The macro garden; my macroalgae/gorgonian tank (formerly the NPS garden)

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! Here is my journal of my NPS tank. Here are the specs;
Tanks: A standard 10 gallon. Will be adding a 5 gallon refugium over the next few months; the fuge will be split with a divider, with a cryptic refugium on one side and a macroalgae refugium on the other.
Light: Ebay reefbar pro light, 30 watt, 120 PAR at 14 inches down. May be replacing this in the future. Refugium will have 5000k, 15 watt, 1600 lumen LED bulb.
Circulation; Aquaclear 20 at 100 GPH and sun sun internal filter at 650 GPH. Will be using a 350 GPH return pump for the refugium. None of these have any media currently
Heater: 100 watt, unsure of brand
Fish: Royal gramma ('Little Dude'). He may stay a loner.
Coral: Currently sun coral ('Firecracker'). Planning to add a Dendrophyllia, some NPS gorgonians, and maybe some other corals.
Other inverts: Feather duster worm ('Harrison'), Pistol shrimp ('Bam bam'), a few snails and hermit crabs. The refugium will have bristle worms, sponges, and LOTS of copepods
Macroalgae; Currently none. The refugium will have Gracilaria and Caulerpa for nutrient export.
Feeding: Target feed Firecracker and Little dude twice a day with frozen food and flakes. Broadcast feeding 2ml each seachem phytoplankton and zooplankton twice a day currently. Will eventually replace the seachem products with reef roids twice a day, and live phytoplankton at night.
Nutrient export: Currently a 4 gallon water change once a week. Will bump this to two water changes once I get a RODI unit.

AND here are pictures, for those of you who didn't see them in my introduction thread;

Hope you guys like my tank and enjoy my progress as I go along

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Look forward to your progress. Thanks for sharing

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Thanks! Really hoping everything I put in this tank does well I am hoping to learn how even a relative amateur to the hobby can keep NPS corals happy.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Thanks! Really hoping everything I put in this tank does well I am hoping to learn how even a relative amateur to the hobby can keep NPS corals happy.

Took me one year to fine tune my nps tank system for dendronephthya . Still learning. Patience of Job

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Took me one year to fine tune my nps tank system for dendronephthya . Still learning. Patience of Job

You keep carnation corals?! How do you do it?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looking good! Cannot wait to see the refugium added.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Looking good! Cannot wait to see the refugium added.

Thanks! The refugium is intended to provide live food for the corals (specifically copepods)

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Here's a picture of the sun coral, Firecracker, fully out! You can also see Little Dude in the picture.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Double post

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Triple post

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Let's try that again...just did a water change. After the water change nitrates were 5 ppm...not bad for an NPS tank.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Here's a picture of the sun coral, Firecracker, fully out! You can also see Little Dude in the picture.

That's one healthy coral

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Let's try that again...just did a water change. After the water change nitrates were 5 ppm...not bad for an NPS tank.

You might get away 15-20? But pushing it

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Thanks I have had it for perhaps two weeks at most and it has already grown considerably. I think it likes the feeding regime

 

[LordJoshaeus]

You might get away 15-20? But pushing it

Yeah...gonna try to keep nitrates below 20, and ideally no higher than 10. The large quantities of macroalgae this tank (or more accurately the refugium) will have should help with that, plus biweekly water changes and the live phytoplankton I am going to feed.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Yeah...gonna try to keep nitrates below 20, and ideally no higher than 10. The large quantities of macroalgae this tank (or more accurately the refugium) will have should help with that, plus biweekly water changes and the live phytoplankton I am going to feed.

PhytoFeast and Algagen products help. If you can culture some, great. I buy PhytoFeast.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

I am getting an Isochrysis culture in the mail this week. May try Nannochloropsis if I do well with the Isochrysis.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Currently I am bidding on this on Ebay;

I hope I win, but this Dendrophyllia prompted quite the bidding war last time it was auctioned...failing that, I will go with this;

 

[LordJoshaeus]

I have an idea for almost constantly feeding the tank without much equipment...the above feeding regime will still stand; however, I will also have a simple dosing system. I will have a large thermos with a large icepack and a 16 oz bottle filled with saltwater and perhaps this food; https://www.ebay.com/itm/CORAL-FEAS...l-Reef-Tank-/162230382555?hash=item25c5af2fdb

I will use an air pump to keep the food in suspension. I will use an airline with a flow regulator, start a siphon, and drip this into the tank for several hours. This will provide almost constant food to my NPS corals and even fish. I borrowed this idea from this video (except my dosing method is semi-manual instead of automatic); https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...E11BA88A8B7ACB1D683CE11BA88A8B7A&&FORM=VRDGAR

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I have an idea for almost constantly feeding the tank without much equipment...the above feeding regime will still stand; however, I will also have a simple dosing system. I will have a large thermos with a large icepack and a 16 oz bottle filled with saltwater and perhaps this food; https://www.ebay.com/itm/CORAL-FEAS...l-Reef-Tank-/162230382555?hash=item25c5af2fdb

I will use an air pump to keep the food in suspension. I will use an airline with a flow regulator, start a siphon, and drip this into the tank for several hours. This will provide almost constant food to my NPS corals and even fish. I borrowed this idea from this video (except my dosing method is semi-manual instead of automatic); https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...E11BA88A8B7ACB1D683CE11BA88A8B7A&&FORM=VRDGAR

Great idea, thanks for sharing

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Still the high bidder on the Dendrophyllia…about a day and 5 hours to go