Help with Amemones ID

[mehaffydr]

I ordered this Amemone from Vivid Aquariums along with some other livestock. First let me say I am very pleased with there service and the quality and health of everything I purchased from them.
In my order I ordered a RBTA and this pic is the Amemone I recieved. I have had it for about 3 months now. It seems perctlly healthy eats about twice a week either silver sides or Misys.
My ocellaris clowns have adopted it or it adopted them so all is well in the tank. My main thing here is It doesn't seem to resemble all of the other RBTA that I see pictures of on RC so just wondering is it a RBTA or something else.
Also note I have never seen any bubble tips on it like my GBTA has so just not sure.
What do the experts think?

 

[criccio]

RBTA, and a bit bleached.

 

[mehaffydr]

Thanks for the reply. Is ther anything special I need to do to help it regain color or is that just a be paitient thing?

 

[criccio]

What type of lighting are you running?

 

[garygb]

I would say very bleached. To regain its color, appropriate lighting, which can be achieved by MH, T-5 or PC, and regular feedings should help.

 

[mehaffydr]

This is in a Tank that is 36" x 60" x 24" It has 2 fixtures for a total of 4 250 MH and 8 T-5

I have been feeding a small peice of silver side or small Mysys about every 3-4 days should I do more?

Here is a pic of the tank.

 

[garygb]

That is a lot of light. Sometimes too much light and of the wrong spectrum can cause bleaching too. It's not lack of lighting that is the problem, that's for sure. What Kelvin are your bulbs and how old are the bulbs. As far as your feeding schedule, that sound okay. High temps can also result in bleaching.

In summary, causes of bleaching include: too little light, too much light, old bulbs that have shifted spectrum, temps too high. I'm sure other factors might also result in bleaching, but I believe those are the most common. The addition of food is believed to help the anemone regain it's zooxanthellae because the algae feeds on the biproducts of the anemones digestion of the food. Selcon is a good supplement that might be helpful to add to the food.

 

[Lmecher]

Sounds like a good scedule, how is it acting under your lights, hiding? I can't find it in the tank, wait is it middle towards bottom? It should regain it's health in your system. Great lighting. Does it readily accept food? I have a very small one I got from my brother, never fed it, is slightly bleached. Would not accept food at first, spit it out. I now give it very tiny bits of mysis and it is eating.

 

[mehaffydr]

yes thats it lower middle It does accept and eat food.

The lights are Outer orbit fixtures about 6 months old. The bulbs are

3 MH 250 10K
1 MH 250 14K I broke one and this is the only thing avalible at LFS

4 T-5 460nm
4 T-5 420nm

My temp varys between 79.5 and 81 Deg

It seems to be healthy It readilly accepts food when offered and expands nicely into the light. Just no bubble tips.

 

[garygb]

The temp. is fine. Hopefully the thermometer is accurate. You could test it against another one, just to make sure. I'd probably try to protect it from the strongest lighting. Also, do you do regular water changes. How are your parameters, such as sg, ph?

 

[mehaffydr]

I have a pinpoint digital thermometr so I believe it is accuate I have tested it against a glass type so I think it is good.

Ph 8.4

sg 1.024

amonia 0
nitrate 0


I do water changes every week about 20 gal system is about 300 gal with DT sump and refuge.

I always use RO/DI
Has a MRC2R skimmer so water stays pretty clean.
Also have an extensive CUC

Thanks to everyone for your Help

 

[garygb]

You seem to have everything about the way it should be. That makes me think the lighting is likely the problem. In this case, I suspect too much.

 

[mehaffydr]

The one thing I dont know is the quality of the bulbs that were included with thjose fixtures. It seems that when things are (included) sometimes they aren't the best quality.

Should I mabey change the lites and if so any suggestion on the best brand of bulb and spectrum

 

[garygb]

I've heard good things about Phoenix 14K. Supposedly high par and still a nice color. I personally am running Coralvue myself. Mine are 10,000K, which some people don't like because they are more yellow/white instead of blue/white. Maybe other MH owners will chime in with the brand name and Kelvin reading of their bulbs. T-5s alone can also bleach corals, etc. For my T-5 I have Aquablue, Blue plus, and AquaSun. Geisemann and ATI are both good brands for T-5s. I bought my T-5 bulbs from one of the online sponsors, Reefgeek. Hello lights also have good prices on bulbs, but perhaps a more limited selection.