NPS nano?

[scubakid3]

I have a little 8 gallon and i have been thinking of turning it into a NPS tank. There's a really nice little sun coral at the LFS and i can order some dendros. Anybody have any experience or suggestions with nano NPS tanks?

 

[scubakid3]

Anybody? It's a Nuvo 8.

 

[teemee]

that's a sweet tank.
what kind of nps did you want?
gorgonians might be more problematic - you're going to have trouble maintaining water quality in such a small tank if you have to broadcast feed as often as I do...
If you were thinking tubastrea, sun corals, dendros, duncas, etc. you can target feed.
what else were you going to put in there?

 

[scubakid3]

I was thinking primarily sun coral and dendros. Gorgonians would be way too problematic. It has a good amount of flow and i could build an automatic feeder for some nps supplements.

 

[scubakid3]

Also, are there any liquid supplements that could possibly be dosed in? I'm looking at some stuff like that "marine snow" or phytoplankton.

 

[icecool217]

Consider using a sand-free setup (or bigger sized sand) so that it is easier to clean. Sand on top of sun corals can damage them quite easily.

 

[GoingPostal]

I keep easy nps like that in my 8 gallon, used to have a 7.5 gallon rimless but switched it to a biocube I picked up for cheap a couple months ago. It's a nice simple setup. A couple rhizos, balanos, dendros, have a new sun coral but can't get it to open for the life of me. I just feed frequently and do large water changes.

 

[scubakid3]

Alright. Can i do a dosing pump with freeze dried cyclop-eez for vacations? What do you guys do when you are away?

 

[GoingPostal]

What's a vacation? :lmao: I've got 3 dogs, ferrets, lizards, a cat besides the very expensive fish tank hobby. We don't really leave but for 2-3 day trips and all those corals would be ok not fed for a week or more, most came to me way longer starved then that.

 

[noy]

My experience is that sun corals don't seem to show a feeding response to fine coral foods like marine snow and definitely not phyto. They respond the food in the water by opening up but they don't seem to capture any food.

To maintain them I find you have to feed it "meaty" items like brine/Mysis - which is not conducive to continuous feeding systems. If you are away for a few days (weekend) you are fine with not feeding. Otherwise get a neighbour or friend to do it. You are probably Ok with no feeding for a week - but you risk tissue recession (depends on the health of your colony).

You need to be ready to do large water changes regularly though (or run an insane amount of equipment).