Wiilio Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Yes I read that they had to be fed since they weren't photosynthetic. As long as they can be fed brine shrimp like the YCG I don't think that'll be much of a problem. How much do they have to be fed, and how often? Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Idk, maybe once per day? you can look that info up on a profile page of that coral, do a search. BTW when I said "Tachy" as my suggestion, I meant Pachy coral. thats what nork has. oh, hello nork Link to comment
n0rk Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1719839 Have a read of this. You're in for a fun ride trying to keep control of the nutrient levels in your tank, that's for sure. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Didn't see that you had posted just before I had, nork. Thanks for checking things out Newman, the article nork posted says twice a week. That sounds doable. And "pachy" turned up better results nork, do you know of any other NPS corals besides sun polyps? It's a shame that keeping photosynthetic polyps thriving will be such a challenge :/ I hope I can manage it. Link to comment
n0rk Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 There's quite a lot of them. You're best off focusing on the Dendrophylliidae family if you're interested in doing NPS in a pico - other azoox corals like Gorgonians and Dendronephthya you should definitely avoid because you'll struggle to maintain sufficient nutrient export to keep up with the necessary import. Definitely start keeping things like Tubastrea and once you're more confident/competent at keeping them going perhaps branch out. Won't be easy though, by any yardstick. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 So it's pretty much like this: Photosynthetics: Have proper lighting and maintain nutrient levels, while having very good water quality Non-photosynthetics: Feed regularly and maintain nutrient levels Either way, I'd have to maintain those levels. Right? Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 all corals will appreciate good water quality, its that way in the ocean. nutrient levels and water quality might not mean the same exact thing.. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 19, 2010 Author Share Posted October 19, 2010 Water quality = NO2, NO3, NH3 ? Nutrients = Mg, PO4, Ca, I ? Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 something like that i suppose Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Well then it looks like either way it's going to be challenging to keep corals... so if I'm going to keep any at all I might as well keep the easiest ones. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 start with soft, photosynthetic first. Link to comment
n0rk Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 So it's pretty much like this: Photosynthetics: Have proper lighting and maintain nutrient levels, while having very good water quality Non-photosynthetics: Feed regularly and maintain nutrient levels Either way, I'd have to maintain those levels. Right? Sort of. All corals will appreciate planktonic food source, but in maintaining sufficient planktonic levels to satiate the corals you also need to be able to keep your dissolved organics minimal (Nitrate not so much, Phosphate definitely keep as close to NSW as possible as it inhibits calcification) as these can negatively affect the corals. You'll notice a lot of NPS displays run overrated skimmers and ozone to handle this as continuous feeding will invariably impact water quality negatively. all corals will appreciate good water quality, its that way in the ocean. nutrient levels and water quality might not mean the same exact thing.. Not necessarily... things like Catalaphyllia actually starve in pristine waters, some as a lot of Goniopora. As a general rule, if it's from lagoonal waters or mudflats, it will do poorly in a "reef" environment like we percieve it as hobbyists. Water quality = NO2, NO3, NH3 ?Nutrients = Mg, PO4, Ca, I ? Water quality is technically the ion availability which encompasses nutrients (NH4, NO2, NO3, PO4, et al), and beneficial ions (Calcium, Bicarbonates, Magnesium, Potassium, Iodine compounds, Strontium...). Try and match NSW as closely as possible, with slight elevation of Calcium and Bicarbonates in this sort of tank. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 NSW is natural saltwater? NPS?... so many abbreviations So how would I go about maintaining the water quality? Just keep doing regular water changes? Link to comment
n0rk Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 NSW = Natural Sea Water, NPS = Non Photosynthetic. To maintain it you're gonna need to be doing very regular partial (think in the order of 25-30% at least) pretty regularly, if you're not changing out around 75-80% weekly once you've got a reasonable number of corals I can see it'd be a major problem. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 20, 2010 Author Share Posted October 20, 2010 Then I guess the next question is what are the parameters of NSW? And maybe 10% water changes every day? That's 70% weekly. And I suppose I should be testing my water that I will put in the tank too, for the nutrients. Obviously the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels will be 0, but the other levels have to be correct. And I'm really sorry for all of the questions and lack of interesting updates or pictures... I just want to get it right before I start getting really into it instead of messing it all up and wasting a lot of money and killing a lot of animals EDIT: And another question; how can people manage to go a month or longer without water changes but everything's still running fine? Link to comment
