Bta & powercompacts?

Iv got 260w worth of powercompact lighting over my little 20long. Keeping sps (birdsnest, montycap, millepora, acropora, procilapora, spongodes) as well as various lps and a few softys, and they are all doing well. What i wanna know is do i have any chance keeping a bta alive? After looking at this guys tank ( stole this link from gabes post ) i think i have a fair chance... he's got a 65g tank 48" long and 20" deep an its got 296w of vho lighting... by comparison iv got 260w over a 30" tank that's only 13" deep... so i think i should be okay but i wanted to hear you guys opinion before i buy one down the road.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/totm/index.php

Pretty neat tank...

If you're keeping acros lighting shouldn't be an issue. :-)

Lol well to be fair its only one acro. .
And i have had it just long enough for it to grow over the superglue i mounted it with... but it is growing.. so that's a start!

I had read bta's need 6w/gal for lighting n it scared me off before i got my new lights... the tank i posted above has me reconsidering them.

Actually just figured 260/20=13 watts per gal but the watt/gal ratios aren't exact or even accurate most of the time.... par ratings are a more accurate measure... n iv got no idea where i stand there...

It's safe to say you're above 250 par with a growing acro in the tank.

Your real issue is risk to your other corals and tank size. While the BTA searches for it's spot it might wipe out a good bit of your corals. Also, it will quickly outgrow the tank.

Was lookin at a metallic green bta that was about 2" across... how quick do they grow?? u just bought one right?? My tanks got the same footprint as yours, except i don't have all-in-one... i have a sump so i got more room than u do lol

Mine is in my 2'x2' frag tank for the next six months or so until I move it to the 227g. I couldn't put it in my 29g without losing several corals, I'm totally out of space in there.

Growth rate depends on the tank and feeding. But I know that they can get as large as 12" circle or so before splitting sometimes.

I shouldn't have said quickly. I have no idea their growth rate and nothing can outgrow the tank if you want it that size. Obviously if you're wanting a large section of the tank to be a BTA then it wouldn't fet too large.

I was assuming there. Lol sorry about that.

I keep thinkin i want a 40breeder or 30" cube.... it won't be too long before my 20 is full and i get some frags... ill need another tank to move em into lol I'm thinking longterm. My clowns can get 7" long in time suppossedly an thats waaaay bigger than what id keep in a 20l but thats years away. Now if a bta gets 12" in six months i wouldn't even try but if it takes a while to grow it might be worth trying to keep. Besides there wouldn't be any trouble trading it off down the road

http://m.karensroseanemones.net/site/classic?url=http://www.karensroseanemones.net/index.htm&back=http%3A%2F%2Fm.karensroseanemones.net%2Fsite%2Fmobile%3Furl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.karensroseanemones.net%2Findex.htm

I don't agree with some of the things posted on that site but there is some good info about BTAs.

Thx gabe! Lots to read