Uhuru's NPS Elos Mini

[Uhuru]

Yes, it does, but changing the water 2x/wk helps, and I am going to switch from iron based phosphate media to aluminum based phosphate media.

[Tigahboy]

Oh my... That FTS is really beautiful. Amazing set-up!

[Uhuru]

Thanks! It would be better if I could get my sun corals to open with the lights on - still working on it! Those bastards like to open at 2 or 3 am, which is when I am usually asleep unless its the weekend. Also now that I look at it I realize I should have cleaned the glass better and removed the feeding ring

[Paleoreef103]

TOTM!!! Seriously, it's an awesome tank and truly unique. Fantastic job.

[Uhuru]

Thanks Paleo! I am still very much in the trial and observation phase, there are many other tanks on here that deserve TOTM before I do, but I'm flattered!

 

So here's a little story, sorry for reposting some of the photos but it helps illustrate what I'm saying:

 

The Monster in the Dark

 

One of the challenges of having Dendronephthya in a small tank is its hard to predict how much space they will take up when fully expanded. When I bought this dendro, it was just a little ball in the corner of the tank at my LFS. It looked healthy though, with polyps fully expanded, and I knew the shipment was fresh (very important). Over the next couple of weeks, it expand into a beautiful cream/dark purple/black color with contrasting white sclerites and polyps:

 

 

It was already much larger than how it appeared at the LFS, and I figured it will probably expand a little more. I moved it to a spot where it would have more room:

 

Lately . . . I have noticed that it is the biggest coral in the tank, in fact, too big for the tank:

 

 

Not only is it rubbing against the sand, but pressing against the front glass! The crazy thing is, it does this predictably, after the lights go out, and all the way until morning/noon when the sunlight hits the tank.

 

 

Once daytime comes, it shrinks back down, until the darkness returns. This is unlike any of my other dendros, which will expand and contract without regard for any schedule.

 

So, either this coral has an internal clock, it is sensitive to light, or it is sensing something else in the water that only comes out at night, which it feeds on. The interesting thing is, it does this in response to ambient room light and sunlight from outside, as I have not been using a tank light for the past several days now.

[Weetabix7]

Consider me seriously impressed.

[acrofish]

very nice work Uhuru!

[Rehype]

Consider me seriously impressed.

 

 

+1 Amazing job uhuru.

[DaveFason]

Uhuru - You make me want to try this out more and more everyday! Looking great and I can only imagine how much better it will look in 5-6 months.

 

You should find a few collectors and see if they can find some gobies that pair up with the dendros. Most of the are Trimmas. That is what I am going for once my stuff grows in. Just that I am looking for the gobies that pair with stonys.

 

Keep it up!

 

-Dave

[Paleoreef103]

How is the blueberry gorg doing? Any thoughts about grabbing the sponges covered in white zoas? Do you have any pics of your rhizo?

[Uhuru]

Uhuru - You make me want to try this out more and more everyday! Looking great and I can only imagine how much better it will look in 5-6 months.

 

You should find a few collectors and see if they can find some gobies that pair up with the dendros. Most of the are Trimmas. That is what I am going for once my stuff grows in. Just that I am looking for the gobies that pair with stonys.

 

Keep it up!

 

-Dave

 

Thanks Dave! I didn't know any gobies paired up with them, that's pretty cool. I'll have to look more into that. I wonder what the benefit to the dendro is though...

[Uhuru]

Consider me seriously impressed.

Thanks!

 

very nice work Uhuru!

Thank you!

 

+1 Amazing job uhuru.

Thanks! Hope the balling salts are working out for you!

 

How is the blueberry gorg doing? Any thoughts about grabbing the sponges covered in white zoas? Do you have any pics of your rhizo?

The blueberry gorg was a rescue attempt that showed some improvement for the first week or so but slowly stopped opening. It does not respond to the continuous dosing of phyto/rotifers/oyster eggs that my other difficult corals seem to love. I did learn some things, and unfortunately the nature of these setups right now is that you lose some and you win some, and one day you might lose them all. I also have not had any success with Scleronephthya, which is supposed to be easier than Dendronephthya. I wonder how much of this also has to do with the health of the specimen when it is brought into the LFS/importer, and how long it is sitting at the LFS/importer. The problem is they are not setup to keep these corals, so the longer they are not in a dedicated setup, the weaker they get. There are only 2 tanks I know of with documented success with blueberry gorgs. One was that of Marcus Nitzsche (sp?) who kept and propagated them for 2 yrs or so, and the Aquarium of the Pacific which does 20% water changes daily on a 600g display, and hourly feedings of cyclopleeze, rotifers and mysis. Fauna Marin (C. Schumacher) and one other foreign person may also have had success with this coral, not sure. The coral is still alive in my tank just not opening. I may try to move it when I do a w/c and also implement an Al based phosphate remover to see if that helps. Sadly I think it is probably too little too late though.

 

The rhizos have been moved to my 150g tub which has low flow and nothing but LR. I had so much flow going on in the tank (trying to keep the blueberry gorg happy) that it was literally peeling the flesh off the rhizos.

 

I have no intention of trying the aussie tiger sponge.