n0rk Posted October 21, 2010 Share Posted October 21, 2010 10% daily might do it, yeah. Even 15%, every little bit helps. Twice daily is even better... less time between addition and extraction means less left behind to dissolve and ruin the watershed NSW parameters are typically around 380ppm, 7dKH, 1300ppm, 0ppm, 0ppm, <5ppm, and 0.03ppm for Calcium, Alk, Magnesium, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Phosphate respectively... if you gun for those with the first two a bit higher you're usually safe. The way I can get away with it is having a massive DSB relative to the body of water it's filtering. My DSB (there's actually 2 of them) take up literally 1/3 of the size of the tank, which equates to a little over half the volume of water it's filtering. Might seem simple but it does incredibly well to keep nutrients under check. I wouldn't recommend this method for a high nutrient import situation though, water changes and a highly productive macroalgae refugium (or small ATS) will still be your best and safest bet. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 Alright. I think that's about it for the questions I have. The next time I post will probably be a good while from now (unless someone else brings up some useful information or a good discussion topic ) but will hopefully have a big update Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 27, 2010 Author Share Posted October 27, 2010 Well I don't have anything new (still waiting on Markushka to send the polyps), but I have noticed advantages of the new rock work. More algae (regular ol' green, not hair) has grown on the rocks that were placed higher, especially on the top one. It's now a favorite hang-out spot for the hermit crabs. And some mysterious, small, auburn-colored polyps have popped out... not sure what they are. They look like very small aiptasia (maybe half an inch in length) but they grow in very small colonies (maybe 8-10 in a bunch). I highly doubt they're actually aiptasia, but that's the only thing I could think of when talking about what they look like. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 those are either some sort of tube worm ( yes people, a chance of something other than hydroids lol) or hydroids (what 100% of you are going to say xD) dont mind em. some crabs might even eat them. dont place any corals near them and youll be fine. (some hydroids can sting powefully) I've had those before. I have similar ones now except they arent brownish, theyre neon turquoise lol. Link to comment
Markushka Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Well I don't have anything new (still waiting on Markushka to send the polyps), but I have noticed advantages of the new rock work. More algae (regular ol' green, not hair) has grown on the rocks that were placed higher, especially on the top one. It's now a favorite hang-out spot for the hermit crabs. And some mysterious, small, auburn-colored polyps have popped out... not sure what they are. They look like very small aiptasia (maybe half an inch in length) but they grow in very small colonies (maybe 8-10 in a bunch). I highly doubt they're actually aiptasia, but that's the only thing I could think of when talking about what they look like. I'm working on it! damn classes. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 27, 2010 Author Share Posted October 27, 2010 Well I wish they looked pretty Some are almost bright red and look kind of nice, but most of them are closer to brown... What kind of crab will eat them? I wanted to add a porcelain crab, but if something else will eat them I'd be more than happy to throw it in there instead. This tank just really really really wants polyps. It's been cycled for ages now EDIT: Markushka, you totally ninja'd me You're good. Waiting is just hard! Even my parents are like "Okay you need something in that tank now." Link to comment
Markushka Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 Well I wish they looked pretty Some are almost bright red and look kind of nice, but most of them are closer to brown... What kind of crab will eat them? I wanted to add a porcelain crab, but if something else will eat them I'd be more than happy to throw it in there instead. This tank just really really really wants polyps. It's been cycled for ages now ok lol monday. anyway all my apps are due the 1st and midterms just finished. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 27, 2010 Author Share Posted October 27, 2010 I'll hold ya to it Haha not really. But I understand completely. Hope you did well! I have a scholarship app due on the 1st as well. Link to comment
.Newman. Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 i meant maybe some of your hermits will eventually eat them. I lost track of my brown ones after i added my emerald crab. Link to comment
Wiilio Posted October 28, 2010 Author Share Posted October 28, 2010 Ahhh okay. Well the hermits are actually about to be ditched (since I think if I ever set up the 2.5 gal it'll be after I move into my dorm/apartment for college) for snails, but I do love my zebra hermit... so I might keep it. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.