Hello NPS Keepers...

santamonica

santamonica

Member
Hello there NPS folks. I'm just now getting into NPS corals, now that my tank is in a position to support (some of) them. I spent the last 1.5 years studying filtration, and the last 6 months soley on algae scrubbers. One of the reasons I pursued algae scrubbers is that I wanted to keep NPS, and in my readings of NPS I found that the effects of heavy feeding were a real problem. So while I'm basically knowledge-less about NPS, I do have enough experience with scrubber filtration to help others who want to feed heavily while keeping their nitrate and phosphate and nuisance algae eliminated (even while using halides).
I'm currently running a 90g with an algae scrubber as it's only filtration device... nothing else (besides LR of course, about 150 pounds). Thus: Very high food/organics in water, very low (zero measurable using Salifert) nitrate and phosphate. No nuisance algae at all, and the glass goes a full week before even the slightest hint of haze is seen.
I have 5 Tunze nano streams; those, combined with the return pump, are about 6000 gph, or about 60X turnover. There are no dead spots in the tank; every area is swirling around. Lighting is 2 X 150 MH, plus 100 actinic.
I'm currently experimenting with feeding levels. I peaked at 5 ml Reed's shelfish diet, 5 ml Reed's roti feast, 5 ml Reed's arcti pods, along with 2 cubes mysis, and several krill daily, in addition to one whole silverside each week. I started to detect some N and P, so I backed down a bit until tests were "clear", and now I'm increasing again. I'm currently dosing manually, but I'm setting up an automatic continuous doser which I'll detail once it's done.
I currently have a white dendroneptha (growing), a purple gorg (so so), orange and yellow tubastreas (growing), and green and copper goniporas (always extended).
And I'm buying a camera, so I'll have real pics and vids soon.
Anyways, happy holidays and feed those corals....
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Awesome to see another SantaMonica thread. I can't wait to see the outcome of this one.
Do you have pictures of your current setup?
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Aww, man, that sucks. You should ask some of the experienced photographers here on the boards. They'll set yah up right :D
So, you started doing the turf algae scrubber experiment directly for feeding / overfeeding NPS creatures? Interesting.
 
santamonica

santamonica

Member
It's a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. Is it not good enough for good pics/vids?
There is a reefer down the street who said he could do some shooting.
Yes the main reason for scrubbing was for NPS. Skimmers just would not do it. Secondary reason was just to save the tank from the previous two "expert maintenance" guys.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Ah, alrighty then. I don't know if the camera is good or not, I'm not necessarily into photography, though I would like to be. Just no money to buy a decent camera. If I am going to take some serious pictures, I don't want to spend anything less then a grand on a camera.
Besides that, I also want to go traveling in the next five years. So - great time to invest in a camera, eh?
Glad to see that you are saving yourself money from the "experts"
ta ta
 
santamonica

santamonica

Member
The continuous feeder is working great; currently dosing between 0.6 and 1.0 ml per hour (14.4 to 24 ml/day). Trying to find the upper limit, before I either start seeing the beginnings of algae on the back wall, or some pink/blue in the water tests.
I'm mixing one part Shelfish, one part Rotifeast, and two parts Arctipods. The neat thing is that since the Arctipods seem to be big enough to feed the fish too (except the eels), all of the tank feeding now is automated.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Very, very nifty.
I have a turf algae scrubber in the works on my 30g long... sps dominated reef tank. It's not the only mode of filtration either, but I definately like the idea. I think I'm also going to have a protein skimmer, a deep sand bed in a 10g and a 10g refugium on the system too. Feed anything I want and not worry! woot!
I hope to see updates on this thread in the near future!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I'm debating to use the skimmer or not. I think I may turn it on if it needs it, but if it doesn't - it will be off.
 
santamonica

santamonica

Member
My continuous feeder is still doing great. I'm working on a write-up, with details and pics. I've dialed it down to .4 ml/hr, and added the chiller (was previously working at room temp).
 
santamonica

santamonica

Member
Well 43 ml per day was too much for the scrubber to handle by itself. I was cleaning over a pound of algae from the scrubber each week, but it was just not enough (this scrubber was just sized normally, and with only one screen.) My ultra low phosphate situation ended quickly, and I started getting a light pastel blue in the Salifert phosphate test (nitrate stayed clear, however.) So now it's back down to 28 ml per day, and dosing is now every 10 minutes. I also put some gfo back in to speed up the recovery.
I must say that the increased food did seem to speed up the growth of the digitaga, stylaphora, birdsnest and superman. The tubastreas and goniporas are happy as always. The white dendronephtha is not so well; I either started the increased food too late after putting the coral in, or I have the wrong food, or it was just not enough food. Could be flow too, off course. But it's starting to hang and not inflate. No change in the scleronephthya... still partially open. I'm going to move it to a lower flow area. The dark purple gorg did not make it. It was not receding or growing algae, but it completely stopped opening, so it was just a matter of time.
For nephthas and nps gorgs, I'm going to try just getting many small ones of the same type, and putting them in different places. That should help identify flow problems, since food is constant throught the tank.
One big nice thing is not having to feed the fish anymore. Every 10 minutes they are chasing the food that is coming out of the tube.
 
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