Lighting for BTA
- Thread starter JayB1224
- Start date
Fishfreak218
New member
IMO 70w MH or alot of PC's... 150w MH would be best...since your new at this (according to your sig.) i would wait a little longer... 4 months really isnt a ton of time.... IMHO to be on the safe side i would wait at least a few more months or until your tank is 1yr old...also if you are planning to add BTA's i dont think it would be smart to have the coral in there anymore.. JMO
55semireef
Moved On
Thats also a pretty deep tank for only 37 gallons. I would get a 150 watt MH if you were going to get a BTA just becuase its deep. How deep is your sandbed?
55semireef
Moved On
Definately go with sand especially if your going to have corals and other inverts. Try your best to slowly take out the crushed coral and replace with sand. You will most likey get a new cycle going and maybe some algae blooms. But long term, sand benefits you by far. CC=nitrate factory.
55semireef
Moved On
I would do that just because you don't want your liverock to accumulate lots of detritus or sand inside of it. Once you have taken all your crushed coral in, put your livesand in. Also, is the livesand you buy in the bag or livesand with all the pods, worms, etc.
Let your tank settle for a couple of hours depending on how cloudy your tank is. Also while the lr is in the bucket, keep some type of flow in there, like a little power head or something.
After your tank has settled within a couple of hours, put the liverock back in the tank. Your going to go through a new cycle and some algae blooms.
Let your tank settle for a couple of hours depending on how cloudy your tank is. Also while the lr is in the bucket, keep some type of flow in there, like a little power head or something.
After your tank has settled within a couple of hours, put the liverock back in the tank. Your going to go through a new cycle and some algae blooms.
55semireef
Moved On
Then it will take a little longer for your tank to cycle. Do you have fish in your tank?
55semireef
Moved On
Your damsels will probably survive. You might loose some turbo snails in the process. Since your lr is established, it won't be that bad.
I recently added 2 inches of fine sugar sand to my cycled tank. It looked like milk for the first 2 days then settled. Really rinse the sand well to remove the dust in the bag. Surprisingly, I didn't get much of a cycle. I did get a diatom bloom though and my snails/crabs are working hard on that. Dfinetely get the rock out when you do it.
Vacuum the gravel once the water is clearing and you will remove the extremely fine grains from the surface of the sandbed that are clay sized and smaller. Your mechanincal filtration won't even get some of these particles
Vacuum the gravel once the water is clearing and you will remove the extremely fine grains from the surface of the sandbed that are clay sized and smaller. Your mechanincal filtration won't even get some of these particles
55semireef
Moved On
If you want to prevent a cloud of sand take a plastic trash bag and and as your pouring the sand into the water, keep the sand pressed with the trash bag. Does that make sense?
TOURKID
New member
Off the sand topic... I got a bta when my tank was 4 months old. and I wish i would have gotton it maybe a month from now.
My bta is ok. doing better by the day, but when I got her..
45 gal tank, 130 watts pc lights (1 white 1 actinic)
crushed coral on top of sand
1 maroon clown.
My bta has since bleached a LIL bit. Its been thru pure hell because I just wasent in the hobbie long enough to have everything stable and keep it stable. SO.. I had to learn things VERy quickly, was VERY overwhelmed, and spent LOTZ of cash.
It moved for 2 months strait, by maroon beat it up all the time...
Since then.. I have the same tank, Ive upgraded to 250 watts mh, my maroon calmed down. Im feeding every two days with silverslide soaked in selcon. shes not losing anymore color, but shes slow gaining it back.
Onto sand... I had my tank 4 months... I had never touched my crushed coral bed. I was off to the lfs one day and decided to get some peppermint shrimp and a gravel pump.
The shrimp were doing great. until water change day. I busted open my new pump and got busy. The sand bed was descustingly dirty. I thought, great, awsome, i love my new pump.
a few hours later, both my shrimp were dead, along with most of my astria snails. (Mind you my bta and maroon were in the tank)
My nitates spiked to almost 50. And I hear, I opened up some bacterial pockets in my gravel. My anemone looked like a taco shell for a week. I had to buy a skimmer, I used azno3 for the nirtates, and I also learned that tap water is a no no. Be careful moving that sand!!!!!
and lastly... If you ignore everybody and get a BTA anyways. Buy a refractometer the same day if you dont already have one. I got mine for 30 some dollars and it was the best investment besides my metal halide. anemones are extramly sensitive to salinity changes.. without reeef central Id most likely have a pretty glass box out in my garage
My bta is ok. doing better by the day, but when I got her..
45 gal tank, 130 watts pc lights (1 white 1 actinic)
crushed coral on top of sand
1 maroon clown.
My bta has since bleached a LIL bit. Its been thru pure hell because I just wasent in the hobbie long enough to have everything stable and keep it stable. SO.. I had to learn things VERy quickly, was VERY overwhelmed, and spent LOTZ of cash.
It moved for 2 months strait, by maroon beat it up all the time...
Since then.. I have the same tank, Ive upgraded to 250 watts mh, my maroon calmed down. Im feeding every two days with silverslide soaked in selcon. shes not losing anymore color, but shes slow gaining it back.
Onto sand... I had my tank 4 months... I had never touched my crushed coral bed. I was off to the lfs one day and decided to get some peppermint shrimp and a gravel pump.
The shrimp were doing great. until water change day. I busted open my new pump and got busy. The sand bed was descustingly dirty. I thought, great, awsome, i love my new pump.
a few hours later, both my shrimp were dead, along with most of my astria snails. (Mind you my bta and maroon were in the tank)
My nitates spiked to almost 50. And I hear, I opened up some bacterial pockets in my gravel. My anemone looked like a taco shell for a week. I had to buy a skimmer, I used azno3 for the nirtates, and I also learned that tap water is a no no. Be careful moving that sand!!!!!
and lastly... If you ignore everybody and get a BTA anyways. Buy a refractometer the same day if you dont already have one. I got mine for 30 some dollars and it was the best investment besides my metal halide. anemones are extramly sensitive to salinity changes.. without reeef central Id most likely have a pretty glass box out in my garage
55semireef
Moved On
Wow you have been through a lot. Did you get the refractometer from this site or at a store bc thats a real good price for one. I only have a hydrometer. I know I should invest in a refr.
