Uhuru's NPS Elos Mini

[Uhuru]

okay I'll let you know! I have my drews dosers as well as a profilux 3 headed unit and I'm not sure what size each one uses. Don't remember what the recommended change interval is either.

 

on another note I'm getting an extended warranty on the clam since he didn't look too good upon arrival... one reason I don't hesitate to order from DFS, I love their customer support!

[weeber]

ur tanks coming along nicely i love the dracula goby ivee been thinking about gettin one and tryin to pair it with my yasha goby but i heard they were the most aggresive of the family and i thought he might bully my yasha goby any imput?

[Uhuru]

I think you might have territorial issues depending on the size of your tank. The dracula will most likely take whatever cave he wants. My dracula shares my chalk bass's cave, and the chalk bass had it first. Keep in mind the chalk bass is bigger and tried to chase him out but he stood his ground so the chalk bass gave up.

[weeber]

thats what ive been hearin som im thinking on use the cheap substitute a hi-fin goby.

[scottyreef]

okay I'll let you know! I have my drews dosers as well as a profilux 3 headed unit and I'm not sure what size each one uses. Don't remember what the recommended change interval is either.

 

on another note I'm getting an extended warranty on the clam since he didn't look too good upon arrival... one reason I don't hesitate to order from DFS, I love their customer support!

 

 

I change norprene/pharmed every 5000 hours weather its running or not because tubing ages with process fuild in the tubing so every year. I have every size just pay for shipping

[Uhuru]

getting used to the environment:

 

eating a silverside a couple days later:

 

dendrophyllia:

[sammy113]

yumy! looks very nice!

[DaveFason]

Loving the dendro! I cant wait to get mine in!

 

Keep up the great work!

 

-Dave

[Uhuru]

Today is a very sad day. My dracula goby jumped. He was doing so well, my favorite. Really the showcase of the tank. This is the price I pay for not having a screen top at least when I'm not home.

[PurpleUP]

Today is a very sad day. My dracula goby jumped. He was doing so well, my favorite. Really the showcase of the tank. This is the price I pay for not having a screen top at least when I'm not home.

Awww man. Sorry to hear that. I was thinking about installing a screen myself for a potential firefish, but didn't want to block any light.

[DaveFason]

Horrible, try just a regular banded goby. Almost look the same for a fraction of the price!

 

-Dave

[Uhuru]

Awww man. Sorry to hear that. I was thinking about installing a screen myself for a potential firefish, but didn't want to block any light.

 

Yeah it's really a tough call, I was gonna compromise and only use it when I wasn't home. So bummed right now.

 

Horrible, try just a regular banded goby. Almost look the same for a fraction of the price!

 

-Dave

 

I don't know what I'm going to add to replace him. I don't think a reg. banded goby would cut it. I like the boldness and aggressiveness of these guys. At the same time, that's probably what led to his demise. He would perch himself on the top rock of the tank rather than just hide in a cave.

[Uhuru]

 

[DaveFason]

WHat is your livestock in there?

[Uhuru]

I've lost a few so far, like my dracula goby, 2 red spotted cardinalfish, pistol shrimp MIA, squamosa clam, but this is what I currently have:

 

Fish:

2 x ORA sharknose gobies

2 x green banded gobies

1 x chalk bass

1 x firefish

1 x tailspot blenny

 

Corals:

Duncanopsammia sp.

Dendrophyllia sp.

Rhizotrochus sp.

Balanophyllia sp.

Tubastrea sp.

Trachyphyllia sp.

Acanthastrea lordhowensis

Gorgonia spp.

Ricordea florida

Acropora spp.

Seriatopora sp.

Montipora capricornis

 

Inverts:

1 trochus snail

6 or 7 nassarius snails

[Uhuru]

NPS teasers:

 

 

can you see the cyclopleeze in his gut?

[Rocket]

NIce shots. FTS soon?

[Uhuru]

Thanks Rocket! FTS soon! I want to get all the corals settled in and happy first. Trust me it will be worth the wait!

 

This tank has sort of become the trial version of what will be my 100% NPS 150g tank, although it is even more of a challenge because of the smaller volume and the fact that I am using 10K color lighting (yay for algae). So two things are essential for NPS gorgs and soft corals. Flow and food. Lots of both. I think I have the flow down good. I have found the best response when setting the mp10 to long pulse mode, with the longest sequence possible and as much flow as possible (just enough to move the sand a little). Microbubbles have become an issue, and I'm still working on the food part.

