be fine if you change out the actinics and remove the glass. Increased eating increases the amount of nutrition available and so is a good idea with lower light. Honestly, 4-96 watt daylight bulbs with an anemone within a foot of the surface of the water isn't what I would call "low light." That is moderate to high light (as long as the anemone is in the upper foot or so of the tank).

 

[happyclam]

Sweet! I can keep RBTAs! Are you sure though, b/c that is (4) 36" bulbs spread out over a 6' length, so that one half of the aquarium is illuminated by 2 bulbs. Sorry, it is just that I am not used to people saying I have enough light for anything.

 

[reefusaca]

I have T5 and it's doing great.

 

[garygb]

lol. yeah, i'm sure you have enough light for Entacmea quadricolor with the caveat that you keep it in the top foot or so of the water and remove the glass and replace the actinics.

 

[Lmecher]

If your giong to keep your rbta under pc's you should feed regularly too. Welcome to the wonderful world of anemone keeping. When you get one share, we love pictures! : )

 

[Lmecher]

Just in case you replace all your atinic bulbs with 10,000K bulbs and you are unhappy. You should be warned it will change the way your aquarium will looks. The lighting will be tinged yellow, unattractive for viewing better for the corals and animals. You might want to consider adding some atinic back at some time in the future maybe even one additional strip. I have a MH and added a strip of T5's just to get that nice blue spectrum, much prettier. Good Luck!