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JimM

Light Requirements?

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Hey All...
Could use some expert advice. Basics are... 75G display, 35G fuge, 216watt T5 x4, 2 daylight, 2 actinic. Recently the RBTA and the finger leather appear to be pulling in. Kenya tree frag looks fine and the 5 fish seem fine. The nem's tentacles seem to have a blue/green tinge about half way down. Water chem looks good... Do we have enough light?

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Comments

  1. mulebutter's Avatar
    How old are your bulbs? How high above the water are they? Im no expert whatsoever, but maybe I can help get the wheels turning.
  2. DJ in WV's Avatar
    light looks alittle on the slim side to me. Is that a tall or short 75? Id say 2.88 might not be enough the get them to thrive, Do you have them at the top of the tank? What do you have for water movement that could be a factor as well
  3. JimM's Avatar
    Hey guys... thanks for the replies...
    Fixture and bulbs are six months old... about 4" above the water surface.

    Short tank I think... standard 48" long... and both the nem and the leather are about mid way down in the tank.
    If I do decide to add more lighting... may I simply place some clamp lights with compact flourescent daylight bulbs in the canopy until I can get more fixtures? Would that be worth the effort?
    Thanks again!
  4. DJ in WV's Avatar
    jim is the rtba moving around or is it staying put? You might try moving the leather up higher to see if it helps before you start adding lights that way you will know for sure if that is the issue or if you need to look else where
  5. cyano's Avatar
    I am running a 75 gallon 48" long in mine at 54 watts x6 so 324 total watts with individual reflectors and my rose BTA stays halfway up the tank. Even though it isn't the most accurate way to judge wattage 2.88 watts per gallon is definitely on the low side considering using that judgement bulb tip anemones call for a minimum of 4 watts per gallon (once again I know it isn't an accurate judgement but with no meter it is the easiest method off hand). the other things we need to know/consider is how long had you had them? what is their placement in the tank? does the anemone still eat? do you feed it? how often? tank parameters? If you are not used to having an anemone they do a lot of appearance changes that can seem bad if not ready for them but if it is still holding onto the rock work, eating, holding food, and not bleaching I would say it is still ok but keep in mind anemones have slow metabolisms so it can take days or weeks for them to show a decline and the same goes for recovery.
  6. JimM's Avatar
    Hey DJ,
    It's staying put about halfway up in the tank... hasnt moved much since it found that spot after introducing it to the tank. The leather is also about halfway up.

    Hey Cyano,
    Have had the leather for about3 months... it was actually a hitchhiker on some live rock that we bought from a guy breaking down a tank. The nem does eat... silverside chunks mostly... yesterday fed it a cube of frozen brine shrimp. Been feeding it about every 2-3 days. Parameters are pretty good... Nitrite =0, ammonia =0, salinity = 1.026, alkalinity good, nitrates 20-30.

    Thanks guys for lending your expertise!
  7. cyano's Avatar
    how often and how much water are you moving when doing water changes? the signs may be attributed to the nitrates being where they are considering neither care much for nitrates in a tank, so do some water changes to bring those closer to zero and if you are running a refugium some chaeto will also help maintain them at a lower level a bit