My first NPS!

Arizonah13

Arizonah13

New member
I just added this little beauty to my tank today (orange sun coral / tubastrea aurea) - even under my regular lights (just regular Biocube stock PC's), some of the little tentacles started poking out (literally within minutes).

Once the actinics were on, lots more heads started to open.

I gave them a little while longer and started feeding some frozen (thawed) mysis - nearly every head got at least one mysis, but I do have a few questions:

1. Is it possible to overfeed? Will each head just keep eating and eating if I let it?

2. My colony has lots of very small "baby" heads - any way to make sure all of those little guys get food?

3. I'm planning on feeding about 3x a week - is this good? Too much? Not enough?

4. Although they do peek out a little during the day, should I try to start enticing them with food during the day to get them used to being out more?

5. On my biocube (29 gal), I currently have some media racks with purigen, chemi-pure elite and a rack with chaeto - I can definitely see how this could be a messy endeavor - should I add a skimmer? Would it help keep my water cleaner?

6. I currently change 10-15% of my water 1x a week like clockwork - should I increase the amount or frequency that I change? Maybe 10% 2x a week? Or perhaps a skimmer would help with this also?

Thanks for any assistance! I am thrilled to have gotten this beautiful coral and want to make sure it thrives!

I've included a couple of pictures - remember - the first is just after adding it to my tank with lights on, then the following two photos are about 15 min after my actinics popped on. :)

suncoral.jpg


suncoralactinic.jpg


suncoralactinicflash.jpg
 
Yes you can over feed the food can’t be digested and it rots(remember that they can eat a lot of food).It is better to feed multiple times small amounts, not all at once. The small baby heads will catch some of the left over in the water column, You can feed daily, but you need to worry abount nutient export. You can feed cyclopeez, and brine, and mysis. It is good to give them a mixture of foods. I had a 10 Gallon NPS tank for almost a year and no skimmer, just do 5%-10% water changes weekly to help the nutrient export. Just as you are doing. Just keep an eye on your parm’s and the build up in your tank. One good thing to have is a type of goby, as they sift the sand many times a day and keep it looking amazing. The sun’s will feed anytime of the day no matter if you lights are on or not, as long as there is food in the water column. Try using Cyclopeeze, they really love it. Good luck with the first of many NPS corals.
 
Great thank you! I just bought some cyclopeeze today and gave the coral a nice helping of it. :)

Thanks for all the tips! :)
 
It just needs to be trained. feed it Mysis every other day until it stays open. I would not use Cyclopeeze yet. wait until you have it opening all the way. Try to feed it at different times. You may have to put food, the cyclops can be used here, to get it to open then hit it with mysis. Use a turkey baster and hit each head. In no time it will be open most of the time and be the pride of your tank..
 
slapshot said:
It just needs to be trained. feed it Mysis every other day until it stays open. I would not use Cyclopeeze yet. wait until you have it opening all the way. Try to feed it at different times. You may have to put food, the cyclops can be used here, to get it to open then hit it with mysis. Use a turkey baster and hit each head. In no time it will be open most of the time and be the pride of your tank..
Click to expand...


Great, thank you! :)

I think I got pretty lucky with the little colony that I bought - the LFS had them under some fairly bright LEDs along with acans, brains, etc.... and they were still just peeking out. Under my PCs, they come out even more - and when I just gave them the tiniest hint of food, it didn't take long for them to start emerging.

Now that my actinics are on, all but maybe 1-2 heads are fully open - and 1 of those 2 looks like its starting to slowly come out. :)

I freaking LOVE this coral! :)
 
Sounds like your off to a good start! Just feed it when ever it opens and soon it stay open during the day light. I would stick to Mysis for now. They seem to love them and you can directly feed them. The problem with Cyclops and Rods are they send a lot in the water column. If you dont have a number of fish and other corals that can get them they can polute the tank quickly. After you get more corals you can add them to the mix. Here are two of mine during the middle of the day, just to keep you excited.

aaaanon008r.jpg


aaaanon004r.jpg
 
slapshot said:
Sounds like your off to a good start! Just feed it when ever it opens and soon it stay open during the day light. I would stick to Mysis for now. They seem to love them and you can directly feed them. The problem with Cyclops and Rods are they send a lot in the water column. If you dont have a number of fish and other corals that can get them they can polute the tank quickly. After you get more corals you can add them to the mix. Here are two of mine during the middle of the day, just to keep you excited.
[/IMG]
Click to expand...


Wow!!! Those are so beautiful! What type is the first picture? Its looks (to my novice eyes) like it may be a dendro.

Your second picture looks a lot like mine when they open up. :)


So, when I feed my sun, I should do it every day? every other day? (I'd like to get lots of opinions ;-) )

Also, how do you know when they've had enough? Right now, I basically do one pass, wait about 5-10 minutes when I see most of the polyps "begging" for more, do a second pass.

Every time I walk by the tank and see them out in all their glory, I just want to feed them! lol :)
 
No, no, no Tubastrea both of them. Just fat and happy. These are my Dendros. Sorry not the greatest pictures but:

aaaa010r.jpg


aaaanon005r.jpg


I feed mine every day something, except when I feed Mysis I skip a day. I'll spray them with some cyclops if I don't feed them mysis. They grab some but most goes to the other corals. Pretty much I reward them for opening. I try to feed them at all different times of the day. I never feed them at night or when the lights are out. I try to make sure each head has a Mysis in it. I don't do second passes. I would rather wait 8 hours and hit them again. I think the more random I am the more they stay open. Yours is looking real healthy coming from your supplier. Most are shut down tight. It took me two weeks in a bowl every day just to get the first one to open at all. Yours will be shinning away in no time.
 
Last edited:
slapshot said:
I feed mine every day something, except when I feed Mysis I skip a day. I'll spray them with some cyclops if I don't feed them mysis. They grab some but most goes to the other corals. Pretty much I reward them for opening. I try to feed them at all different times of the day. I never feed them at night or when the lights are out. I try to make sure each head has a Mysis in it. I don't do second passes. I would rather wait 8 hours and hit them again. I think the more random I am the more they stay open. Yours is looking real healthy coming from your supplier. Most are shut down tight. It took me two weeks in a bowl every day just to get the first one to open at all. Yours will be shinning away in no time.
Click to expand...


Great info - thanks for posting more pictures! I'd love a full tank shot and/or more pictures of your NPS! :)

On the weekends, I'll start feeding them a little more randomly throughout the day. During the week, unfortunately, I can only feed in the evening, but at least its while the lights are still on.

With the exception of 1 or 2 heads, all of them are very receptive. They always seem to have a least a few heads just peeking out, but the within a few minutes of adding mysis "juice" around them, they waste no time coming out for food!

NPS are just so neat - I can't wait to get more! :)
 
Aquabacs said:
Don, the tank is looking sweet!

Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike...that is high praise to me. Your tank is an inspiration to me. I'm all excited, just found out tomorrow I am getting a Pedersons shrimp for my blue LT anemone. I have been looking for weeks! :bounce2:
 
wow slapshot the tank is amazing. I think I saw your build thread before three islands. Really amazing. Great job. Love the look and the aquascape.
 
Beautiful tank Slapshot! I love that you have some of every thing (lps, sps, nps, nems) in one tank, & they all look great. Love the Aquascape too.
 
I have a reef buddy that says coral is like crack.
I have to agree!


How close are you to Traverse City? We have family there & would be nice to see your tank in person if it was OK?
 
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