non photosynthetic systems

[grouper therapy]

Has anyone here in the ARC been successful keeping a predominantly non photosynthetic coral tank? If not who has considered it and what did your research reveal.

 

[enderg60]

there is a great one thats tank of the month on RC right now.

I think for you it would be a good idea to wait and plumb it into your big system when its built kinda like that guy chingy did with his 1000g system. Let it be on a slow turn over with the main system and have all the foods dosed to that tank. Small tank gets over fed nicely, then the remains are dosed to the big system.

 

[grouper therapy]

EnderG60;678851 wrote: there is a great one thats tank of the month on RC right now.

I think for you it would be a good idea to wait and plumb it into your big system when its built kinda like that guy chingy did with his 1000g system. Let it be on a slow turn over with the main system and have all the foods dosed to that tank. Small tank gets over fed nicely, then the remains are dosed to the big system.

Good idea!

 

[morganatlanta]

I'm considering one.

I am planning to do the feeding with a dump-style freezer feeder where you pump water into a container in a compact freezer once an hour or so. The container drains through a hole in the bottom of the freezer back into the tank. You toss frozen cubes of whatever you want to feed into the container. When the water comes into the container, it melts a little of the food, which washes into the tank. When the flow stops, the food freezes back up. I've heard it works pretty well, and only requires you to dump new cubes in every now and then. The system using a fridge to feed various liquid foods requires a bit more frequent maintenance.

I'm currently feeding blended oysters via a peristaltic pump every three hours, using a wine bottle chiller to keep the oyster liquid fresh. Fish and corals seem to like it as there are small food particles floating around constantly. The oysters stay good for around 10 days in the wine cooler. Taking the next step and going from frozen straight to the tank would be a huge improvement since I could use almost any type of food (blended mixed seafood, cyclopeeze, rotifers, whatever) and there wouldn't be any special prep required.

For filtering I'll use an algae scrubber. It pulls out the nutrients, but leaves food particles in the water to circulate around. I've got a scrubber on my mixed reef tank currently as the only form of filtration.

I'm thinking about doing a 40-60 gallon system, which should be big enough to be relatively stable, but small enough not to cost me a fortune if it doesn't work out. I can resell equipment, but killing a big tank full of NPS corals wouldn't be cheap.

A big challenge is that the smallest conventional compact freezer I can find is a cube about 20" on a side, which would look pretty odd above a tank, even if it was hidden in a huge canopy. I'm going to experiment with building a smaller freezer based on thermoelectric cooling before I build anything else, because how that works out will impact the dimensions and design of everything else.

It would be cool if some other people in the area were experimenting as well.

 

[snowmansnow]

EnderG60;678851 wrote: there is a great one thats tank of the month on RC right now.

I think for you it would be a good idea to wait and plumb it into your big system when its built kinda like that guy chingy did with his 1000g system. Let it be on a slow turn over with the main system and have all the foods dosed to that tank. Small tank gets over fed nicely, then the remains are dosed to the big system.

I disagree with plumbing it into your main system. I posted a thread on the RC tank of the month recently (a NPS system), and he has a BEAUTIFUL THRIVING tank... BUT... HE FEEDS ENORMOUS amounts of coral food.

I would think this method would seriously clash with how we keep our current tanks.

Edit: here it is again....

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/86-tank-of-the-month

scroll down to feeding.. itll blow your mind haha

B

 

[morganatlanta]

Here are pics of the freezer surge feeder. Taken from a very cool thread on a massive tank build. Here's the thread:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-318084.html">http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-318084.html</a>
<fieldset class="gc-fieldset">
<legend> Attached files </legend> [IMG]http://atlantareefclub.org/boards/data/uploads/attachments/678954=32096-freezer1.jpg>

class="gc-images" title="freezer1.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="freezer2.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="freezer3.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="freezer4.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="freezerbox1.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a>

>

class="gc-images" title="freezerbox2.jpg[/IMG] style="max-width:300px" /></a> </fieldset>

 

[enderg60]

SnowManSnow;678935 wrote: I disagree with plumbing it into your main system. I posted a thread on the RC tank of the month recently (a NPS system), and he has a BEAUTIFUL THRIVING tank... BUT... HE FEEDS ENORMOUS amounts of coral food.

I would think this method would seriously clash with how we keep our current tanks.

Edit: here it is again....

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/86-tank-of-the-month">http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/86-tank-of-the-month</a>

scroll down to feeding.. itll blow your mind haha

B[/QUOTE]

how would it clash? Its just adding more food/nutrients to an already large system. works fine on chingy's tank. he has a 100ish gallon NPS tank plumbed into his 1000g display

Think about it this way, do you want to remove a 1/4 lb of unused coral foods from a 100g system, or do you want to use that 1/4 lb of food to feed a 1000g system and then remove 1/8 lb of food from that.

If I was going to do a NPS stand alone tank it would be a 75g with a 150g sump and about 200lbs of rock and a huuuuuuge skimmer.

I already have an even bigger system setup which can handle the food load, but isnt concetrated enough to feed NPS corals, so contain them in a smaller tank and feed them that way while still being hooked to a larger more stable system.

 

[snowmansnow]

I understand the logic... but a ULNS and NPS system ? you gotta loose the ULNS... assuming thats what you have for your sps

 

[enderg60]

here there are some pics of the NPS tank I was talking about here

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1692183&highlight=softy&page=242">http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1692183&highlight=softy&page=242</a>

you will have to poke through it for more info, but its all there.

remember we are talking about a under 80g NPS tank on a 1000g display with a 200g sump and more so....

 

[acroholic]

Here is a new piece of equipment for feeding NPS tanks. They recommend placing it in a wine chiller. It is an automatic infuser.

http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/NE-300.html">http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/NE-300.html</a>

[IMG]http://premiumaquatics.com/prodimages/newera/NE-300.jpg alt="" />

 

[enderg60]

$275!?!?!

umm how about just sticking a dosing pump in a fridge? ALOT more capacity and only 1/6 the price!

 

[acroholic]

EnderG60;679383 wrote: $275!?!?!

umm how about just sticking a dosing pump in a fridge? ALOT more capacity and only 1/6 the price!

Never used one, just saw it and was passing on the info!

 

[grouper therapy]

So Dave(Acroholic) when are you setting up a nps

 

[dawgface]

EnderG60;678851 wrote: there is a great one thats tank of the month on RC right now.

I think for you it would be a good idea to wait and plumb it into your big system when its built kinda like that guy chingy did with his 1000g system. Let it be on a slow turn over with the main system and have all the foods dosed to that tank. Small tank gets over fed nicely, then the remains are dosed to the big system.

That tank is absolutely amazing!

 

[morganatlanta]

Azoox.org has a lot of good info. It's probably the place to start if you are interested in setting one up.

 

[grouper therapy]

MorganAtlanta;681090 wrote: Azoox.org has a lot of good info. It's probably the place to start if you are interested in setting one up.

Thanks! I will check it out.