Surviving BTA

[timrandlerv10]

so my btas survived a painful first week after a tank crash...but they are very pale. we kept them in a 29G (which was also painful...talk about daily water changes...not enough light...handfeeding...but they were safe there) for two weeks, but they had very little light. they went from being small balls of what i was afraid was mush to half their previous size, open, and (surprisingly!) bubbled tips where they used to be straight.

they are now in a 75 w/55 sump, 2x54 T5 420 and 2x54 T5 460 with 2 x 150 15k mh.

i run the T5s from 9 am to 6 pm (while i'm at work!), and the MH for 15 mins 4 times a day.

ph 8.2, mg 1250, alk 11, ca 440, 1.025, po4 0, nitrates 10.

other inhabs: mated gsm pair, 2 peppermint shrimp.

octopus 200 skimmer, 150 pounds of lr. koralia 4 and 500 gph return.

we feed silversides (1/2 every other day), seafood buffet, cyclopeeze, formula 1 flake, ora glow, some granule food (we alternate lots). when we can, i get bbs from the lfs and feed those too...they love them...

WHEW.

the question is:
can i increase the MH lighting more (i dont want to do the screen thing) either by more 15 min blocks or lengthen the blocks? how will i know i'm running them too much? is there a food that will help them develop their zooxanthellae better than what i'm feeding now?

anything else i can do?

thanks,

tim

 

[Slakker]

While never having been in a similar situation, I would think that slowly increasing your Halide-On segments over the course of a few weeks would probably be a very good way to "rehabilitate" them to brighter lighting.

Hopefully someone with useful experience on the matter will pop in and have some better insight.