NPS nano tank(s) on a budget?

[dendro982]

I started new thread to collect ideas on making better setup for non-photosynthetic corals on a budget. This means nano and pico systems.

Any ideas on logic, equipment (necessary and optional) with brand names and approximate prices. Remember, that links to sellers are not allowed.
Also restricting choice and amount of organisms, that will not cause troubles to each other or their amount to overload filtration.

If you tried and anything worked for you, post all details, please, so others could set similar system.

Particularly interested in:
- flow pattern, that doesn't allow detritus settle on and under the rock, and moves it to filtration,
- efficient skimmer and what amount of what feeding it can handle (photos will be appreciated),
- continuous feeding: inexpensive, not too much clogging devices,
- basic use of probiotics, zeolites, UV, ozone, bubbles burst (like in-tank skimming). all with which skimmer - in nano settings,
- and so on.

Contribute to the treasury of thoughts on the subject!
Thanks, will appreciate this.

 

[dendro982]

They are possible. I tried to redirect sideway discusssion from other thread to dedicated thread, it didn't work.

 

[sammy33]

I have been thinking about this lately as well. I have a 28g nano cube that I have been thinkging about keeping some NPS corals (dendronepthya) in. Currently it has a bunch of soft corals in it that I plan to move to a larger aquarium as they have outgrown the nano.

Light - My 28g nano has a 150w hqi light system that I would like to replace with just a glass top and a maybe a 2-lamp T5 light system. I am planning on making the system NPS only so the light will only be needed for viewing the corals.

Flow - The nano cube has two return pumps intended to alternate flow from one side of the tank to the other. I am using MJ1200 pumps for the returns so I am getting fair flow at about 300gph. My thought was to use two smaller pumps like two MJ 600's and run them both at the same time without the wave timer. This will likely not be enough flow so I may need to supplement with a koralia nano or two?

Filtration - I have an AquaC remora on this tank that does a fair job. This tank also has a filter basket that I can place media in. I usually just run carbon in the basket and leave the rest open. I also have a filter sock on the output of the remora mostly to cut down micro bubbles but I also take this out a rinse during weekly water changes as it catches some particles.

Feeding - I have an aqua medic sp 3000 dosing pump that works great for metered doses. I am using it for my top-off feed pump but can convert it over to using it for dosing food for the corals. My reefkeeper2 can control the dosing rate/frequency and can also cycle the skimmer on/off for a period of time after the I pump some phytoplankton in the tank. I think this leaves me with the question of what to feed and how much?

Nutrient Control - I am already using prodibio on this tank to control nutrients. This helps to keep NO3 and PO4 down to ultra low levels. I feel that the use of some sort of bac/c-source style nutrient control system is almost mandatory on this style tank considering the amount of food that will be input to the system.

Other considerations - This tank currently only has one fish, a tailspot blenny. I feed him daily but only a little pinch of some veggie based food. The bio-load in that sense is very low. I would also like to keep a few of the nicely colored coco worms. I also have a few snails, hermits and a mithrax crab.

Hmm? Should I give an NPS style tank a go?

PS - As far as budget goes I know some of the equipment I mention above is not the cheapest but it is currently what I have to work with.

 

[dendro982]

Am I the only one on a lesser budget?
If seriously, I have a lot of comparable priced stuff, but it was bought for a big tank.

IMHE, good plan. Only flow from MJ1200 better to be reflected from the glass, one MJ600 is good for 6g Nano Cube. Tried with red finger gorgonian. Koralia will give a very soft flow, more suitable, than MJ1200, but this is personal opinion. Single Koralia 1 was too much for 12g Nano-Cube. Didn't try Koralia nano, though.

If you can, try Fauna Marin foods. Recipes for particular group of corals you can find by search on coral name, Fauna Marin and recipe.
You also can use variety of other foods that will fit the mouths, mainly zooplankton based, or live foods, like baby brine, rotifers of the different sizes and phytoplankton, larger, than nannochloropsis.

Continuous feeding will be preferable, you already have dosing equipment.

If the skimmer will efficiently skim, I don't foresee significant problems, apart from possible aiptasia infestation.

Large colonies (or many different colonies) of the sun coral and its cousins will affect water quality at most, due to kind of required food and its amount.
Dendronephthya, scleronephthya (and IMHE chili coral) are considered advanced corals, as you already know.
Medium polyped gorgonians, like Menella, Swiftia should be a safe bet. Diodogorgia doesn't work for all, gorgonians with finest polyps (sea whips) have even worse prognosis. IME too.

I'm not a provoker, but I, personally, like tanks with tube anemones: they look good, easier to feed, survival rate is good. The possible problems are to pick the small colorful ones, because in LFS they may be 1/3 of what you get after bringing them home, and unknown growth rate. And making acceptable for them moderate-low flow.

 

[sammy33]

I look around on this forum and others and seem to see two basic style NPS tanks. One is the Sun coral style aquarium where you are target feeding and the other is the Neptheid style tank where you are broadcast feeding with some sort of automated pump and high levels of laminar flow.

For a budget NPS nano setup what type or rather shape aquarium would work best? Would a cube shape allow good flow or would a longer rectagular tank allow better flow speeds and laminar patterns? Would a cube shape be more appropriate for a sun coral target feed tank where a long tank may allow better flow space for a dendronepthya or gorgonian focused broadcast feeding style tank?

The larger cube style tanks, 24g to 30g, are around 18" - 20" wide. The 34g solana tank for example is a 20" cube. On the extreme other end of tank styles would be something like a 33g long. This tank is a rectangle shape being 48" long but only 13" wide.

I am really wanting to keep the Neptheid corals. It is my understanding that these corals require flow speeds of 7cm/s on the minimum side. Some feeding response studies report results with 10-15cm/s and higher flow speeds. Hmmm?

I am starting to think my nano cube may not be the best choice for a high laminar flow dendro/gorgo NPS system. Maybe a 20 long would be a better choice. The 20 long would also be more budget minded.

 

[dendro982]

Many dendronephthya and scleronephthya corals keepers have not laminar flow, but wavemakers, including lagoon mode, or phowerheads on timers. Their corals don't mind this, quite opposite (references are for a large tanks : Jens Kallmeyer's tank, Chuck Stottlemire, joanxavier and colt, Marius).

Similar flow could be set in nanos, especially in rectangular tanks.

I tried (but without wavemakers or timers) rectangular tanks, hexagonal and Nano-Cubes. Strongly prefer cubes and hexs, that allow flow around, reflected from walls and equally strongly dislike rectangular tanks, including 20g long. But these are personal preferences, based on own experience. You could be able set satisfactory pattern of flow.

Separate keeping of sun corals and not LPS corals could be because first are making much larger impact on water quality, and - in my case - pieces of seafood mix, regurgitated by suns in the middle of the night, float and hang on gorgonians' branches, causing necrosis for swiftia. Soft corals tank could be automatically fed by small food, less manual feeding. And - suns are well known and hardy, there is no glory

With particular flow speed, you, likely, will experiment, watching corals' reaction - they should open for a feeding. Mine didn't do that in direct flow of the pump, only quite far from pump, in reflected flow or sideways from the pump, in pulling, but not pushing, flow.