Anyone keep nps corals in central Ok? local availability?

[Dolmo5000]

Hello, i have been thinking of trying the nps thing and was wondering if anyone in the area keeps them. If so, did you get them here in Ok? Im planning on putting a small piece in a particularly dark overhang in my 55g sps dominated tank.. Help or thoughts would be very much appreciated.

 

[cjilge]

Roman had a sweet nps didcated tank for awhile but not sure if he still does. i can probably fond his build thread.

 

[Dolmo5000]

Thanks for the info. I'm getting more and more stoked about trying them, but don't want to go through all the hassle of shipping (had a few bad experiences before). If there aren't any people in the area keeping and trading them i'll ask a local shop. Thanks for the info.

 

[blakers82]

Good question. I have a few of the pumps Roman had on that NPS setup. They were the ones feeding food many times a day from a custom drilled mini fridge. I'm crashing or I'd find his thread. Really cool! Oh, I have one piece you might be interested in but mostly SPS over here these days.

 

[bobkill]

Lots of nps prob won't go well with a sps tank- nps needs to be target feed or 'tank feed' x times a day as Blake said above / a couple pieces would be may be easy to manage but watch out ! So of the nps is hard to keep -
And FYI Richard the two dudes that posted above Chris and Blake are my mentors so they know what they are talking a out

 

[Dolmo5000]

Thanks very much for the info guys. I know that many nps aren't appropriate for an sps tank, but there are a few that would do fine right? I thought i read that many genera of nps lps arent harmed by high lighting, just frequently competitively excluded from those areas by corals that do have zoathellae. You guys are the ones with the experience, and i have long ago learned to head advice given by by those who have it. I can really be happy with what i have now. Im just really getting into the sps game. Its all about the stability. Something that is much easier said than done, long term stability that is.

 

[Jedidad]

you could go with a dendro or sun coral. its just that typically you want an ulns with sps and nps require alot of feeding making it hard to keep those perfect params. i don't think a single colony of one of these would be much of a problem because you can spot feed them. things like gorgonias, sea whips and sponges usually require whole tank feeding several times a day.

 

[bobkill]

What kind of nps you lookin at? I know Blake and I have/had tube anemones -

 

[cnewsom91]

I believe Scott over at aquarium oddballs had some nps in one of his tanks around november, I'm not sure about right now though. I get out there very often

 

[cnewsom91]

don't* get out there very often

 

[Dolmo5000]

I like dendros and sun coral. My wife really likes them also. Mostly for that reason i think i would might go with one of those or the like. Actually, things in my tank just got kinda odd. After moving a small amount of sand from the fug (which has a dsb actually, now that i think about it) i am having low ph issues. Last night it got down to 7.6 with alk at 150 ppm, calc at 425 ppm, and mag at 1450 ppm. The real weird thing is that i literally cant get the alk to raise at all. I use brs 2 part, and just cant get it to move at all. I wonder if there is a bacterial bloom occuring. I just realized that i disturbed the fug dsb and that surely was stupid. Ive never done the dsb thing till now and it wasnt intentional. Any thoughts? It seems that i sbould wait till stability isnt a problem to thing about adding things. Thanks very much guys.

 

[cubiclewarrior]

I like dendros and sun coral. My wife really likes them also. Mostly for that reason i think i would might go with one of those or the like. Actually, things in my tank just got kinda odd. After moving a small amount of sand from the fug (which has a dsb actually, now that i think about it) i am having low ph issues. Last night it got down to 7.6 with alk at 150 ppm, calc at 425 ppm, and mag at 1450 ppm. The real weird thing is that i literally cant get the alk to raise at all. I use brs 2 part, and just cant get it to move at all. I wonder if there is a bacterial bloom occuring. I just realized that i disturbed the fug dsb and that surely was stupid. Ive never done the dsb thing till now and it wasnt intentional. Any thoughts? It seems that i sbould wait till stability isnt a problem to thing about adding things. Thanks very much guys.

I do not chase ph in any of my tanks now and I am having good results. When I first started this hobby 15 plus years ago I did and its just not neccessary. If you have enough live rock and substrate your ph should be good! "if you dont then thats another story" I bet disturbing the bed dropped the ph "mini cycle". if you chase the alk with brs alk mix "baking soda" the ph will drop a bit more!

ALSO!

If you are not using Salifert test kits I wouldn't trust the results you are seeing! My api and red sea test kits were both pretty off !! api said calcium was at 400 plus and it was actually 320. 150ppm puts your dkh at 8.4 http://www.saltyzoo.com/SaltyCalcs/AlkConv.php
I use Arm and Hammer baking soda to increase my alk and this calculator now that Paul Whitby" owner of HighDef corals" turned me on to. http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html So far its pretty flawless ounce you get your TRUE tank volume correct http://reef.diesyst.com/volcalc/volcalc.html and entered it in.


I basically did this before without the calculator and was pretty close but the calculator is a great base to judge amounts with.

 

[cjilge]

dont chase ph. keep your mag alk and cal in check and you should be fine. i had some sun corals in my 150 but it was too clean in the end. my shrimp and fish would steal food from it. i sold it when it receded a bit. they are tough to keep but definately fun to try. mine did better under shade and took 6months to open in the day time. it did the best with daily target feeding and everyotherday i fed the whole tank coral frenzy

 

[bobkill]

Bump don't chase pH - ur nuke stuff Lol - if u are using brs soda ash(?) I do 3 times their recipe which is pretty much the perception point for it . And then decrease overall dosing time by 1/3 ( atleast) -
Also pH may be low due to more C02 in the tank from people being in the room by the tank
It breaks down into acidic components and drives pH down - soooo don't chase it lol - slow and steady

 

[Dolmo5000]

Thanks for the suggestions. I know not to chase pH in general and don't usually stress about it at all. My tank is one of those that never gets up to 8.1-8.3, but below 7.7 and when it fell to that pretty quickly I got to thinkin. My skimmer air intake is plumed outside and I open the house windows almost daily. Its crazy how high the CO2 levels must get in here. Within 30min of opening the windows the pH can rise by 0.2-0.3 units. To be honest, I'm just very urked at myself for being so stupid with the deep sand bed. I mean, come on now Dolmo!!!

Bobkill, yes i'm using brs soda ash. I pretty much copied everything I saw at your place that day (and have to say going with all the best works very well). What is your motivation for the 3x solution? Just to reduce the wear and tear on your dosers? I am thinking of starting to add a bit of kalkwasser (calcium hydroxide) to my ato to help with ph, calc, and alk. It will take some load off my dosing and I can avoid adding acidic ro/di water to my tank regularly. I didn't want to believe that super nice ro/di water would not stay neutral until I checked it. Wow. Anyhow, I will not be doing ANYTHING for a few days or a week at least.

My reef tank motto:
When ever you notice that something in your reef tank needs to be changed; think about it that day, wait 3-7 days thinking about it and looking for reasons it may be a terrible idea, and a week later decide to think about it another week before actually acting. lol