 

First try:

I froze a 10 mL mixture of FM ultra clam, ultra min S, ultra min F and RN oyster feast:

 

Made a quick syringe holder to zip tie to the return on my tank:

 

As the frozen mixture defrosts, it drips the food into the tank:

 

This is the same food mixture I have been dosing manually throughout the day, and the gorgs are showing a very positive response. Even the photosynthetic corals seem to love it. Some of them are showing growth spurts since I've been doing this. This system would actually work great for a larger tank as the drip is pretty fast. I need to find a way to make it defrost slower, or cough up the money and get a syringe pump ($275).

 

In the meantime I am trying a new food mixture based off of Danny Dame's recipe with a few substitutions.

 

FM Ultra Pac is the key here. It is artificial coral mucus designed for azoox soft corals and other filter feeders.

 

 

This is the plankton component:

 

After letting everything sit overnight I mix it all together and get this:

 

After letting this sit another 24 hrs, I will try freezing another 10mL and see how quickly it defrosts. I'm hoping this mixture takes a bit longer. Stay tuned!

[Uhuru]

some night time shots (with flash)... these are challenging because I don't have any moonlights... which sucks considering that my lighting is LED but thats another story

 

 

 

 

[BumbleBeeJBG]

Lookin good Uhuru, how'd you solve the micro bubble problem?

[divecj5]

WOW....incredible the amount of thought that you've put into this setup. I'm smelling a whole lot of success with this tank.

 

Now that's what I call husbandry....really looking forward to seeing how this and eventually your larger tank turns out. Great job and fantastic pictures, especially for night shots.

 

-Adam

[Uhuru]

Lookin good Uhuru, how'd you solve the micro bubble problem?

 

The microbubble problem is due to poor sump design combined with the vortech mp10. If I turn down either pump, the microbubbles go away. But, this is a reef tank, most of us (and our corals) like high flow. I think elos needs to redesign the sump, and vortech needs to put a guard on the top portion like they do on the mp40's so it doesn't suck in air from the surface. It is so powerful I have seen it create a vortech (pun intended) 5-6" down from the surface.

 

So, there is no solution for me right now. I just kinda deal with it. It will be the last thing on my list once I get everything else settled and running smoothly. Honestly I always have small particulate matter/pods floating around in the tank anyways so it just kind of blends on.

[Paleoreef103]

Awesome! I love the drip feeding method. So was it just some PVC? What did you use to secure it to the wall of the tank. I think that's a pretty ingenious method!

[Uhuru]

WOW....incredible the amount of thought that you've put into this setup. I'm smelling a whole lot of success with this tank.

 

Now that's what I call husbandry....really looking forward to seeing how this and eventually your larger tank turns out. Great job and fantastic pictures, especially for night shots.

 

-Adam

 

Thanks Adam!

 

I am not sure if its possible to be successful with both photosynthetic and azoox corals in such a small closed system... especially SPS. So far it has been good but time will tell...

 

I am going on vacation next week and as such I have automated the feeding as much as possible. This should also be good for when I come back as it will keep things more consistent. First, I hooked up an eheim auto feeder which dumps FM ultra min F and ultra clam (fine particulate foods) into a ring.

 

Then I got a syringe pump, which continuously doses my plankton/artificial coral mucus food solution at a rate of 1.25mL/hr. The dosing rate can be changed easily, and this will not clog even with dense solutions the way a peristaltic dosing pump would.

 

As you can see the pump sits inside a wine cooler since my house stays at about 79F in the summer. Chuck Stottlemire had success with this stuff at room temp. but I don't want to risk it. Here's a close up of how the syringe feeds out to a tube:

 

 

I'm not totally happy with the food mixture I've made. I think it is better for dendronephthya but perhaps not necessary for scleronephthya. My sclero will inflate but shows very little polyp expansion. I actually just saw some for the first time yesterday (a positive sign I guess). I am going to simplify it and use mostly cyclopleeze, rotifeast, phytofeast, oysterfeast. Chuck Stottlemire had success using only Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast (continuous infusion).

[Sushi]

dang, that syringe pump is some serious stuff! have fun on vacation!