BTA lighting

[Spacekitty]

I recently acquired a sad little bleached BTA (or at least that is what I think it is). It wasn't under proper lighting and the person didn't have the time to care for it. That being said, I would love to nurse it back to health, but want to be sure I have the proper lighting for when it can start actually using the light again.

Mind you, I am not very knowledgeable with lights, so I am just going to copy and paste the information about them from where I got them.

Oh, and its a little 12g cube. That is kind of important.


-6 Cool White CREE XP-G2 LEDs
Min. radiant flux 158lm @ 350mA
1500mA max. drive current
Forward voltage ~2.9V@700mA
5,000-8,300K Color Temperature (ours are usually around 6000k)

-6 Royal Blue CREE XT-E LEDs
Min. radiant flux 500mW @ 350mA
1500mA max. drive current
450-465nm wavelength
Forward voltage 2.85V (typical)-3.5V (maximum) @350mA

[Dkuhlmann]

I would ask this in the lighting forum. While the Royal Blue appear to be actinic due to the wavelength the whites are not. I do not believe these are strong enough for saltwater lighting IMO.

Also contact the manufacturer of that cube and ask if they have a retro fit lighting for saltwater reef use

[Dmantz1]

I have a 20L with 3 arrays. Each array has 4RB and 2WW. So a 2:1 ratio and my nems do fine. The latest trend is to dump the CW for WW.

[traveller7]

Oh, and its a little 12g cube. That is kind of important.Lights are going to be the least of your concern based on prior posting:

I have a Biocube 14 (so ~12 gallon tank) with skimmer and probably more live rock then I should really have.

I currently have an assortment of corals, snails, a cleaner shrimp, and a purple firefish.Depending on the species of "cleaner shrimp" they'll pester a weak BTA.

Depending on the corals you have, the BTA will have a difficult time settling into a long term location.

One of my BTAs easily dominated a Biocube 14gal all by itself with standard PC lighting. Flow options limited the locations the BTA preferred.

All is not lost, but you are dealing with a few challenges and are going to have to make some compromises to increase your odds of success.

Possibly post a picture of the set up now, BTA status, and I am sure some folks will jump in with experiences and suggestions.