uhuru
New member
May 2010 nano Tank of the Month - 100% Non-Photosynthetic Species Elos Mini
Introduction:
Nano tanks sure have come a long way and I am so honored to have won nTOTM for May 2010. I hope that my tank can be an inspiration to others and showcase what can be accomplished with just a small glass box of water.
How I Started:
I started my first reef tank when I was just a kid but I didn't have the patience, discipline or scientific knowledge to keep it going. About 4 years ago I came across a random picture of a pico reef on an automotive website and it just blew me away. From that point on my obsession with reef keeping has continued to grow. I purchased my Elos Mini in May 2009 from a fellow hobbyist that was moving out of state, and my original plan was to keep a mixed reef with maybe a couple of non-photosynthetic corals in the shaded spots. After visiting my LFS a few times, I began to take a strong interest in the more difficult azooxanthellae corals and before I knew it I was researching the internet for as much information I could find on keeping these types of corals. The amount of information out there was very scarce, though I found strong inspiration from Chuck Stottlemire's tank as well as the Non-Photosynthetic forum here on Reef Central.
System Profile:
Aquarium: Elos Mini with Elos glass sump and Elos wood stand
Lighting: Nanotuners Par38 20K LED Lamp
Filtration: Euro-Reef RC80 Skimmer, Ozotech Poseidon Ozonizer, NextReef MR1 Shorty Media Reactor w/activated carbon
Circulation: Vortech MP10
Back-up: APC Smart-UPS 1000, Honda i2000 Inverter Generator
Heater: Finnex 100w Titanium
Controller: Aquacontroller Jr., Milwaukee ORP Controller
Filtration:
Due to the extreme bioload in this tank, an oversized skimmer as well as ozone is used. The large Euro-Reef skimmer cup fills up with dark brown skimmate every 3-4 days, while the Ozotech generates 25 mg/hr of ozone just to keep the tank at an ORP of 320 mv. For a long time, the water was changed in small amounts (7.5% system volume) on a daily basis but lately I have been doing larger water changes (25% system volume) twice per week. It is a fine line between polluting the tank and having enough food in circulation to keep the inhabitants happy.
Lighting:
While I believe that some form of light shining into the tank on a regular schedule is important for possible rhythms and cycles of some of the inhabitants, it is of secondary significance. I chose my light based on efficiency and aesthetics without regard for PAR values. This is one of the benefits of a dedicated azooxanthellae species tank. In the future I would like to upgrade to stronger controllable lighting so that I can turn up the intensity for viewing my tank through an Ogles Mesoscope or taking pictures.
Water Parameters:
One of the other benefits of a 100% non-photosynthetic species tank is that they don't seem to require any dosing or special salt mix. Regular water changes are enough to maintain basic parameters.
Specific gravity: 1.025
pH: 7.9 - 8.2
Calcium: not measured
Alkalinity: not measured
Temperature: 74-76 F during spring/summer, 72-74 during fall/winter
Feeding:
By far the biggest commitment with this type of system is the feeding. I originally started dosing Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast based on the work of Chuck Stottlemire. I found that this was not enough to keep the corals happy based on the amounts I was able to feed without crashing the tank. I started trying various combinations of Fauna Marin foods as well as other small plankton feeds and believe I have finally found a system that works.
- continuous 0.40 mL/hr Reed Mariculture Shellfish Diet with syringe pump
- continuous 1.10 mL/hr Reef Nutrition Roti-Feast with syringe pump
- mix of frozen rotifers, Cyclop-eeze, Nutramar Ova, Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp, Fauna Marin Ultra Sea Fan, Ultra Min F, Ultra Min D and Elos SVC Zooplankton target fed ~ 10x/day
- mix of Fauna Marin Ultra Clam, Ultra Min F, Ultra Sea Fan, Ultra Life, Ultra Pac, Elos SVC Zooplankton and Prodibio Reefbooster dosed manually ~5x/day
- Fauna Marin Ultra LPS Grow + Color soaked in vitamins and/or Selcon target fed to LPS corals 1x/day
- live feeder fish or shrimp fed to Antennarius pictus 1-2x/wk
I am still experimenting with methods of automating more of the feeding. The goal is to provide surges of planktonic foods every hour throughout the day, in addition to the constant moderate concentrations of food in the water.
Corals:
- Archohelia rediviva
- Balanophyllia sp.
- Dendrophyllia sp.
- Dendronephthya sp.
- Diodogorgia nodulifera
- Distichopora sp.
- Guaiagorgia sp.
- Menella sp.
- Nephthyigorgia sp.
- Rhizotrochus typus
- Scleronephthya sp.
- Swiftia exserta
- Tubastrea spp.
- Unidentified gorgonians
Other Livestock:
- Antennarius pictus (Painted Angler)
- Crinoid feather star
- Pseudocolochirus axilogus (Australian Sea Apple)
- Trikentrion flabelliforme (Aussie Red Spider Sponge)
Future Plans:
I am currently working on setting up a larger NPS system. The display is a 65 gallon ADA tank with a built in overflow. The current system will be connected to the new one, and an ATB Medium with Airstar 1300 skimmer will be employed. Details of the build can be found here.
Conclusion:
I would like to thank Reef Central and all of the forums here where I spend so much of my time. Also, I would like to thank those that helped pioneer the keeping of azooxanthellae species in private aquaria. Finally, if you care about this hobby you should support your local reef clubs and shops. In my case, I am glad to be local to such a great source of NPS corals as Phishy Business and a club like CORA.
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