Okey okey... after the long wait for me to get married etc. I can finally post a thread on my new setup. As some of you know I was researching what to do for MONTHS and MONTHS, until I bought that Coral magazine from Lanzo and saw a full NPS system... Then I knew I would do that.
The tank:
So, I already had the 1000x500x500 tank, initially set up for keeping an Anemone, as I had made it fully nennie safe. Flow was to be generated by a CLS, and the intakes was custom built in order to keep it safe from any LS being sucked in. Here is a pic or two:
Covered intake box...
Lighting:
The major advantage of this setup being non photosynthetic is that you actually need NO LIGHT, and lighting is only for viewing. I did however also want to keep other deepwater coral species that might require some light, and even some of the gorgonians required some light. I then bought a Reel Inc 4x 39W T5 unit, and replace the tubes with Geisemann T5's as follows: 1x Aquablue + (15000K) 1x Pure Actinic and two Actinic +. The 15000K and 22000K combo only runs from 16h00 to 17h30 and then I only run the Actinic and Pure Actinic. The advantage of this VERY low lighting is that algae can not survive (an advantage I'll explain later...)
Here is an image of the Actinic and Pure Actinic doing it's job:
Engine Room:
For filtration I used the standard Skimmer, DSB, Liverock and filter feeders. I have total of about 25kg's of LR in my DT. As you will see from the photo, it is not as neat as I would like it to be, so this is a area I am working on:
Feeding:
The MOST important factor of keeping NPS coral is the feeding. Because the coral has NO zooxanthellae algae inside its' body tissue to help feed from, it relies on being a predatory coral and hunting for its' food. The only way it can hunt though in captivity is if the keeper gives them a good supply of food. I have researched a lot of feeding methods, and this is really still a very big developmental issue for me, that I will be working on contstanly.
Currently I target feed my corals twice a day. I also made a DIY dosing pump, but this had other drawbacks so I ceased to use it. In the morning and evening, I feed about 1/2 teaspoon of Cyclop-Eeze, 2.5ml Zooplankton and 2.5ml Phyto Plankton. Every second day I feed on cube frozen mysis shrimp as well. I target feed each gorgonian, chili coral and sun coral. Once I have more specimens in the tank, I would need to increase feeding as well. Target feeding a gorgonian and chili coral hanign under an arch is not an easy task, so I constructed a simple device for this purpose from hard plastic pipe and a syringe.
The result is this:
To target feed the sun coral was also a challenge, as the flow easily let the food just blow over it. I then constructed this pip, however I am planning to improve this, as this is veyry bulky and the fish get a bit of a fright from it, unlike the thin little pipe above:
TO BE CONTINUED...
The tank:
So, I already had the 1000x500x500 tank, initially set up for keeping an Anemone, as I had made it fully nennie safe. Flow was to be generated by a CLS, and the intakes was custom built in order to keep it safe from any LS being sucked in. Here is a pic or two:
Covered intake box...
Lighting:
The major advantage of this setup being non photosynthetic is that you actually need NO LIGHT, and lighting is only for viewing. I did however also want to keep other deepwater coral species that might require some light, and even some of the gorgonians required some light. I then bought a Reel Inc 4x 39W T5 unit, and replace the tubes with Geisemann T5's as follows: 1x Aquablue + (15000K) 1x Pure Actinic and two Actinic +. The 15000K and 22000K combo only runs from 16h00 to 17h30 and then I only run the Actinic and Pure Actinic. The advantage of this VERY low lighting is that algae can not survive (an advantage I'll explain later...)
Here is an image of the Actinic and Pure Actinic doing it's job:
Engine Room:
For filtration I used the standard Skimmer, DSB, Liverock and filter feeders. I have total of about 25kg's of LR in my DT. As you will see from the photo, it is not as neat as I would like it to be, so this is a area I am working on:
Feeding:
The MOST important factor of keeping NPS coral is the feeding. Because the coral has NO zooxanthellae algae inside its' body tissue to help feed from, it relies on being a predatory coral and hunting for its' food. The only way it can hunt though in captivity is if the keeper gives them a good supply of food. I have researched a lot of feeding methods, and this is really still a very big developmental issue for me, that I will be working on contstanly.
Currently I target feed my corals twice a day. I also made a DIY dosing pump, but this had other drawbacks so I ceased to use it. In the morning and evening, I feed about 1/2 teaspoon of Cyclop-Eeze, 2.5ml Zooplankton and 2.5ml Phyto Plankton. Every second day I feed on cube frozen mysis shrimp as well. I target feed each gorgonian, chili coral and sun coral. Once I have more specimens in the tank, I would need to increase feeding as well. Target feeding a gorgonian and chili coral hanign under an arch is not an easy task, so I constructed a simple device for this purpose from hard plastic pipe and a syringe.
The result is this:
To target feed the sun coral was also a challenge, as the flow easily let the food just blow over it. I then constructed this pip, however I am planning to improve this, as this is veyry bulky and the fish get a bit of a fright from it, unlike the thin little pipe above:
TO BE CONTINUED...
