Whats up with my GBTA?

[finding nemo]

thanks 55, something people forget is we have storms at sea, no sun at all and very dark and fast moving water.
We need to simulate that in our tanks, not every day is a sunlit day out at sea or anywhere for that matter.
2 times a month my tanks are lights out and I create a storm in them with a turkey baster.
I have a carnation in my 75 tank that loves the lights out day and is fully open in the dark eating what I have stirred up.
The next day I do a water change of just 10 percent.
Lights are back on and everything is happy, rested and so are the fish.
They need the rest periods of 24 hours.
I find that there is better growth when I have lights out days and stormy days.
Try this, when it is cloudy outside keep your tank lights off.
Note to seft.(you), if it is more then 3 days turn the lights back on.
Not only will you save on your electric bill but the corals have had a nice long rest and they will be better for it.
Simulate nature and your tanks will bloom with growth.
Think of all of the life in our tanks after lights out, it gives all of that a good chance to clean up your tank and and the fish swim very slowly around the tank just cruising.
It is a nice time for all.

 

[55semireef]

Its funny that you say that becuase I gave my corals a rest yesterday. When I woke up I thought of them not getting light as having a cloudy day for them.

 

[818]

Umm hello guys!!!!! Its summer time, and I sure hope your temp is below 82F.

Everything your saying is good for an anemone, I myself am lazier and my RBTAs are flourishing...

Key is to have no temp swings with this weather, and good flow. Your lighting is ok.

Though 400w is alot how high are your lights off the water?

Sam

 

[55semireef]

Halides can penetrate up to 5 feet.

 

[wiley0717]

Lights are about 12 inches off water. I'm getting ready to downsize to 2@150 Hqi do to the heat of the 400. Lights out for a couple of days, how will this effect my clam and sps? Not too worried about cutting the light as far as the BTA goes (boats park next to docks for weeks on end and Anem's do fine with that limited light). Come to think of it, just about everything get's at lease a day light's out when shipped, off with the lights for a day. I'll keep posted.

It did eat the silverside yesterday, only a quarter of it though. Would hold it for a while and let it go untill I ended up with only 1/4 of the fish left, then quickly started to devour it.

 

[55semireef]

Just stay on top of your water changes.

Going without light is fine for a couple of days. I mean when a storm hits the waters and the clouds are cloudy with no sunlight penetration, they still live. Giving it some time without light gives corals and anemones to rest. Once your lights are back on, do a 20 percent water change.

 

[818]

What is your TEMPERATURE at!

 

[wiley0717]

Temp is at 78-80. I run two 6" fans to keep everything cool. Only a 46 gal tank but I've got another 60g worth the system in a seperate room for filteration and such, also helps avoid a temp swing.

Octopus a good source for nutrition? BTA seems to favor it.

 

[wiley0717]

Here's an updated pick. Dropped the halide and am running 6500 ho's as temp lighting. Also flipped the rock over so it's more of a wall now rather than a ledge. Color is a lot better but will only consume about every other feeding. Still has the big bubble at it's mouth though.

 

[Ciarán]

You didnt expose it to air by any chance? If anemones ingest air they can trap gas bubbles inside of the gastrovascular canal, you will see bulges on the outside if so. Unlikely but another scenario all the same.

 

[wiley0717]

Nope, has only seen air once during a water change back in December.
Here's a better pic

 

[scaz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7633508#post7633508 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wiley0717
Have 1-400 watt 20 k.
Female is about 2' and the male about 1.5.


One thing that came to mind was when he started this he deflated completely and swelled his mouth up. This is the end result.

I heard once that 20 k doesn't do much for any anemone. 5k to 8k is where their best at for light. above 10k it's gets to be pretty useless. I could be way off but it's something to look into.

