My BTA Tank build.

[cichlidconvert]

My BTA tank is taking shape. I have slowly been adding BTA's to the tank and have 6 in there right now. Two are rbta that I split and two other roses that i added recently. They all seem pretty healthy except the new rose. Its tentacles are brightly colored but its base is pretty white. The guy I got it from was keeping it in a bag in his sump, waiting for me to pick it up. Damn snowstorms. So it may take him longer to acclimate. So this tank started off as a 10 gallon micro 10 months ago and was switched 4 months ago to a 20 but i am now thinking about putting it in a 45 tall or a 46 bowfront. I have both Not sure which yet.
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[Sharkdog22]

them are some freakin sweet lookin BTAs, great color. If u go with a taller tank make sure your lights will be able to reach the bottom where u have all the btas.

 

[cichlidconvert]

Well I have them under a 150w 15000k metal halide with 2 14w t5 actinics and I also have a 24" led light bar. The video shows the lighting with the t5s and leds. I am thinking of lighting it with leds only and make a DIY led. With 48 3w Cree leds. or stay with the metal halide. This tank doesn't have a protein skimmer or a sump. But I will be putting in a sump/refugium. But I was wondering if its better to have a canister filter, or a wet/dry filter with anemones due to alealopathy.

 

[velvetelvis]

That is beautiful. I've never seen purple BTAs before!

So this tank started off as a 10 gallon micro 10 months ago and was switched 4 months ago to a 20 but i am now thinking about putting it in a 45 tall or a 46 bowfront. I have both Not sure which yet.

If it's a choice between a 46 bowfront or a 45 tall, I would go with the bowfront. Bigger surface area = better gas exchange, which makes for a healthier tank.

 

[z's_N_p's]

very nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[cichlidconvert]

ok I really have to say i love this tank. other times when i had a bta it was in the dt and i was always worrying but now i just let them go in this tank. its like having a padded room for these crazy cnidarians. So i took more video this morning when the leds came on.

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[gatojebv]

Nice looking tank with those beuatiful anemones. However it seems to me you need more water movement.

What power heads are you using and how many?

 

[cichlidconvert]

Your right about the flow. That will be addressed when I upgrade to a bigger tank. I was thinking of a couple koralia 4's. But I'm open to suggestions keeping in mind a modest budget and the want to get it right

 

[cichlidconvert]

Ive got a marineland 1200 with a sponge and a marineland 800 running through a half gallon job refugium and a hob bio wheel where I'm running chemi-pure

 

[cichlidconvert]

I have a new bta to add to the mix. It's a tri-color bta. I'm sure it has a name. I thought the colors were unique. I bought it at the lfs and it was in a tank that had the heater busted. And it was in with a red corn anemone and they were using chemical warfare on eachother. So he gave it to me for a good deal. But it hasn't opened up quite yet. I will post a vid when it does open up.

 

[cichlidconvert]

My new tri color BTA is starting to colorback up and open up a bit. and has some wicked but subtle coloring going on. I took a pic with my cheap Iphone cam and it didnt pick up on the colors so I did photo shop a bit but only till it achieved the colors that i was looking at. But it didnt pick up the purple on the tips or the red near the tips either. But it seems like for the most part that is what the colors look like. Anyways I'm more than happy about this one. And now its acting healthy so I can relax. For the moment anyway lol

 

[Poolman21]

Those are some great looking roses.

 

[dh350twin]

i really like rbta tanks!!!! nice

 

[cichlidconvert]

Here is one of the new additions to the BTA tank. I took this pic after only one hour in the tank. Not sure what to call it. I got it from a store who got it from a reefer. I bought this one and another that has a green base and orange tips. And a very decent price. it will be interesting to see how the look after relaxing in the tank. I'll post more pics when they do. Right now they are just roaming around out of sight.

 

[z's_N_p's]

wow cichlidconvert... you keep adding some awesome BTA's. any updated vids?

 

[cichlidconvert]

Ya I have a video I took last week. My tank is totally full of live rock this week because I am moving the whole shooting match into the 46 bowfront in 9 days. but it does show 7 of the nems. I will get a vid update when they relax a bit.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iPut5tNHDK0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[cichlidconvert]

Here is the pic of the other. Orange tipped anemone. He is ****ed off and hiding right now but i couldnt resist showing the pic.

 

[cichlidconvert]

OK so with 8 days left till I setup upgrade the tank to the 46 bow Here are some of my thoughts. I am keeping the 150w 14000k and two 14 watt actinics setup. I am turning the wet/dry filter into a sump refugium and gonna use live rock as the trickle filter with macro-algae underneath. I'm gonna run a coralife protien skimmer in the area with the return pump. In the tank will be a deep sand bed. 40 lbs new and 25 lbs from the old tank not to excede an inch of the old sand on top. I am going to try to create two islands with the LR. Anyway since it is gonna launch anyday now I am looking for some feedback.

 

[cichlidconvert]

Ugh I got all excited yesterday because today was the day to start it all but when I bought the sw at the lfs he mixed it right there. So now I have to wait for it to areate a day or two before adding all my live rock. Which is ok since Im using new sand and it immediately clouded the water. So as soon as it's less cloudy I will do it. But it's close

 

[cichlidconvert]

Well I finally got it done. The BTA's were put in the new setup a couple days ago. Its definitely not finished but the basics are in place. So here is the vid of the new set up. Sorry about the goofy narration but I wanted to describe it fully.