MaxTremors
2500 Club Member
I got this gorgeous rainbow BTA two weeks ago, and I placed it in a low flow, low light area (was attached to a little marine pure block), and so far it looks healthy and has eaten twice (second time a few minutes ago), it’s moved maybe an inch or two, but otherwise it’s stayed put.
Should I be concerned that it’s not moving towards more light and/or flow and should I move it (its not in the best place aquascape-wise, but its in no danger of touching any corals or powerheads)?
Like I said, it looks great, I’m not concerned that it’s sick or dying, but it just seems like it should want to move into higher light (it’s not shying away from light, though either).
I haven’t kept a lot of BTAs, and the last one was over ten years ago, but I remember them always stretching and moving towards the light (even with halides).
So I guess my question, for those of you that have kept a lot of BTAs under LEDs, is: is this concerning? Should I move it? Or should I just give it more time?
Here’s some specs/parameters (just in case they are pertinent):
Lighting: stock 40w LED Nanocube lights at a max of 80% blue and 30% white (I was concerned that these would be inadequate, but decided to wait and see and I’ve burnt a few high-light corals, so I don’t think they’re underpowered for a BTA (they’re like 550par at the surface in the middle and around 1).
Flow: Jebao SLW 20, two alternating 265gph returns, and a little 90gph powerhead behind rocks to avoid dead spots, overall have pretty good, fairly random flow without any direct blasting or dead spots.
Alk: 8.6
Cal: 420
PH: 8.1
Mag: 1300
PO4: 0.015 (trying to raise this a little)
NO3: ~25ppm (am carbon dosing to bring it down, was consistently 80ppm+)
SG: 35ppm/1.026
Temp: 78.9°
I am currently dosing 0.75ml of Seachem Fusion 2 part (1 and 2) and 24ml of vinegar daily, and then 3ml of Sea Chem Reef Complete every 3 days.
And here’s a pic (it just fed it like 20min ago, it’s very, very sticky if that mean anything, also glass is a little dirty, it’s in the back on the side near the glass so I can’t scrape it right now):
Should I be concerned that it’s not moving towards more light and/or flow and should I move it (its not in the best place aquascape-wise, but its in no danger of touching any corals or powerheads)?
Like I said, it looks great, I’m not concerned that it’s sick or dying, but it just seems like it should want to move into higher light (it’s not shying away from light, though either).
I haven’t kept a lot of BTAs, and the last one was over ten years ago, but I remember them always stretching and moving towards the light (even with halides).
So I guess my question, for those of you that have kept a lot of BTAs under LEDs, is: is this concerning? Should I move it? Or should I just give it more time?
Here’s some specs/parameters (just in case they are pertinent):
Lighting: stock 40w LED Nanocube lights at a max of 80% blue and 30% white (I was concerned that these would be inadequate, but decided to wait and see and I’ve burnt a few high-light corals, so I don’t think they’re underpowered for a BTA (they’re like 550par at the surface in the middle and around 1).
Flow: Jebao SLW 20, two alternating 265gph returns, and a little 90gph powerhead behind rocks to avoid dead spots, overall have pretty good, fairly random flow without any direct blasting or dead spots.
Alk: 8.6
Cal: 420
PH: 8.1
Mag: 1300
PO4: 0.015 (trying to raise this a little)
NO3: ~25ppm (am carbon dosing to bring it down, was consistently 80ppm+)
SG: 35ppm/1.026
Temp: 78.9°
I am currently dosing 0.75ml of Seachem Fusion 2 part (1 and 2) and 24ml of vinegar daily, and then 3ml of Sea Chem Reef Complete every 3 days.
And here’s a pic (it just fed it like 20min ago, it’s very, very sticky if that mean anything, also glass is a little dirty, it’s in the back on the side near the glass so I can’t scrape it right now):
