My nps corals... Enjoy

[lljdma06]

Hi everybody,

I have a 5.5g AGA tank that is currently home to a small collection of nps corals. Some stats

Tank: 5.5g AGA, 16" long
Flow: two Rio 90s & an Aquaclear 50 (modded as a refugium)
LR: About 7lbs of mixed Haitian and Tonga rock
Substrate: Caribbean Livesand
Recipe: Red Sea Coral Pro mixed with RO/DI water, sg 1.025 or 26, pH 8.3, Ca 450
Lighting: does it really matter? :lol:
Maintenance: This does matter, it's a pico. 60% water change once a week, sometimes I'll do a 30% in the middle of the week, but not always. I do the 60% one religiously though.

Livestock:
-2 porcelain anemone crabs
-1 pompom crab
-3 scarlet hermits
-4, very sexy, sexy shrimp
-1 panda goby (can't believe he's still alive!)
-assorted stomatellas and one banded trochus

Corals.... Hehehe peeechur time!

Diodogorgia, it's shedding now, bleh, but video of it in better days. I see polyps extending again, however, so I think the shedding is over.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/th_0c238b6a.jpg (http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/?action=view&current=0c238b6a.mp4)

Echinogorgia, I think! Still yet to have a positive id on it. It's doing well... Keeping fingers crossed.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/DSC06682.jpg

Black suns, tubastraea macrantha

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/DSC06679.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/7138a790.jpg

Orange suns (probably either Tubastraea aurea or faulkneri, but who cares?)

Temperamental one; this one gets the tupperware feeding. I made so many mistakes with this coral.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/DSC06677.jpg

Happy one!

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/DSC06675.jpg

And finally, my Balanophyllia. I love this coral.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/DSC06658.jpg

Well, there you have it, my nps. Hopefully they'll continue to do well. Thanks for looking. I'd like to expand the collection by adding some Dendros and maybe try some other species. Will be checking out Diver's Den at Livequaria, they have some interesting stuff that I've not seen. I love this tank, it's so much fun. A ton of work, but fun.

L

[Lorenz725]

Very nice! got a few questions for you. What do you feed and how many times a day do you feed? Also need a FTS I would like to see the entire set up. Thanks

[lljdma06]

Very nice! got a few questions for you. What do you feed and how many times a day do you feed? Also need a FTS I would like to see the entire set up. Thanks

Hi, sure no problem... The feeding schedule is a total work in progress. I think automated feeding is in the future, but I'm home often enough right now and it's easy enough at this point to do the actual feeding.

Feeding schedule...

Every Morning (lights out) - 2ml of either phytoplankton, or three kinds zooplankton of various sizes. I alternate between the four.

Night feedings - done on alternate days, while the lights are on, I just call them night feedings cause it's nighttime. Two types...

Light night feeding - Cyclops ease and another squeeze of a plankton of some type, different than the one I used in the morning.

Heavy night feeding - Cyclops ease, a squeeze of a plankton, and 1-2 cubes of frozen something (mysis, squid, medley, bbs, brine shrimp). I've got four SW tanks so the 1-2 cubes feeds everybody so don't freak out. I then target feed the sun corals.

I was struggling a bit to get polyps extended for feeding until I changed the output on one of the powerheads and then added a second powerhead. I have the refugium on the opposite photo period. I get nice polyp extension. I'm still learning, but I'm happy so far with the results. I also dose the tank with pods for the panda goby. He eats pods.

As requested a full tank shot. Sorry, I had just added the Tonga branch when I took this picture so the corals were like "what did you just do?" And remember, my diodogoria is still shedding then. Lousy iPhone picture too.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e283/lljdma06/Saltwater%208g/8afc4d95.jpg

It's a definitely work in progress. Very hard to maintain water quality with such heavy feedings, but the chaeto has been very good so far and I'm religious about water changes. I don't dose anything.

L

[lljdma06]

Nice news, looks like the diodogorgia is starting to open up again. Hopefully, he's stopped shedding and will be a nice little gorg again.

L

[StephLionfish]

Awesome tank! I love the black sun. How big were all of these corals when you bought them?

[Lorenz725]

Thanks for the info and the FTS! I have a 5.5 AGA all in one that I might do something like that. I already have yellow and black sun corals in my main tank. I would also like to get some tube anemone but I know they can get big. Keep up the good work I am really starting to get into the NPS myself.

[lljdma06]

Awesome tank! I love the black sun. How big were all of these corals when you bought them?

I like my black suns too, always reliable. Um, they were a bit smaller. What they've done is increased the amount of polyps rather than physically get bigger. Now, the other orange sun, not the sulking one, has a bunch of baby polyps that I don't know what to do with. I think they're going to split from the parent colony soon.

Thanks for the info and the FTS! I have a 5.5 AGA all in one that I might do something like that. I already have yellow and black sun corals in my main tank. I would also like to get some tube anemone but I know they can get big. Keep up the good work I am really starting to get into the NPS myself.

Thanks for your kind words. I'm doing my best and I'm sure I'll make a ton more mistakes with these corals. They got a 30% water change today. I've never been interested in the tube anemones, cause they get to big. I'd like a worm of some type, and the terrazoanthus, and maybe when I'm all growed up, tunicates and sponges.

L