BTA Addition and Questions

[Vanphyre]

We recently added a BTA to our tank and had a couple questions. It's funny cause our two clowns took to it the day after we added it to the tank. There is some funny behaviour though that I would like to ask about just to make sure everything is ok. Tried reading like 30 BTA posts and no luck. lol.

1) Our BTA is just HUGE at nighttime, expands fully and looks beautiful under the moonlights. When the Daylight bulbs kick in, it tends to shrink to like 1/3 of the size and the tentacles look kind of limp. I read they are supposed to be Full int he day as they are reaching for the light. Why is this one backwards? Please see signature for tank and lighting setup.

P.S. Attached photo is a nighttime shot with the flash, caught those clowns in there. Will take a daytime shot later when the lights come on.

2) I think one of the clowns gets perturbed by this, or this could be somehting totally natural and ok. He will bite the little nib in the center of the anenmoe and pull stringy stuff off. Almost like he was trying to force it to open up. Has anyone heard of this before?

Other than that the clowns are funny, they will go into the tentalces and wiggle really fast on their sides and hangout in there. They are eating well and swim around the tank, but always return to the BTA.

Temp is around 78, PH 8.3, Nitrite, Ammonia at 0.00, Nitrate around 10. The LFS suggested adding a Strontium supplement once a week.

Thanks for any help you can give on those couple questions.

[TCTFish]

Nitrates are a little on the high side for a reef system. Try to maintain that to 05 ppm. The clown's behavior seems to suggest it is just simply tidying up the anemone. I could be wrong, but I have seen clown fish clean things off their anemones. What did these stringy things look like?

How many watts of lighting do you have total?

Out of curiosity, check temps a few hours after the lights go off and the anemone opens. Then check again after a few hours the lights are on and it starts to tuck. Set thermometer level to that of the anemone for both readings.

[Vanphyre]

Here is the exact light that we have. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

It is 156 Watts, so it looks like I'm around 3.4W/gallon. Not sure what the Parabolic Reflector adds to this.

I will work on the Nitrates, doing another water change today. Also have a Ro/DI unit I am using now for water changes, Nitrates are so much better than they were before.

I'll do some temperature checks and get back to you.

[TCTFish]

Lights are fine. I was thinking maybe the surface of the water was heating up. I'll ask my room mate tonight what he thinks.

[Vanphyre]

TCTFish, did you find anything out from your roommate?

I can't figure this out for the life of me. Retested my Nitrates and they are between 0 and 5 now.

Here is a picture of what it looks like in the daytime. Doesn't look good at all.... but a few hours after the lights go out and the moonlights go on, the thing is expanded full and looks great. My lights can't be too bright can they?

[melosu58]

If your lights were too bright he would move somewhere else in the tank. They like to keep the foot shaded. What I think sometimes is that during the day the clowns are too rough with it and during the nite they are asleep not being too rough with it then. Just a thought.

[TCTFish]

melosu58 has a point. Watch how the clowns are with the anemone. I'll ask my roommate tonite when he gets home. I saved the email notification to remind me.

I would like to mention my thoughts on the lights isn't about the light itself, but the heat it may produce. That's why I'd like to see the temp difference between day and night closer to the surface but level with the anemone. Just another avenue to explore

[Vanphyre]

I'll buy a new Thermometer on my lunch break tomorrow and run some tests for you. Won't have an answer until the following day. Thanks again for checking, I want to make sure everything is healthy and will live a long long time.

Btw.. the clowns are a little "rough" I guess. Not sure what too rough is. They turn on their sides and wiggle like crazy in the tentacles. Also one nips at it a bit, but I think he was pulling stuff off of it.

p.s. The anenome was on the top of that front rock in the picture when I brought him home. Now he is on the inside of it. And as you can see from the picture, the clowns never leave it. LOL.

[MT79]

I really think it's a lighting issue. To me it looks as if it not used to the intensity you have. Do you know what type of lighting it was under before you bought it?

[TCTFish]

I really think it's a lighting issue. To me it looks as if it not used to the intensity you have. Do you know what type of lighting it was under before you bought it?

Any less lighting on this tank and the anemone could lose more zooanthellae algae than what is produced and that's fatal over time. I'm unfamiliar with t5 lighting so I'm clueless as of it's heat output. I'm relying on the temps. that are being checked out. If heat isn't the casae, being the clowns do sort of nip at the anemone and pester it a bit, it may be trying to tuck away from them. That does happen, though I see it more with clarkiis and tomatoes than with percs or occelaris.