Large polyped Non-Photosynthetic corals/animals.

[Western_reefer]

I want to set up a 11 gallon tank that's going to be a Large polyped Non-Photosynthetic coral/animal tank. I was wondering? What kind of corals/animals have larger polyps which can take down larger foods like copeez,small fish eggs, mysis, pods? I don't really want to get the corals that need the powdery foods like the FM products. Here is a list of corals I've came up with so far:

Dendrophyllia
Tubastrea
Balanophyllia
Archohelia rediviva
Rhizotrochus typus
Heteropsammia Cochlea
Cirrhipathes spiralis
Red Chili Coral
Diodogorgia nodulifera
Basket Starfish
Larger kinds of Cucumbers

 

[Aquabacs]

If you want to make it is easy as possible on yourself, I would set up a tank dedicated to Tubastrea. They are one of my favorite non-photosynthetic corals and easy on the pocket too. Depending on what your style is you could do some minimalistic aquascaping with the Tubastrea and add a small unique little fish to the tank or small inverts.

 

[Western_reefer]

I want a little variety and everything to be very easy. So, that's why I went with the list I have below. Red Chili Pepper and the Diodogorgia nodulifera have very large polyps, so they can take down largish food like small eggs/copeez/pods. Are there any other non-photosynthetic corals/animals that have large polyps? Or did I already list them all?

 

[Western_reefer]

Just remembered another animal I can add to the list: Tube Anemone

 

[GoingPostal]

Tube nems have quite a reach, I wouldn't put one in a nano. I run a little 7.5 gallon nano with rhizo, dendro, balanos, would like to add some sun coral frags and maybe a heterospammia but am leaving it coral only, no fish or mobile inverts. I have pretty low flow going on, I was under the impression most gorgs/chilis like heavier flow and wouldn't be real suitable to my setup but haven't kept them so maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Aquabacs]

Moses, keep in mind you are working with 11 gallons and only so many square inches of realestate. Is this tank going to be connected to your other fish tank or 11 gallons stand alone.

Mike

 

[flying_dutchman]

+1 on staying away from the tube anenome.
Some have a 1ft reach, along with the amount of sand you'd need (unless you'd be going the PVC route) you won't have much room for anything else.

 

[Western_reefer]

Moses, keep in mind you are working with 11 gallons and only so many square inches of realestate. Is this tank going to be connected to your other fish tank or 11 gallons stand alone.

Mike

11 gallon is going to be connected to my other tank.


I'm not going to keep a Tube anemone, I just added it to a list of corals/animals that can take down larger foods.

 

[flying_dutchman]

Larger kinds of Cucumbers

Cucumbers consume phytoplankton, even newly hatched artemia is too big.
I guess this misconception is one of the reasons there is such limited success with them.

 

[uhuru]

Why are you avoiding powder foods from FM? Its the easiest and most economical choice for feeding the gorg and chili coral you want to keep.

 

[Western_reefer]

Why are you avoiding powder foods from FM? Its the easiest and most economical choice for feeding the gorg and chili coral you want to keep.

Corals/animals that usually require FM foods need to be fed like 10+ times per day, so that will mean I'll need automatic dosers, refrigerator, mixers, like 5+ different FM products which will run $100+ and just so much more. I want it to be much simpler than that because I don't have enough money. I want to feed more like 3 times per day, maybe a bit more with copeez for the larger polyped gorgonians.

 

[glparr]

Western, I'm not so sure I agree with your cost statement. Though I've only been at this a couple of months, my azoox corals are showing good response with my "cocktail" mix and target feeding. I'm mixing FM foods with frozen foods and have not seen any coral deterioration. In fact, they seem to be quite happy. I'm feeding two or three times in the morning and half a dozen or so in the evening. At this time, my automatic feeder is a plastic pipette syringe. My cost has been just for the food. It's not been that expensive. It's just required effort, which I knew would be part of this venture when I started.

A squirt of a food mixture half dozen times a day in 11 gal. shouldn't take that much time, if you want to keep chili coral and gorgonians.

Gary

 

[uhuru]

Nothing beats target feeding, we just don't all have time to do that, and even if we do, it eventually gets old. But if you're on a budget thats what you have to do. Personally I would invest in a dry auto feeder like what aquabacs has and use some of the powder foods. No need for mixer or fridge. Target feed the other stuff throughout the day as well. Doesn't have to be all FM stuff.

 

[Western_reefer]

Oh, ok. So, I can go all dry foods and use the dry auto feeder like what aquabacs has and keep Carnations, feather starfish, gorgonians, and other things that require powdered food alive? If so, why are people going the frig/mixer/auto doser rout?

 

[uhuru]

I'm not saying anything about carnations or crinoids, just the easier gorgonians. Yes you can keep Diodogorgia with just powder foods. Keeping it "happy" and eating though is equally important. This means good water quality, stability and flow.

 

[C. Schuhmacher]

Hi Western

To create powder foods is a necessary developtment to make the keeping of that corals more simple , With the powder food the success started , cause in powderfood you can add that stuff in which is not as a frozen food available and or never in after the frozen or heat process. Some powderfoods which are on the market are concentrate so you can work very long with them if you do the right mixes or like other do mix them with some Pyster eggs etc,
You can calculate the costs of Frozenfood but mostly here you have a lot of water which brings weight but no nutrition for teh corals. Powders you can prepare in a syringe and then use it for several days , with frozen food that is not possible
rgds claude

 

[Western_reefer]

Oh, ok. Gotcha, thanks for the info/help!

 

[Western_reefer]

The reef tank that I want want to hook up the 11 gallon to is a 28 gallon HQI Nano-Cube. The 28 gallon is a LPS/SPS/Photosynthetic Gorgonian reef and I don't have any algae growing in the tank at all. I was wondering, can I have the 11 gallon return pump stay off while the MH light in the 28 gallon is on and once the MH turns off, the 11 gallon return pumps turns on?(MH light is on 8 hours a day, so the 11 gallon return pump will be on for 16 hours a day) Reason I'm thinking about doing that is so that the corals in the 11 gallon have plenty of time to feed and so algae wont grow in the 28 gallon DT. My current filtration for the 28 gallon tank is: 25%(7 gall) water changes every week, 30 grams of GFO, Fluidized sand filter, and a fuge. Once I hook the 11 gallon up, I'm thinking about increasing the filtration to: 25%(10 gall) water changes every week, 50(maybe more) grams of GFO, bigger fuge, and a few more things, not sure what yet. I'll read up on those carbon pellets or what ever they are that work just like vodka dosing... What are your thoughts? Here is a picture of the 11 gallon tank.

Kind of dirty.

All cleaned up.

 

[psykokid]

not bad, just shows even if you are super careful drilling glass you can get a lot of break out on the inside of the cut.. Gah.. i hate drilling glass, even with a drill press you have to take your time and go suuper slow.

GL on your project, cant wait to see it stocked and running

 

[Aquabacs]

Moses, the cycling between tanks can be done with a few timers but I don't believe you will be able to stock above the lowest intake/return ports. Unless you put a check valve on the lowest port. For the cycling between the tanks, it is something you are going to have to play with. Depending on your actual feeding schedule, I personally would try it off line for 2-4 hours, do some testing on your tank parameters before taking it offline for 8. With the food circulating in the tank for 8 hours, with no skimming, and only circulation, then dumped back into the system, issues may arise. IIRC you 28 was packed pretty tight, with the water volume reduced greatly due to livestock/rock, how much extra space/water are you working with in refugium?










Mike