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'Easy' NPS corals


AlmightyJoshaeus

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AlmightyJoshaeus

Granted, none of these corals are truly 'easy'...but which ones are more manageable than the rest? I understand sun corals are straightforward enough, but any others? I was hoping to set up a mixed macroalgae/coral tank and wanted some unusual corals for it. Thanks!

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1 hour ago, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

none of these corals are truly 'easy'

You are correct. NPS require heavy feeding, which requires heavy maintenance . If you're okay with that then there are several beautiful gorgonian species that you could try. Blueberry would be my first pick!

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AlmightyJoshaeus
10 minutes ago, Pjanssen said:

You are correct. NPS require heavy feeding, which requires heavy maintenance . If you're okay with that then there are several beautiful gorgonian species that you could try. Blueberry would be my first pick!

Blueberries are notoriously finicky and often fail to accept many feeds...I was more looking for corals that, like sun corals, don't have any crazy requirements beyond needing to be fed (no crazy current requirements, for example, or no species that refuse to eat many foods)

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• Fathead Dendros

• Branching Dendros

• Black Sun Coral

• Balanophylia

• Branching Sun Coral

• Branching Tube Coral

• Rhizotrochus 

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AlmightyJoshaeus

OK! Thanks. How about white telesto coral? It is an invasive species in Hawaii, so I assumed it should be easy so long as I can find a food small enough for its 6mm polyps.

 

EDIT: I just learned that White telesto corals prefer food about 112 microns in diameter. What common coral foods are in that size range? The wild white telesto corals primarily took Diatoms and cyanophytes but also ate small animals like nematodes and crustaceans, according to the study I read; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221970417_Prey_selectivity_of_the_octocoral_Carijoa_riisei_at_Pernambuco_Brazil

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I am certainly not an expert in any stretch of the imagination, you take my advice with a grain of salt. That being said, I don't think i have seen a telesto coral or read about too many people having one. I did have some sort of NPS gorg that looked really similar, unfortunately I found it really difficult to keep. The main problem was algae growing on it, smothering the polyps, and causing necrosis. I think you could be successful with this species or some of the weirder NPS gorgs if you were doing an extreme low light or pure blue light tank, however, if you goal is to have macro algae and some of this more static NPS I think nuisance algae is going to make it extremely difficult. I understand in theory that the macro algae will inhibit other algae growth, however, based on the feeding needs NPS, I doubt, in practice, the macro algae can prevent a small amount of algae or cyano from growing on these type corals, especially with such limited water volume. Furthermore, with these species you may run in to a flow issue if you want to keep the macros from being blown everywhere. That being said, NPS are a odd duck of a coral, and take a lot of dedicated care. Although it is lame advice, it might not be a terrible idea to dip your toes in with one of the easier species. 

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While it might be invasive in Hawaii, I don't think it's possible to even acquire. 

 

As for easy NPS, see if you can find this one. 

red_gorgonian_071617.jpg

 

red_gorgonian_feeding_071617.jpg

 

Reddish/maroon tissue with yellow polyps. I've kept this one since July 2017. No special care is given to it and I don't target feed it at all; I feed my fish pellets and frozen multiple times a day. It's in my SPS dominant tank so there's a fair amount of light and I have yet to notice any algae on it. Just get one sized appropriately since I haven't noticed any actual growth relative to my photosynthetic gorgonian. 

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25 minutes ago, Ebn said:

While it might be invasive in Hawaii, I don't think it's possible to even acquire. 

 

As for easy NPS, see if you can find this one. 

red_gorgonian_071617.jpg

 

red_gorgonian_feeding_071617.jpg

 

Reddish/maroon tissue with yellow polyps. I've kept this one since July 2017. No special care is given to it and I don't target feed it at all; I feed my fish pellets and frozen multiple times a day. It's in my SPS dominant tank so there's a fair amount of light and I have yet to notice any algae on it. Just get one sized appropriately since I haven't noticed any actual growth relative to my photosynthetic gorgonian. 

I killed 2 palm-sized fans of those guys 😞.  Due to minimal filtration in my tank, I fed very infrequently (twice a week) - they didn't last very long.  you can google Men(n)ella gorg, there's a good but old thread of it on another reef forum.

 

Love the 2nd photo, it shows a couple of polyps feeding. 

 

I personally won't recommend NPS for a 10-gallon with just HOB, let alone an internal filter idea that had been floated around by the OP in other threads, due to the heavy feeding they need. 

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AlmightyJoshaeus

Not even with more than one water change a week? Somebody on ebay is selling white telesto corals...he mentioned he has no trouble with them and that he avoided difficult corals.

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AlmightyJoshaeus
3 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

I am certainly not an expert in any stretch of the imagination, you take my advice with a grain of salt. That being said, I don't think i have seen a telesto coral or read about too many people having one. I did have some sort of NPS gorg that looked really similar, unfortunately I found it really difficult to keep. The main problem was algae growing on it, smothering the polyps, and causing necrosis. I think you could be successful with this species or some of the weirder NPS gorgs if you were doing an extreme low light or pure blue light tank, however, if you goal is to have macro algae and some of this more static NPS I think nuisance algae is going to make it extremely difficult. I understand in theory that the macro algae will inhibit other algae growth, however, based on the feeding needs NPS, I doubt, in practice, the macro algae can prevent a small amount of algae or cyano from growing on these type corals, especially with such limited water volume. Furthermore, with these species you may run in to a flow issue if you want to keep the macros from being blown everywhere. That being said, NPS are a odd duck of a coral, and take a lot of dedicated care. Although it is lame advice, it might not be a terrible idea to dip your toes in with one of the easier species. 

Telestos are soft corals, not gorgonians. I have heard of people succeeding with them before, so they shouldn't be impossible.

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15 minutes ago, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

Telestos are soft corals, not gorgonians. I have heard of people succeeding with them before, so they shouldn't be impossible.

As disclaimed above, I am certainly no expert. I honestly don't know, nor did I make any illusion to knowing, what telestos are. I simply stated, for reference purposes, that I had a gorg that looked similar, and that I failed miserably with it. Furthermore, I never said, and certainly don't I want you to think that I said, keeping them was impossible. I just said that in my opinion, based on your stated tank goals, that success may be difficult, and that from my limited experience with NPS (whatever that's worth... not much...) there may be other options that increase your chances of success. I hope you are more successful than me (and apparently @micoastreefing), and look forward to follow your tank's progression. 

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AlmightyJoshaeus

OK. I understand. I will try increasing water changes, increasing filter volume, and keeping only one or two species of NPS corals and see if that makes it possible. Sorry for sounding rude...I felt a bit crushed.

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