RBTA in my sump?

XtremeFromHell

New member
i have had this RBTA for about a month and a half, at first it was wide open and looking very healthy and my clown quickly began to host it. it began to move around my tank a lot and does not look happy, it has not stayed still anymore and i cant figure out why, its not as open anymore either, i was thinking about placing it in my sump for a while to see if it gets better. everytime it stays still my clown goes to get in it and i think thats why it hasnt had time to recover what do u guys think?

then
CSC_0676.jpg


now (you can see it on the bottom left where the clown is)
RSIDE.jpg


sump
FUGE5.jpg
 
What are your parameters (with numbers)
What size tank?
what lights? (wattage, color, age, fixture, ind. reflectors)
how long has the tank been setup? It looks very new.
What kind of water are you using? TDS numbers? What salt are you using?

Here's my thoughts on the matter of wandering BTA's:

On the topic of a BTA moving "all the time" as some say...I would argue strongly against this statement. In my experience, from reading, and discussions with other people with far more expertise than me, a BTA will remain in its spot if all of its living conditions are being met satisfactorily. There is no benefit to the anemone (risk of being stung/sliced by corals, risk of not finding another rock in the ocean, predatory animals, etc) to "just move around" IF all conditions are appropriate.

Water quality, light, food, Flow, and foot - the five conditions that must be satisfactorily met for all anemones.

Water quality: In the ocean, if local currents drastically change after storms, rivers dump crap into the ocean etc, the nem may want to move to conditions which better suit its liking. In our tanks, however, there are no other areas which have better water - but the anemone doesn't know that. This is my #1 pick for why anemones move without apparent reason. It may even be something in your water which you do not test for - or it may be BECAUSE you just did a water change and didn't match tank water close enough. The anemone is searching for something it just can not find inside a glass box, hence the so called "anemone's just sometimes walk around for no reason". We can't see the reason - so we assume there isn't one.

Light: Lighting in the ocean is quite strong. Far more than our little electrical lights we use. Even on a cloudy day the par is very high - ever had a sunburn on a cloudy day? When you introduce a BTA, you may have a spot picked out that you really want it to go, but it may decide it is too bright or too dim and promptly move. As it gets light-acclimated to your tank, it may move to a spot that is "just right" for its health in the long term. This acclimating and moving to a new home may also cause confusion to BTA's "moving a lot".

Food: Yikes! There is a lot of misconceptions about the "proper" diet for anemones. I did a write-up on RC a while back about the topic: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1835320 A basic summary of that thread is.....assuming a healthy nem, food is likely unnecessary. If you would like to feed, feed small (pencil eraser max) meaty, raw, SW-found foods. Unhealthy nems need more food to gain energy and should be fed more. Feeding leads to faster growth. Feeding can also in some cases overcome less-than-ideal lighting because the food is supplementing the light source. More in-depth information can be found at that link.

Flow: You need to determine the flow requirements of the species of nem you want, and make it match in order to decrease the likelihood of movement. BTA's will like moderate flow, but not too high or too low. Either of those may cause it to move around. Some can be very picky. I know someone who's Haddoni moved across the sandbed after her cleaned a powerhead and replaced it (he thought) in the exact same spot. Apparently it wasn't quite exact. Haddoni's like low flow - if their oral disk is being moved by the current, it's too much and will cause it to move.

Foot: This is my #2 reason why BTA's apparently move without known cause. The foot of most anemones also requires special concern. Some anemones like to bury in the sand, some at the sand/rock interface, and some directly onto rocks. BTA's like to have their foot in a deep crevice, hole, or cave. Basically, it's a safe zone for them to hide in if they need to retract. It's also a way for them to regulate the amount of sun it gets. These deep holes are key to keeping a BTA happy with it's current spot. They like their foot shaded, and head out in the sun.

Hope that's a good summary of what I think about BTA's.
 
I always wanted to know if you could say inject a silverside with selcon or other silialar vitiaman enrichment subtance and then feed a BTA? Of course just a pencil erasor size jesz i just cant spell to save my life tonite..
 
What are your parameters (with numbers)
* My params have been stable over the course of my tanks age (1 year, 1 month) I will perform a full water test tomorrow, my last recorded water test was on 09/07/10 and my results were
KH: 8 dKH
CALCIUM: 440ppm
NITRATE: 5.0
PO4: 0ppm
PH: 7.8-8.0
AMMONIA: 0ppm

What size tank?
*it is a 29 gallon DT

what lights? (wattage, color, age, fixture, ind. reflectors)
*Nova extreme 30" T5HO 2x24w 1 10k daylight/ 1 460 actinic
has ind. reflectors, the bulbs are about 2 months old( just recently replaced them)

how long has the tank been setup? It looks very new.
* the tank has been set up and running for 1 year and 1 month, it looks new because i just added two pieces of dry rock recently.