 

[wiley0717]

I'm thinking with you, I pulled it and put it in QT lastnight and it's doing fine. It's regurging i's food so I figured it was time to pull it. It was a mad stressfull move but as much as I'd hate to kill it moving it, I'd hate to come home from work wishing I'd moved it before it killed off my tank! It will get plenty of 6500k light and pristine water for a while.

 

[Ciarán]

I could be way off but it's something to look into.

Good point IMO. Anemones are (usually - the ones we keep anyway) shallow water creatures, more of a daylight spectrum would be useful definitely to replicate its natural setting. Id say 6500K to 10000K is best. Sunlight is 6,500K, any lower and it is rather useless and less attractive to boot IMO.

 

[55semireef]

Pure Atinic (D&D Giesemann)
MidDay (D&D Giesemann)
GE Sun (GE)
Pure Atinic (D&D Giesemann)

Thats my bulb combo for my Tek T5. I am getting it within a week or so. Will that be fair enough for anemons?

wiley0717, your GBTA looks healthy except for the mouth part. It could be a combination of trapped air and light spectum.

 

[wiley0717]

I got ahold of Anthony Calfro, he seems to think that it bubble is a sign of stress and my 20k light is a contributor. He also advised against any "k" lighting above 10k with an emphasis on 6700k (close to natural and a popular bulb at Home depot).
So in a nutshell only feeding my BTA once/twice per month with 10k lighting was only maintaining it's health, once I switched to 20k it was slowly starving to death, using all energy to digest the food rather than sustain life.
Here's advise on feeding of BTA's
Small frequent feedings of nutritional foods. Size of food will depend on the BTA size but for a 6" anem, something the size of a couple mysis daily/every other day is far better than large lumps once per week/couple of weeks.
I have cut down the portion and still feeding every other day, put it in a 10gal QT under 80 watts 6700k lighting and it's slowly recovering. Looking a little better, streatching around to the back side of the rock (where you can't see it of course) instead of looking like death waiting to happen, and not regurging it's food anymore. I'm told to expect about two months to fully recover and be able to go back into my display.

55semireef, I'm still with you on the bubble. I still think there is something in there that it is not able to expell but I'm going to leave it be for a while. If after a couple of months it is still there and health is back up to par I'm going to frag it, one half with the bubble and the other without.

Not sure on the tek lighting, I'm up on my halides but lost on the others, what's the K rating and wattage of thoes bulbs? With a 55 I myself would go no less than VHO for an anem or even 2-175 halides, if you're going to do clams bump it to 2-250's. Shoot for 6-8 watts per gallon for most softies and some LPS and around 8-10 for others. With halides you can fall back from thoes numbers as halides penetrate the water deaper.

 

[55semireef]

Not sure on the tek lighting, I'm up on my halides but lost on the others, what's the K rating and wattage of thoes bulbs? With a 55 I myself would go no less than VHO for an anem or even 2-175 halides, if you're going to do clams bump it to 2-250's. Shoot for 6-8 watts per gallon for most softies and some LPS and around 8-10 for others. With halides you can fall back from thoes numbers as halides penetrate the water deaper.

T5 tek lighting is much more efficient then VHO and PCs. It also has much more penetration than VHO and PC.

Its going to have 4x54 watts which will be able to support less light demanding clams, sps and basically most anemones except for some.


I wouldn't frag your anemone. Its not right to take a perfectly good animal and cut in half. Just doesn't seem right. But thats just my opinion.

 

[wiley0717]

I do agree being how they split readily with the right conditions, however in the case where a frag could be a necessity to preserve life I will make an exception. I'm not yet ruling out the possibility of trapped air, my only hope at this point is that if it is trapped air it may escape when the BTA regurges it's food.

 

[55semireef]

Once its all healthy and recovered, try feeding it a large silverside. Bigger than usual. Maybe that might release the air.

 

[wiley0717]

That's actually the plan. It will regurg- anything too large, I plan on orienting the rock so it is face up and feeding it a large piece of Octopus. Loves Octo, just can't keep it down!