RBTA lighting

[blueboy]

what kind of lights are y'all keeping your RBTA's under? will the 4*96W PC's in my 120 be sufficient? any suggestions/experiences appreciated.

[brianK]

Just purchased an RBTA yesterday, for the saddleback clowns I have, at Aquatek here in Austin. Was doing some reading today and from some
Of what I've read it seems lite Metal Halide is the best route to go. It also seems it depends on how deep the tank is for how the light penetrates. I placed the RBTA at the top of some of my LR closes to the light I've got (think there 4x10K 55W PCs), but going to add a MH pendant to up the light.

It seems you can get away with less light if you feed them more, but its best if you give them enough light and food.

Brian

[astrong]

PC's are usually sufficient, the rose will probably find a place up high. Under MH's they can rest closer to the bottom of the tank comfortably. Those guys will move when they aren't getting the right conditions, so watch him. They can move right into your power heads. And that's no bueno.
They will seek out a location with adequate light as well as the right rock formation. They like some type of cavity to hide in for protection. A concave rock works best. Something with a depression they can sneak into if they feel threatened.
For better growth feed weekly or semiweekly krill or silversides, if you can find them.

[matt]

Some E. quadricolor anemones are naturally from deeper water and therefore require quite a bit less light than most stony corals, but I'm not sure how you'd know whether you have the deep water species or the shallow species. Is your 120 4ft by 2ft? Or 6ft by 18"? I know both tanks are 24" deep, but your light placement would vary in each case. Also, there are now "true" actinic PC bulbs which might help provide the right spectrum for your anemone, especially if it came from deeper water.

In general, though, most reefkeepers are moving away from P.C. lights. If you can look around for a metal halide/vho actinic combination I bet you'd be a lot happier with your light overall, especially if you're keeping any stony corals.

Excellent advice on the feeding; crustaceans (krill) is their natural diet.

[blueboy]

my 120 is 48x24x24. read till my eyes crossed on wetwebmedia last night, but it's so hard to find a specific answer on there. thanks for the advice. anyone else out there? what happened to all those rbtas tim ordered for yall a few months back?

[StephenA]

I keep mine under 2 250W MH and 48W Actintic. They split when I went from 150W MH to the 250W

[brianK]

Sounds like a nice setup. Is it a hood setup or a pendent type setup? Still looking for a good MH setup with some moonlighting to run at night. Where did you get the setup from?

Brian

[StephenA]

It's a fixture that has all of them built in.

[brianK]

Sweet...you get it local or online?....looks like what I've been looking for....what schedule do u run the lights on?

Brian