Timmmysli's NPS journal

[uhuru]

New additions look awesome! That branching black sun coral is to die for.

Looks like you got a nice healthy dendronephthya to start with too. Have you read articles on what they eat? Can you get FM foods in Australia?

 

[slapshot]

this is after a feed Does the fact that its shown a feeding type response indicate its actually feeding? Or just real hungry lol I fed an Aus product that is for raising fry, it has shrimp, fish, eggs, vitamins and minerals in its ingrdients list. Product note : stays in suspension longer, has a variety of tiny food particles.

Over here we don't have the great list of nps foods you guys/girls have in the states.

Are there any other feeds available that I could use? I've also used the excess water from mysis/brine shrimp as a feed.. I figured it would be full of tiny particles that could possible be consumed.

Don't forget some phyto. Their, or at least recent reports say their, diet is about 30 percent phyto. I don't think anyone knows, so I am throwing the kitchen sink at mine. So far seems to be doing better then my scleros.

 

[Aquabacs]

Sorry for the crappy pic but I'm finding it hard to take a picture of the whole colony while using a flash, will try later with the leds on.

As of feed time this morning

Dont worry about the pic...the coral looks awesome! Good job! I have been searching for one in good shape and haven't seen to many pop up lately.


Mike

 

[uhuru]

this is after a feed Does the fact that its shown a feeding type response indicate its actually feeding? Or just real hungry lol I fed an Aus product that is for raising fry, it has shrimp, fish, eggs, vitamins and minerals in its ingrdients list. Product note : stays in suspension longer, has a variety of tiny food particles.

Over here we don't have the great list of nps foods you guys/girls have in the states.

Are there any other feeds available that I could use? I've also used the excess water from mysis/brine shrimp as a feed.. I figured it would be full of tiny particles that could possible be consumed.

When you say feeding response do you see the polyps capturing food and ingesting it (would require a mesoscope or your macro lens)? My belief is that they will eat whatever they can catch and fit in their mouths, given the proper flow and suitable water quality. They are selective for particle size but not much else. The issue is how much of it are they actually digesting? No one knows. If you can, get some Ultra Pac, Ultra Life, Ultra Clam, Ultra Seafan and Ultra Min D from Fauna Marin and add this to your mix of foods.

 

[timmmysli]

Thanks all I'm pretty happy with the tank

The black sun seems to be a lot easier to keep happy than my other sun's. I think the fact that I bought it the day it turned up at the lfs helped a lot.

There were two dendronephthya at the lfs and I had only seen one once before in the past 3-4 years I've been going there. The other one was soo much nicer than the one I bought but it was not looking healthy so I gave it a miss.

I have read some articles and a lot of horror stories before Uhuru. I passed up buying one around six months ago which was easily 8 times bigger than my little piece. Every article I've read seems to contradict others and most of them highlight new products that are available in the states but not over here.

Does anyone know what behaviours of the dendronephthya mean (from their own personal observations) Mine seemed to nearly double in size and show a lot of extension after I fed the tank last night.

I would love to read any articles you might have links to

For now I'm just trying everything I can think of and I will have a talk to my lfs to see if they have anything that might work.

Thanks all

P.s I took a heep of pics of the black sun yesterday with the lights on, i will have a look thru them to see if theres anything worth posting tonight.

 

[glparr]

I also would appreciate links to good articles on NPS corals. I've searched high and low and found very little.
Gary

 

[timmmysli]

uhuru said: When you say feeding response do you see the polyps capturing food and ingesting it

All I meant was prior to fedding the tank the dendronephthya was smaller in size and had none of the light purple polyps extended. After feeding the tank it extended out and had all of the light purple polys fully extended. At this point I mixed up some Sp.mysis cube juice with some of the fry starter mix and had a go at feeding it. Only a minute or so afterwards the polyps retracted for a small length of time before coming back out.

It appeared that the food added into the water colomn had caused some form of response by the dendronephthya.

 

[uhuru]

Dendronephthya food:

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[timmmysli]

What does the Dendronephthya actually consume then, does the Dendronephthya feed on the mucus or is it the bacteria that feeds on the Mucus?

I have read an article on another site about the roll of mucus in the reef. I'll try to find it for you..

I have some limited experience with culturing bacteria and might give it a go. I had originally tried the bac culture for this exact reason.

Bacteria culture. Using a aquarium multi strain bac additive, reef actif( as a medium for the bac to attatch to) and a vsv style carbon source

Could give it another go, the tank seemed to like it

 

[timmmysli]

 

[slapshot]

Dendronephthya food:

Those are some ****ed off corals!

 

[timmmysli]

lol I hope thats a good thing haha

I guess this is a bit off topic but heres one of my rics a few weeks after I fraged it

I'm seriously starting to consider getting a 03 unit soon as my water clarity seems to be slowly dropping and cyano is starting to turn up.

 

[timmmysli]

This morning before work

 

[Western_reefer]

This morning before work

The Black Sun coral looks amazing!!

 

[timmmysli]

Thx Mate,

I'm surprised that it's doing so well, I was under the impression that they were a lot harder to keep than most suns.


I bought a small ozone unit on the weekend. I'm still planning a simple ozone reactor for it and need to find a cheap ORP controller.

Does anyone know if the green Ehiem tubing is ozone safe? I have a chart of materials that are safe but I'm unsure of the exact material.

At this point I'm planning on a simple coil type reactor.

 

[timmmysli]

Third try at posting

I've found a few baby Balanophyllia in the tank close to the main colony but yesterday I spotted a new baby amongst some sun babies If they eventually grow out will they get along?

either way its cool that their reproducing :dance:

And I took like 100 pic's of it but its in a hard place, I'll get one soon enough.

 

[timmmysli]

Well its nearly one month in, I've noticed the coral deflating a bit more than normal so I decided to try and hang it. I need to change the rockwork a bit to give it a bit more room but at least now its hanging and getting blown around a lot in the current. Since moving it around yesterday I haven't seen it deflated at all.

I've also spotted some for of filter feeder invert living on the coral, there were at least two at one point. They nearly look like crabs but their so small and the same white color so its hard to see. When I feed with turkey baster they come rushing in as close as they can and start waving their arms around catching particles

 

[slapshot]

You can also try changing the flow. Probably increase it. Interesting about those little crabs. Sounds like an acro crab acts, must be a Dendro Crab. LOL