Can RBTA live off of light?

t5Nitro

t5Nitro

New member
Well, my RBTA was doing great! One day I can't seem to find it. Not sucked to a powerhead or laying on the sand anywhere that I can tell. Can they live off of the light? I have no clue where it could've gone.
 
Depends on what the light is. But, I am guessing that if you can't see it, it isn't getting that much light. I have thought I have lost a few of mine, only to find them on the underside of some rocks. Don't count at them coming back out to the light.
 
Trust me, I know it can be a huge pain in the behind.

A couple of years ago I was selling off some rocks, ended up finding 3 or 4 bleached BTA clones that had stayed on the underside of the rocks -- never knew I had them. :)
 
Well there is really only one pillar that I don't want to move at all because the rocks are sketchy. I could up and move the others quick to look. I'll post in a few.
 
Good luck, moving even one rock can be an adventure. Could try using a flashlight to see into some of the darker areas.
 
I picked up a few of the easy rocks and checked and didn't find much. Then I just shut the pumps down and used a small mirror and flash light to check behind rocks. Didn't find anything.
 
What are all the spec of your tank? (( lights, parameters, flow, etc. )), Perhaps can find a reason why it moved.
 
Lights: ATI SunPower 6x80w T5.
Flow: Koralia 4, mag 12 return, MP20 VorTech
Parameters: Ca. 450, alk. 7-8, temp. 80-82F. Not sure on other parameters. Corals are doing fine.

I really don't know where it is. The spot of the tank I removed rock on a week ago is pretty easy to view around the pillars. All it is are three pillars so even with a mirror to get the back it's pretty simple to spot all the way around. Nothing there.

When I have another batch of saltwater made I'm going to redo the right side of the tank and take some rocks out to make it more "simple" looking and more water for fish to swim so maybe it'll pop up then. I even checked the totes that I put the LR in that I took out. From what I can tell there is no RBTA attached to them, and what I remember is looking at the RBTA after removing the rock because it was on the side of an overflow box higher up and liked how much more open it was to view then.
 
How long have you had the BTA and how long have you had the lights? (( wonder if it was light shock that caused it to move, if either one is new )).

The parameters that you have shouldn't cause it to move.

How big was it? (( wondering if it was small enough to go through the overflow.
 
It's about 3" when fully expanded but has seemed like it always stayed around 2". The new lights (a week old) are T5 and came from metal halide. The area it was in is obviously more shaded than the other part of the tank. The tank is 72" long and the fixture at 60".
 
Never mind. Thank you. I found him! He is in the overflow. There is chaeto in there as well and I have the top covered in egg crate except one tiny area. Anyway right through that small area he is right at the top of the water above the chaeto, expanded. I think I should feed him tonight!

Just looked again. It is actually attached to the chaeto. I'll snap a quick pic.
 
Here it is:

IMG_6176.jpg


Is there any reason that it's really bad to leave it here? If so, how should I take it out of the overflow without damaging it.
 
How much light gets into the overflow?

If it only attached to the chaeto could put the chaeto into a bucket full of tank water, and then pull it off of it -- I really don't think that would be hard at all.
 
Light looks fine. I don't want to be messing with it tonight because I'm shutting the lights down and don't want to work in the dark. Hopefully it stays in that spot until tomorrow. I'd imagine it has been there already for however many days anyway.
 
Toddrtrex, since overnight it has moved off of the chaeto and onto the side of the overflow (still inside). What's the best way to go about taking it out and putting it into the main display? I don't really have a spot for it. Do they like to be in crevices in rock? If so, then I have a decent spot for it but if it gets larger and outgrow the crevice (it would sink right into it now) it might get a lot of flow.
 
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