Success with non-photosynthetics

lobsterboy · #1 07-19-2009, 04:47 AM

I used to keep 4 sea fans, all non photo. that was in my old tank, i was feeding them, the kent phyto, zoomax and chromamax. all with a full dropper of food. they were all encrusting and growing.
I was also doing a water change of 4gallons every night.

Myka · #2 07-19-2009, 05:52 AM

Check out some of the non-photosynthetic tanks on the Zeo forums. People are having a lot of success using Zeo and Fauna Marin additives. The trouble is feeding a non-photosynthetic enough that it will thrive without polluting your tank. Most successful non-photosynthetic keepers have dedicated systems. That's something I would REALLY like to do one day.

Delphinus · #3 07-19-2009, 05:59 AM

Think the only real way to get away with it is with a drip 24x7. Convert an old kalkwasser stirrer into a drip feeder basically.

RuGlu6 · #4 07-19-2009, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lobsterboy

I was also doing a water change of 4gallons every night.

That is hard work !

lobsterboy · #5 07-19-2009, 06:05 AM

oh, i just thought of it, there is a great article and pictures of a non-photo reef in the new coral magazine, the tank is INSANE. It has 20-25 colonies of suncorals, detros, fans, whips, everything. The corals and colors are out of this world.

danny zubot · #6 07-19-2009, 05:06 PM

Does one sea fan really need to be fed that much though? I guess its a good thing my skimmer is oversized. Tony, good idea with the drip thing. I'll have to do some trial and error tests to see what I can come up with. the wheels are already turning.

What about flow though? What are people running for current in their tank?

naesco · #7 07-19-2009, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danny zubot

Does one sea fan really need to be fed that much though? I guess its a good thing my skimmer is oversized. Tony, good idea with the drip thing. I'll have to do some trial and error tests to see what I can come up with. the wheels are already turning.

What about flow though? What are people running for current in their tank?

Danny an oversized skimmer is counter-productive to overfeeding phyto as the skimmer will remove the phyto unless you shut off your skimmer for fairly long periods of time.

Myka · #8 07-19-2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danny zubot

Does one sea fan really need to be fed that much though?

Yes. That is because there needs to be a certain concentration in the water column in order for the coral is be able to get enough food out of it. It is very difficult to keep non-photos in a mixed reef. I attempted the same as you awhile back, and target fed the sea fan daily. I managed to pollute the tank real well, and the sea fan still died.

Here's one of the nicest non-photo tanks I've ever seen: http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16186

danny zubot · #9 07-21-2009, 01:12 AM

Well, I've brought the coral home with me so I'm going to make the best of it. It appears to open up and eat when I add the Reef Roids to the tank, which I'll take as a good sign.

sharuq1 · #10 07-22-2009, 06:09 PM

Can you please post a pic of your new seafan? Where did you find it?