Newby Question

[Stottlemire]

cmlloveless,

Dont take it personally. We have been around for a while. The tank that you discribed sounds like a great tank for corals like sps , or lps. I dont like to say that someones tank wont make it, because I heard that enough, but from personal experience,these corals seem to like some nutrients. They also are very demanding on a system. I see no way around large amounts of foods like Shellfish Diet, and Roti Feast from Reed Mariculture. I have a video that I recorded feeding a number of different types of foods, even a couple of home cultures from different people. The Reeds products get the best response. I can say the only true feeding reponse. I would just say watch the tank size, you dont need an out of this world skimmer, and feed as much food and flow you can put in the tank. I dont mean all of the food at once. The tank must also be cycled well. Good luck

Chuck Stottlemire

 

[cmlloveless]

I am not adding all the corals and live stock from the beginning. I know how to cycle a tank. And if I were to add dendros. They would be the last corals I added once the tank is running smoothly and has "matured"(around the 1-2 year old tank mark). I am not against feeding the Shellfish Diet or the Roti Feed. I have just had alot of good results with "softies" using live cultures.

I will not be doing very many SPS if any at all. Just some LPS and alot of softies. I do not like SPS as much. (personnel preference). It is not that I havn't been around for a while. It is that I have not been on this forum for a while or dealing with NFS for a while.

I will be running the plumbing so that there will be an outlet pointing directly at the rock wall opposite the tank from it. It will be the outlet in which the cultures and any other food comes through, thus the corals on this wall will be in the direct path of the highest concentration of food at all times. There will be a constant food live source from this outlet, very minimal at most times, but will ocasionally run higher concentration (possably this would be when I add the Shellfish and or Roti Feed? as well as large pieces for the fish and crustations through a second outlet up higher.) to stimulate feeding during the morning and evening when the tides come in and go out (if for no other reason it is the times of the day when I know I will be home).

The high cocentration feeding will not be run off an autofeeder or timers, as I like to watch and monitor this. The lighting, filters and plumbing will be run off timers though.

 

[Kreeger1]

Sounds like your putting some thought into this. I'd research what has failed in the past... not to be a downer again but thats the path that has fail before for nps. Not trying at all to bust your buble. Just trying to save you some time and money and headaches. If it was as easy as your setup you have planned, it would have worked out for others and the new break through in keeping these corals wouldn't be a "break through". And even though the one year mark has been hit in keeping these corals, that doesn't mean they will live to 2 years. Its still an evolving science in keeping things creatures. Your setup is an example of ways that were tired and failed.
Im not saying Chucks system won't fail, or My system won't fail or others that are doing laminar flow and shell fish diet, it's just that they haven't failed yet and the live phyto system do fail. Just not enough food supply with the live home or bought brews.
Erik

 

[cmlloveless]

I am putting alot of thought into this tank, because I have done so many other "typical" reef tanks that it has become second nature to just set one up! I am now done setting up your basic in home reef for myself as well as others. I want a tank that is 100% show. I want the biggest, brightest, best, and most rare specimens I can find. Even if that means waiting and passing up great deals in order to get exactly what I want. I am assuming, and planning, that stocking this tank will take me arounf 4-5 years to find all the exact specimens I have been writing down in my wish list. And that is just the corals. Because the majority of fish will be added after most all the corals. However I will add a few smaller non-aggresive fish and some other inverts throughout the whole process. But I am designing this tank around what I want to put in it. I would like to say I am creating as natural a habitat as possible, but that would just not be true with all the different colors, and species I am planning on. I will just get as close as I can with what I want.

I am focusing my learning on these corals in particular, because they would really be the only specimens that pose a potential(probable) problem for me. I have been able to keep many specimens that most people consider expert only (including fish, inverts, and corals). Just have not tried out NPS yet. Well that is a lie. I have succesfully had "Sun Polyps", and a "Chili Leather" in a clients(my friend) home tank for over 4 years now. I do not do any specialized feading for them, I think I just got lucky. I will admit they are not really growing, but are not dieing off at all either. They are just placed in a small "cavern" in his rock wall that gets very high water flow and is in the direct path of feedings. I put them in the dark though because I always assumed that NPS meant that other than not using light for photosynthesis they did not like bright light at all either. So far so good, but the goal is not just to merely servive now is it.

Personnaly I want to get some dendro's and sclero's. As they are extemely gorgeous. And that is why I am trying to figure out what it takes to keep them.

If I cant get them it will not be the end of my world, but I would love to learn more about them so I can decide whether or not I am willing to take the chance for myself.

Any suggestions on some books or websites that might talk more indepth about them and their husbandry. I have read all the threads on here and most books that meantion them just say they are hard to keep or expert only!

Just a question...If I were going to target feed as well as have a small constant live food supply, how many times a day do dendros/scleros need to be target fed? Not saying I am going to, just want to know all the angles.

 

[cmlloveless]

Let me add that I am not just jumping into this tank. I have literaly drawn out a top view and side view of the aquascape of the tank I will set up and placed the names of the specific corals in the spots I will placed them, based on the lighting intensity(elevation), water flow, growth and other specific needs of the corals. So I know where everything will go that I want (with the understanding that some things may change based on the corals reaction to where I place it).

 

[Kreeger1]

Your doing the right thing by running your ideas out on these boards. Gettting feed back from people that are basically in the same thought process as we all are. Wanting to do something different and awesome. Keeping these corals is just now starting to sort of happen. Its a good time to be in the hobby IMO. Exciting for a change

 

[cmlloveless]

Amen to that!! I have always found it exiting though. Just more exiting with these because they have that idea of a "new puppy" still wrapped around them!

I have been reading all over the internet in the last few hours since I posted. I am noticing a trend from most of the "experts" that it seems these corals may be dieing to to the lack of type of food in the system rather than the lack of amount. I am seeing that most people are feeding large amounts of or target feeding the wrong types of foods.

By small mouth feeders they realy mean small! Most of what I read is that there is a trend leaning toward the fact that these corals might actualy get alot of their nutrience through absorbtion, and that that they actualy do eat is extremely tiny (which limits the availability on the market, as there is not many available food sources like this in production). Possibly under phyto sizes.

Don't get me wrong I am not even claiming in anyway that this is fact or that I really even know what I am saying. However out of the 30-40 posts I have just read it seems that those that have had the most success are utilizing DSB material that is stirred up as a food source or the "juice" or the liquid that comes with the food source as a food source for these corals.

I also stumbled across a product called PhytoPure that claimes to be working fairly well with these corals as well. I have only seen one thread that has backed this evidence up.

I have also noticed a number of threads that show some of these NPS thriving in a "normal" reef system with only target feeding Cyclops-Eeze 1-2 a week.

So I guess at the moment it can also be a hit or miss with these coral. Assuming you get a healthy specimen that was collected correctly and handled with some TLC might make the difference in keeping a specimen alive longer or not.

I am seeing how relativly new this type of husbandry is. Which suprises me as I have seen Dendro's and Scleros's in the marked for the last 10 years I have been doing this hobby. I know 10 years is relativly new still, but the way technology changes daily this time and age. I figured the answers to these highly sought after corals would be comming faster.