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The NPS garden; my NPS coral/macroalgae tank (with pictures!)


AlmightyJoshaeus

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16 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Those NPS gorgs I mentioned are pretty ez.

 

I think the hardest part is they don't seem to be able to deal with algae trying to grow on them. You could just start with your original plan and see how it goes.

 

All these new ideas every 6 hours make my head spin.

 

My head has been spinning. for 45 years.   

 

 

I am addicted to this hobby.  Even after 50 years, I see there is so much more to learn.

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AlmightyJoshaeus

I did a water change this morning 🙂 Also, did a nitrate test last night and nitrates are no higher than 5 even though I am already feeding the tank fairly heavily. That's a good sign.

 

Also, my sun coral is arriving today instead of tomorrow...will post a FTS once it is acclimated and in the tank.

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AlmightyJoshaeus

The sun coral and white scroll algae arrived! Here are pictures of them...plopped the scroll algae right In the tank, but the sun coral has several hours of acclimation to go 🙂 FTS shot will be this evening.

 

7EDC9342-C95D-4635-AD87-1BEA5A735C72.thumb.jpeg.5f318ae818067a1f5f5b7c33522ade72.jpeg

 

A9BBEA00-6F76-46AD-86F1-89A3347633B6.thumb.jpeg.62c02e503e104f7134f1aad121b7fd84.jpeg

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21 minutes ago, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

The sun coral and white scroll algae arrived! Here are pictures of them...plopped the scroll algae right In the tank, but the sun coral has several hours of acclimation to go 🙂 FTS shot will be this evening.

 

7EDC9342-C95D-4635-AD87-1BEA5A735C72.thumb.jpeg.5f318ae818067a1f5f5b7c33522ade72.jpeg

 

A9BBEA00-6F76-46AD-86F1-89A3347633B6.thumb.jpeg.62c02e503e104f7134f1aad121b7fd84.jpeg

 

Wow, that white scroll algae is amazing!!! And it looks like you received a beautiful sun coral specimen. Looking forward to seeing it in your tank. 🙂

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AlmightyJoshaeus

Because I liked it. Here's the story...I bid on the sun coral and asked the seller for 7 sun coral polyps and one snowflake coral frag. There was a misunderstanding and I thought he said yes,,,but, long story short, I paid $10 over and he gave me this macroalgae I chose to compensate.

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AlmightyJoshaeus
7 minutes ago, banasophia said:

 

Wow, that white scroll algae is amazing!!! And it looks like you received a beautiful sun coral specimen. Looking forward to seeing it in your tank. 🙂

Thanks! Side note...how do I get it to open? Does it open on its own at night, or do I need to take some particular action to convince the polyps to come out?

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6 minutes ago, Subsea said:

Curious as to why you selected Pandina.

 

https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookpadina.htm

Is there something bad about it, or are you just asking because it’s not going to be an efficient means of nutrient export and requires calcium?  It’s really beautiful; based on @AlmightyJoshaeus picture I was thinking of researching it further and possibly getting some myself in the future. 

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7 minutes ago, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

Thanks! Side note...how do I get it to open? Does it open on its own at night, or do I need to take some particular action to convince the polyps to come out?

My yellow ones readily open on their own, but I have to prefeed the orange ones to get them to open. I usually squirt a little reef roids or coral frenzy mixed with tank water over them with the powerhead and pump off, wait 15 - 30 minutes for them to open up, then add more food (usually something frozen), let it sit another 30 min or so, then turn on just the powerhead for another 30 min or so, then turn pump back on. 

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4 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

If you like the padina, you should check out the blue scroll macro LA Reefs carries. It is gorgeous. 

Thanks for that lead! They have all kinds of gorgeous macros posted on their site! I especially like the plating ones. I love plating corals like monti caps, but in my highly fed tank, they are a no go, so I think plating sponges or macros are a great idea. 🙂

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12 minutes ago, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

The padina is more for looks than for nutrient export...that's what the Caulerpa and gracilaria are for 🙂

https://www.lareefs.com/products/blue-scroll-macroalgae

 

My experience with Pandin is that it is a slow grower.  In reading the link at lareef, they say blue scroll grows fast even in low light.  In my experience, Pandina needs medium to bright light.