What kind of water are you using? TDS numbers? What salt are you using?
*i top off with RO/DI water, have not checked the TDS, never got a TDS reader i've had the RO/DI unit for about 8months. i use I/O salt
 
What are your parameters (with numbers)
* My params have been stable over the course of my tanks age (1 year, 1 month) I will perform a full water test tomorrow, my last recorded water test was on 09/07/10 and my results were
KH: 8 dKH
CALCIUM: 440ppm
NITRATE: 5.0
PO4: 0ppm
PH: 7.8-8.0
AMMONIA: 0ppm

What size tank?
*it is a 29 gallon DT

what lights? (wattage, color, age, fixture, ind. reflectors)
*Nova extreme 30" T5HO 2x24w 1 10k daylight/ 1 460 actinic
has ind. reflectors, the bulbs are about 2 months old( just recently replaced them)

how long has the tank been setup? It looks very new.
* the tank has been set up and running for 1 year and 1 month, it looks new because i just added two pieces of dry rock recently.

What kind of water are you using? TDS numbers? What salt are you using?
*i top off with RO/DI water, have not checked the TDS, never got a TDS reader i've had the RO/DI unit for about 8months. i use I/O salt



Alright, I want everyone to take note of the answers here!! All too often we (people trying to help out) ask a plurality of questions, only to get some ignored, or round about answers. Very precise, complete. Good job.....I'll get off my soapbox now.

Most everything looks good, except for the lighting. You are very marginal on having enough light. Especially with one actinic bulb. Actinics produce very little amounts of actual usable par. So, basically you are attempting to keep your anemone alive with only one bulb - which isn't enough. If you have the immediate financial capability, you should purchase a different/more lighting asap. If not, find someone local who can hang onto the anemone until you do have adequate lighting. In another thread, I listed 5 reasons why I believe anemones move - and lighting is one of them. Considering you have low lighting, and it hasn't stayed put, this is my thought as to the root of your problem.
 
Alright, I want everyone to take note of the answers here!! All too often we (people trying to help out) ask a plurality of questions, only to get some ignored, or round about answers. Very precise, complete. Good job.....I'll get off my soapbox now.

Most everything looks good, except for the lighting. You are very marginal on having enough light. Especially with one actinic bulb. Actinics produce very little amounts of actual usable par. So, basically you are attempting to keep your anemone alive with only one bulb - which isn't enough. If you have the immediate financial capability, you should purchase a different/more lighting asap. If not, find someone local who can hang onto the anemone until you do have adequate lighting. In another thread, I listed 5 reasons why I believe anemones move - and lighting is one of them. Considering you have low lighting, and it hasn't stayed put, this is my thought as to the root of your problem.

Thanks a lot!

i figured my issue was the lighting. i was wanting to go with a 4x24 set up with 2 10k/ 2 460, would that be adequate? and if so i would i go about acclimating the entire tank to the new lights?
 
That lighting would be better, but IMO, you don't need actinics at all. Some of the T5 bulbs (I forget the differences between blue+ and aquablue etc) produce the same blue coloration of actinics, but also give significantly more par. Also, for color, look into the KZ fiji purple. Best T5 bulb to make your corals pop, IMHO.
 
For now, separating the anemone from the clown is a good idea. I don't think the PC from Home Depot is enough light for the anemone. Perhaps the clown can go in the sump?
 
The OP has T5 on the display, and a spiral CFL on his sump. You are mistaking to recommend him putting it in his sump then. It does not have enough light.
 
The nem will die in the sump, not enough light. But you might try moving the sump light to a corner of the DT and see if the nem likes the additional light on top of the T5s.

Jeff
 
+1 on moving the clown to the sump & let the anemone get acclimated. Sometimes clowns can 'love their anemone to death', esp. if it's a new nem & not acclimated or attached yet. Use Todd's window screen method for acclimating nem to your lighting--worked on all 3 of my nems. I applaud your quick, complete reply detailing your tank parameters; too often that's not the case...Good luck!
 
Gary - I completely read your post wrong. I thought you had said move nem to sump, not the clown. My mistake.

Did you get the new lights yet?
 
For these next few days i will try out putting a PC bulb on the side of the tank to see if that helps for now until my light fixture comes in.
 
Sorry for your loss.

I had a LTA go down my overflow all the way downstairs into my filter sock. It's foot got torn on the way down and was looking bad. I decided to try to save at least half of him by splitting it. I kept both halves in my sump with temporary lighting during the healing process. I now have two healthy, hosted in, LTA's. Sometimes the bad things work out. Sorry your experience was not a good one. Chin up.
 
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