[Uhuru]

One more thing to add about attempting to keep blueberry gorgs... don't try it unless you are running ozone or are willing to do at least 2x/wk water changes in combination with Al based phos remover. Yellow water is the enemy of this coral, that is one reason why they start to close up and starve. The other reason is flow. Don't try this coral unless you can provide strong laminar flow. No wavemaker, turbulence or short pulse mode!!

[Paleoreef103]

One more thing to add about attempting to keep blueberry gorgs... don't try it unless you are running ozone or are willing to do at least 2x/wk water changes in combination with Al based phos remover. Yellow water is the enemy of this coral, that is one reason why they start to close up and starve. The other reason is flow. Don't try this coral unless you can provide strong laminar flow. No wavemaker, turbulence or short pulse mode!!

Oh I believe it. Trust me. I'm pretty good at knowing which corals I should try and which ones I should stay away from. The blueberry gorg is on the stay away list. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on it as yours seemed to be doing pretty ok.

 

Out of curiosity, why no to the Aussie Tiger? I thought they were neat. Do you have any sponges in the tank?

 

I love this tank though. It's wonderful.

[DaveFason]

Thanks Dave! I didn't know any gobies paired up with them, that's pretty cool. I'll have to look more into that. I wonder what the benefit to the dendro is though...

 

Yep! They dont hurt the coral, just camo against predators. Thats what I will be working towards once my stuff grows out.

 

Here's a few pictures As you can tell nano inverts and fish I LOVE.

 

 

-Dave

[DaveFason]

Thought you would like this.

 

http://glassbox-design.com/2009/pieter-van...tic-azoox-reef/

 

-Dave

[Uhuru]

wow, thanks for that link. phenomenal. Does he even have to feed his fish or LPS? Makes me wanna go ahead and set up my 150 as NPS after all.

 

I'm surprised at the lack of flow in that tank. I wonder if he turned it down for photography purposes, or if it's always like that. Love the dim blue lighting....

[divecj5]

Every time I come back to your tank I'm amazed at how healthy, colorful, and just generally badas$ everything looks. Really makes me want to give more non-photosynthetics a shot in the future. It's amazing how there always things to try in order to challenge yourself in this hobby. I think you've done an amazing job at showing what can be done on a small scale....if you ever set something up in the future that is larger, it's going to be phenominal.

 

Keep up the great work. Always look forward to new pics.

 

-Adam

[Uhuru]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement Adam!

[Maeda]

is that a blueberry I see?

 

If you can keep blueberry alive... i'm convinced. I'll be joining you too.

[DaveFason]

Uhuru - Awesome stuff. Did you end up keeping the little crab too?

 

A few things are you still feeding with the dosing needle?

 

What is the current livestock that you have in there now?

 

Any plans for any other type of NFS?

 

-Dave

[Uhuru]

is that a blueberry I see?

 

If you can keep blueberry alive... i'm convinced. I'll be joining you too.

 

It's alive, but dying. It doesn't respond to the food I'm dosing.

[Uhuru]

Uhuru - Awesome stuff. Did you end up keeping the little crab too?

 

A few things are you still feeding with the dosing needle?

 

What is the current livestock that you have in there now?

 

Any plans for any other type of NFS?

 

-Dave

 

No I got rid of the crab. They feed on the polyps to take on the pigments, and they also decorate themselves with the polyps. They are part of the decorator crab family, but more specialized.

 

I am still feeding with the syringe pump, and still adjusting the dosage.

 

About the livestock... I made some changes yesterday, and have some bad news. I lost 2 fish. I changed salt brands, and I changed phosphate remover media at the same time. I don't know if this is what did it, or if that's just a coincidence. 2 of my dendronephthya don't look happy either, but the 2 big ones seem ok (I hope). My chalk bass jumped out of the tank, which is highly unusual. He is far more likely to dive into his cave, and stays low to the ground most of the time. I haven't run lights for a week now, and he started acting weird 3 days ago. One of my bangaii cardinals also died, and another one looks to be on the way out. The other thing that could have set this off is that I have been running the tank temp between 72-74. With the cold weather lately, it stays about 72. I have a trio of striped blennies that are doing great. A pair of sharknose gobies that look fine as well. Also a green banded goby that seems ok. If I get any more fish I'm gonna stick with deep water ones. My dendrophyllia are fine, gorgs are fine, sun coral colony fine ... and that's pretty much all I have in the tank right now. I moved my rhizos to a low flow 150g tub in my basement, as well as a couple of my sun coral colonies so I could work on getting them to eat without the fish harassing them.

[DaveFason]

Cool deal. Sorry to hear about the losses.

 

I have been running my tank around 74-76 and things have been looking amazing. Maybe it was a GFO?

 

-Dave

[Uhuru]

WTF. Something is killing my fish! My two sharknose gobies are on the way out. Green banded goby MIA. However, my 3 striped blennies, which I brought in last week, are doing PERFECTLY FINE. WTF. They all start to show heavy, labored breathing before they go. Did they bring something that would kill my other fish yet they are immune to? Could it be the phosphate remover? Water change? Wouldn't this kill my corals first? This f'in sucks!