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13 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Thanks for that lead! They have all kinds of gorgeous macros posted on their site! I especially like the plating ones. I love plating corals like monti caps, but in my highly fed tank, they are a no go, so I think plating sponges or macros are a great idea. 🙂

I also like the growth form of Pandina.  

 

@Lula_Mae  

Have you purchased Blue Scroll from lareef.  Their footnote said they supplied small cuttings.  That is not reassuring to me, unless I knew it was not recently cut and that it had started to regrow.

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On 10/16/2018 at 8:52 AM, Subsea said:

Since I converted macro refugium into cryptic refugium, I have not used GAC in one year.

So in your opinion would running two refugiums, one as a cryptic and one as a lighted macroalgae fuge be counter productive by removing nutrients from the system that would otherwise be recycled?

     Does the cryptic refugium result in a low measurable Nitrate/ Phosphorus/ phosphate system despite it being a high nutrient system because of assimilation?  How is pest algae being prevented?

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Herbivores deal with nuisance algae.

 

Nutrients is not very precise.  Macroalgae consumes inorganic nutrients like nitrate, phosphates & iron by photosynthesis.  During the same process, carbon dioxide gas combines with water to form bicarbonate molecule which is assimilated as glucose which is organic carbon.  Coral & macro both leak dissolved organic carbon into the water.

 

Cryptic sponges consume dissolved organic carbon and produce Marine Snow & dissolved inorganic carbon, both of which feed coral.

 

A macro algae refugium would compliment a cryptic sponge refugium.  Ornamental macro & coral in display would do the same thing.

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Nice algae and sun coral! Why the long acclimation? I just plop corals right in after temp acclimate. I do that with most fish too.... only shrimp/crabs/nems get a long acclimation. Never lost anything from acclimation issues in like 10+ years or w/e I have had reefs. 

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I may have some of a random pandina growing out of my live rock right on the sandbed. It may be some type of branching coralline or something I’ve only glanced at it the other day. I will post a picture of it when I get home if I can find it. 

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37 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Nice algae and sun coral! Why the long acclimation? I just plop corals right in after temp acclimate. I do that with most fish too.... only shrimp/crabs/nems get a long acclimation. Never lost anything from acclimation issues in like 10+ years or w/e I have had reefs. 

I'm in the same boat, they get a dip, a rinse, and go right in. Yet to have a problem, including have done this with some booger size frags of some really high-end finicky stuff. Sun corals are tanks compared to a two polyp sized clipping of a tenius. 

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AlmightyJoshaeus

I just want to play it safe (though I guess from what you guys are saying I am being excessively cautious)

50 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Nice algae and sun coral! Why the long acclimation? I just plop corals right in after temp acclimate. I do that with most fish too.... only shrimp/crabs/nems get a long acclimation. Never lost anything from acclimation issues in like 10+ years or w/e I have had reefs. 

 

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49 minutes ago, Subsea said:

Herbivores deal with nuisance algae.

 

Nutrients is not very precise.  Macroalgae consumes inorganic nutrients like nitrate, phosphates & iron by photosynthesis.  During the same process, carbon dioxide gas combines with water to form bicarbonate molecule which is assimilated as glucose which is organic carbon.

 

Cryptic sponges consume dissolved organic carbon and produce Marine Snow & dissolved inorganic carbon, both of which feed coral.

 

A macro algae refugium would compliment a cryptic sponge refugium.  Ornamental macro in display would do the same thing.

Cool. Thanks for the info.  I’ve got a biology degree but it’s been decaids and haven’t really thought this stuff through in a while but what You said was my gut feeling. I’ve always said I wanted two refugiums but now I want them for different reasons than before.  I’m also helping a friend build a 800 gallon office reef and we both love your ideas.  

   Thanks again for your time and info. 

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4 minutes ago, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

I just want to play it safe (though I guess from what you guys are saying I am being excessively cautious)

 

It's dirty shipping water vs clean tank water. I think its safer not to drip shipped stuff.. when you open the bag pH rises and ammonia becomes toxic. Coral are not as effected as fish simply because they are not peeing and pooping in the bag as much but still. Dripping a shipped fish is big yikes imo. 

 

Wholesalers don't drip the billions of corals they get, no way. 

 

Just my 2cents though. 

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