NPS w/ Strong Lighting

[Mischke]

Please critic my set-up plans.

I’m looking to set-up an NPS tank, here is what I planned as far as filtration, lighting and feeding.

Tank: 60-gallon cube. (Herby or Bean Animal Overflow. Which do you think is better on a small tank?)
Sump: 20 gallons
7” filter sock (bad idea w/ NPS?)
Protein Skimmer that’s good for tanks up to 120 gallons
Ozone & ORP monitor
BRS dual carbon and phosphate reactor
BRS bio-pellet rector
300-600gph return pump
Lighting: 300 watts of T-5’s to also support zoas.
Food: Mysis Shrimp, Nutrimar Ova, Cyclop-eeze, Reef Pearls, Ultramin F.
Corals: Tree sponges, sun corals, Nuclear Green Palys (Who the lights for)

Would this be too much light with theses corals. I’ve heard of algae growing on tree corals and killing them, would I need to be concerned about that in this case?

Thanks, Nick

 

[Mischke]

Also, the tank would be set-up to have a pile of rocks in the center and a single powerhead would be used to move the water around the rock. I was thinking a turn-over of 20-30x per hour (including what came out of the sump) Is this good enough for flow?

 

[Allmost]

Hello nick.

mixed reef like that would be too hard to keep, if you want to keep NPs, you have to feed ALOT, which means ALOT of algae would grow ...

but you can be creative, make an edge maybe, NPS under and photo corals on top ?

you will need to do ALOT, and I mean ALOT of water changes, in order to keep the tank clean enough for zoas to not be covered with algae.

but these things are still a mystery to most of us, so do experiment and see how it goes and keep us posted

how are you going to put 300 watts of t5 over a 60 Gallon anyways lol 24" cube tank ? even 10 T5s would be 240 Watts also worry about temp .... perhaps go LED so you can keep the set up cool, or you will need a chiller.

 

[Mischke]

What I had really wanted to do was a set-up similar to this: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/brazilian-seahorse-and-azoox-110-gallon-display

Except to use 1 central piece of rock, with 3 sponges, 2 sun corals and then allow the rest of the rock to be incrusted in a zoa that would look similar to this; http://livestock.aquasd.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=green+paly&product_id=312

Does anybody know of a way to get a similar look without using photosynthetic corals?

Would the foods listed above work well for my livestock?

I started another thread asking about lighting for a 60 gallon cube, and no one has yet responded, if anybody was able to give input in this thread, i'd appreciate it.

 

[MarineSniper]

Don't do any nps sponges, dendronepthya, fans or any that require small particle foods. They require it a minimum of once a day and are only successful in the long term, with a constant feeder. Imo, you can keep a small number of dendros and/or suns in a.regular reef tank. Before dedicating my tank to nps, it was a mixed reef with both in it. With all pumps off, these corals can easily be target fed mysid or Fauna Marin LPS Pellets with minimal wasted. It needs to be done carefully but if you have the discipline and take your time, very little will end up in the tank and your fish will grab most of that

Other nps requires foods like Ultra min F, and approximately half will end up in your water column. It is far too fine for any fish or crabs to eat and will rapidly rocket your nitrates, something sponges, fans, chilis and the like, cannot tolerate. As mentioned, you'll have a huge algae problem; and that would be a saving grace. Without that algae, you would most likely end up with a tank crash. My suggestion would be a couple of fathead dendros, then some suns; after you and your tank have acclimated to the first addition. Under no circumstances should you add more than two at a time, to start. Your tank's bio filter will need to grow to the bio load your new corals have added to the system. Unlike regular corals , nps need to be added in the same manner as fish, especially in the beginning. A nps coral will add far more bio load than a comparably sized fish!

As with everything else in this hobby, and especially so; entering this segment,. go slow! It can be done, keeping nps in a reef tank but it requires a lot more work and it's not for everyone. Starting small will allow you to find out if the effort is worth the reward, will minimize problems with your tank and would save you a great deal of money, if it turns out to not be your thing. These corals are expensive, go downhill relatively fast and are worth no money if seriously distressed. I have several very nice "rescues" that were given to me, some by my lfs, because they were so far gone

 

[SantaMonica]

Consider an nps tank a giant pathway from food to filter, with a few corals in between.