Help my LTA set his Foot

[Spydermonky]

I got a green LTA yesterday from my LFS. I have a mixed reef 150Gal, 3.5 in sandbed at the place I put the nem. My params are SG 1.025, Temp 78-80, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate 0, Phosphate untraceable, Ca 460, Mg 1300, Alkalinity 8.0. This tank has been up for 4 months, but all live rock (about 100 pounds) is from a 2 year old tank and went straight from one to the other. I have a 40B refugium with "aged" chaeto as well. Stock includes 2 Mandarins, 1 Foxface, 1 Potters Angel, 1 Sailfin Tang, 1 Randall's shrimp goby with tiger pistol, 1 Yellow Watchman with Tiger Pistol, McKoskers Flasher Wrasse, 4 Chromis that refuse to die, a Blue Linkia, Pink Urchin, and normal clean up crew. I have SPS, LPS, and Softies as well. I have 2 x 250W MH about 16 inches above the water.

I got the nem at lunch (fish store had him under 4 x T5HOs) acclimated him and placed him in a piece of PVC that i had cleared the sand from the bottom so he could set his foot and turned all the flow except the return pump off. I have a Tunze 6045 and 6155 on controller for flow. I went back to work and then came home to find him floating towards the back of the tank behind some rocks. I placed him back in the pvc and went about my day. That evening when the moonlights came on I found him out floating across the sand again. I decided to give up on the pvc as it was not making him happy and placed him next to a rock with a slight curve and cleared the sand so he could attach.

This morning I came down and he looked great, in the spot and fairly open. I looked under the tank and saw what I thought was his foot on the glass. I turned the flow back on and he immediately went floating across the sand.

Am I just not giving him enough time? I placed him back there and turned the flow off again. I have pics of him in the PVC but none this morning as I had to leave for work. I will post them as soon as I can get them off my phone. Hopefully I have given everyone enough information but if more is needed I will provide. I want to make sure I give him a good home.

 

[homegrownREEFER]

My LTA took almost 3 weeks to plant itself. It hated the spot it pick so it just kind moved around in the general area. Then one night it puffed itself up real big and took flight, so I figured I'd let it do its thing since everyone says to just not touch it, it'll only stress it more. I had everything covered so I wasnt worried about it injuring itself. Next day I go to check on it and it has its foot buried in the sand and opened itself up, almost 3x its normal size. So as long as it still seems healthy and its mouth is gaping, dont bother it and let it find its spot. I have a MP40 and MP10 on my 75G and i was running them at about 50-60% and I found this is wayyyy too much flow for them. The spot it picked now has very little water movement past it. I'd say just wait on it and see what happens.

 

[Spydermonky]

Thanks. I really appreciate the feedback. I have intentionally not populated the bottom half of my rock work or the sand bed in preperation for getting an LTA so that it can move wherever it wants. My only concern is that I need to turn the flow back on for my SPS higher up and it seems to always create moderate flow across the bottom which, if he doesn't grab atleast a little, causes him to float across the bottom. Is this a natural thing for them and should I just let him float and do his own thing?

Again, thanks alot for the feedback. I've learned a ton on these forums and it has kept me from making major mistakes in the past.

 

[homegrownREEFER]

I am still new to this but I hear it is natural for them to move. They will continue to move until the find a suitable location. Like I said they really need very little water movement, at least thats how mine is. Your gonna either have to make it a little area with rocks that blocks the water movement, or somehow use a rock to block it. I have a big rock near the back of my tank that perpindicular to my powerhead that blocks most of the flow so that is where it chose to settle. Just don't stress too much, as long as it looks fairly healthy it'll probably find itself a spot.

 

[homegrownREEFER]

Also Spyder, I didn't notice til now but it could be because of your lighting, it may be too intense for it. What I did was what Todd recommended to me with screening. Use window screening ontop of your tank to sheild it from some of the light. I think I started with 3 sheets, so you remove a sheet every 5-7 days. I believe this can also be a reason that it wont plant.