Gonzobob Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Once I get the new 180 up (hopefully in the next few weeks) I'd like to try either an anemone tank concentrating on my hellsfire and mini-carpets, or a non-photo tank. If I go non-photo I'm looking at a 3 gallon display with a 30 gallon sump / fuge housing my sun corals, dendrophyllia and adding new non-photo corals. I've been keeping an eye on the non photo board on reef central but am wondering if any ARC members have / are doing non-photo tanks or corals. Please share your thoughts and experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktorstick Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Your timing is appropriate. I posted in ARC a few days ago about non-photo corals. My aquascape lends itself to a lot of dark overhangs and caves--many large for corals. I need to fill those empty spaces. In a way, I'm starting on that journey, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzobob Posted January 30, 2010 Author Share Posted January 30, 2010 Fantastic, shall we see where we go? I can say from experience that target feeding in a 'normal' reef tank will take care of sun corals and dendrophyllia. Others such as fans and carnation corals (the other dendros) seem to do best with near constant feeding. I'd be very interested in others experiences with these corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Neat idea.... the huge sump/fuge would be perfect for only feeding minimally, since you'd be getting all sorts of pods and other growth coming back through the return lines. While my experience is quite limited, I'd say slow and steady is an even more important thing in a setup like this. First you need a good long time for the fuge to get really creating enough food to feed corals and still maintain it's own population, then you need to be sure that adding another coral to the tank doesn't get to the point of starving the others for food or depleting the fuge colony... so it could take some trial and error to get balanced. If you are indeed using the fuge as a food source, it could be an option to culture phytoplankton to feed to the pods and such in the fuge - I've heard it's a good way to keep their numbers up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzobob Posted January 30, 2010 Author Share Posted January 30, 2010 Taking a page from Zarathurstra2's playbook (see his excellent posting on biodiversity) I plan on letting the fuge mature for at least 2 - 4 months before plugging the tank into the cycle. I'm planning on the fuge supplementing the feeding. I've thought about culturing rotifers and would be interested in hearing other reefers experiences in this area as well. Another thought would be to use a dosing pump for small timed feedings thoughout the day although I'm not sure how this would work with trying to keep non-live foods fresh between feedings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.