Need advice for starting a NPS tank

[Jadams]

Ive been keeping reef tanks for 7 years and currently have a 60cube set up (24x24x24) But im thinking about switching it to a NPS tank, and when it comes to NPS tanks, im a Newbie :spin2:

Im just looking for the basic info:

Flow needed:

Lighting needed (if anything other than for viewing pleasure):

Feeding needed (which I know is ALOT):

Fish choices:

Regular 78-79 temp okay???:

And any other basic info that can be given would be great.

thanks a bunch :beer:

 

[flying_dutchman]

No personal experience yet, but from what I garthered:

Flow: A lot, about 100x turnover seems the norm.
Mr. Nitzsche:

flow is for me most important, I would say more than food (especially Acalyc.-gorgia), at the moment I run the system with appr. 100 times tank circulation per our hour but my feeling is: It could be more! So I bought already one more bigger pump that I can increase to 120 times circulation per hour

aquabacs, Chuck Stottlemire, and uhuru have about 100x turnover too.

Lighting: none needed, less light means less algae growth. so minimum lighting preferred.
Feeding: continous or at least 10x daily seems to yield the best results
Fish: all reef safe fishes should be good, although plankton feeding fish like anthias feed on the same food as you corals.
Temp: Most NPS corals expand better in lower temperatures (around 72F) as noted by aquabacs and someone on UR (not sure of username, I may be able to find it)

Parameters: high phosphates and nitrates don't seem to bother some NPS corals much (chuck Stottlemire, Mr. Nitzsche both report this:

for me the water values for NO3 and PO4 are not so important because I never could realize that the gorgonians showed “bad reaction” with high values (NO3 up to 100 mg/L and PO4 up to 2 mg/l) and this for more than 1 year (in my old tank) – please notice that these comments are for gorgonians only, not for Dendronepthea (I have no experience with it)

Chuck has found no adverse reactions from phosphate levels as high as 2 ppm. It is not known whether the use of a phosphate lowering agent would allow the simultaneous maintenance of SPS corals.

Cool NPS tanks with helpfull info/ inspiration:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1845922
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1872895
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1809817
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1773991
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-02/feature/index.php

Useful threads:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1832601
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1760416
http://stonyreef.com/blog/2008/feeding-azooxanthellate-corals/

Also check out the Ultimate Reef azoo forum, lot's of great threads.

 

[Jadams]

Awesome... Thank you so much for all that info! It's going to be very helpful. Much appreciated!!!

 

[murraycamp]

No personal experience yet, but from what I garthered:

Flow: A lot, about 100x turnover seems the norm.
Mr. Nitzsche:

aquabacs, Chuck Stottlemire, and uhuru have about 100x turnover too.

Lighting: none needed, less light means less algae growth. so minimum lighting preferred.
Feeding: continous or at least 10x daily seems to yield the best results
Fish: all reef safe fishes should be good, although plankton feeding fish like anthias feed on the same food as you corals.
Temp: Most NPS corals expand better in lower temperatures (around 72F) as noted by aquabacs and someone on UR (not sure of username, I may be able to find it)

Parameters: high phosphates and nitrates don't seem to bother some NPS corals much (chuck Stottlemire, Mr. Nitzsche both report this:




Cool NPS tanks with helpfull info/ inspiration:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1845922
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1872895
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1809817
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1773991
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-02/feature/index.php

Useful threads:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1832601
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1760416
http://stonyreef.com/blog/2008/feeding-azooxanthellate-corals/

Also check out the Ultimate Reef azoo forum, lot's of great threads.

Great summary!