Feeding Recipes For Dendros, Seafans, Clams etc

[sandfordb]

I just thought i would start up a thread where people can share the different recipes that they are using to feed the slighlty more demanding corals and inhabitants that are availible nowadays in LFS

I have a Dendro in my tank which has been doing really well for the last 5-6ish months

I started off feeding it a mixture of coral vibrance and baby brine shrimp which i target fed a few times a day. This worked well for me and the Coral has even budded in the last few weeks.

I have now decided to change what i am feeding it and have gone down the fauna marin route, i was given a recipe from Keithman which i slightly adapted for my own which is as follows

equal parts of UltraMinF, UltraMinS, UltraSeafan, UltraPac and Coral Vibrance all mixed up to create a nice thick brown liquid i have then started to dose around the Dendro every few hours.

This is new to me and hopefully i will continue to see good results, it is early days yet but i will keep you all posted on how it goes.

Hope this thread helps a few people, and i hope people can help me also.

Ben

[Shultz]

Watch your nitrates & Phosphates though!

Cheers, Shelton.

[sandfordb]

Yeah i have been watching them so far since ive been feeding it i haven't had a problem, im using a Phosphate reactor and im skimming the hell out of my tank, i have just started to go for the ULNS route.

I will be keeping an eye on it though.

Do you keep either of these types of coral?

[KeithM]

it will be difficult for you to get down to ultra low nutrient levels with that feeding regime.

Run ali phos removers, strong UV filtration, very strong skimming (wet), a little bit of ozone and regular water changes (10% a week). UV and Ozone is to break down the organics so that they can be removed by the chemical removers and skimmers.

I was chatting to Claude about keeping dendros on Monday and from his experience, clean water is more important than food. Once the water is clean they will take up most foods!

Also..try adding a couple drops of ultrabio into your mixture. The bacs will feed of the ultrapac and create a bacteria laden soup!

[sandfordb]

Thanks keith, i will have a go at using ultrabio, i have been dosing it into my tank as of today. I am pretty good with my 10% water changes every week however i do not have a UV Filter or Ozone, would you recommend getting them? Or should i see how my nutrients go before i decide.

Thanks for the advice again.

[KeithM]

to feed enough to sustain your corals you will (without any doubt) see your nutrients increase. I'm only feeding a few seafans at the moment and my nutrients have risen for sure. Although its not getting picked up by test kits, I'm seeing an increase in micro algae growth (on the glass) and SPS corals have browned a little.

If you are thinking about keeping these corals long term you need very strong filtration to take out all the foods you are putting in. You also need something to break up the long/complex organic chains (UV or Ozone).

To give you an idea of how much filtration I think you should be going for.... I have a 130l cube, I run a FM ultraskim2 (run wet), I aquatics zeolith filter completey full of zeolith, I also have zeoliths in my sump working passively (in an egg crate basket), I have ultraphos (ali based) in a bag in the sump (usually changed every three days and i'm using double the recommended amount), I run a 15w UV filter and I dose ultrabak throughout the day! - on top of all that I now do just over 10% water change every week. I will also be using a small amount of ozone when I'm back home next week...

With all that filtration I'm only just about to give dendros ago (along side SPS)!.. been doing ALOT of research before even attempting to 'try' them out...

[sandfordb]

im looking into building a diy Zeolith reactor at the moment, unfortunatly the dendro was bought for me as a present i wouldn't normally of bought one as i knew the difficulty in keeping them and i definatly wouldn't buy another in the near future.

I will definatly look into getting both the OZONE and UV Filter do you have any recommendations for brands?

My skimmer is a Deltec APF600 skimming a tank that is around 150ish litres including sump volume. i have some spare egg crate so i might build a zeolith basket to place in my sump tomorrow.

When you say you dose ultrabak throughout the day do you mean more than once?

[KeithM]

I dilute my ultrabak with RO water and dose with a grotech peri - 8 doses split equally over a 24hr period.

Currently using a Debary UV unit (electronic ballast) and will be using a aquadigital Ozone unit (reefdreams). If you're interested I have brand new TMC V2 300 UV unit (16w T5) for sale.. PM me if you want it - will be able to send out next week as I'm currently not at home.

[morgandy]

Keith_Man and others, I've found some of your dendro and non-photosynthetic system threads which have been good reads. I wanted to point you to a tank here in the U.S. which has been up for a year now that I've been filming/photographing and learning a lot about. Chuck Stottlemire is the aquarist, and might like to swap info on foods and husbandry and such with you all. I don't know if you have Reed's Phytofeast and Shellfish Diet in the UK, but that is what he primarily feeds the dendro's, sclero's, etc... Lots more info on reefcentral and reefs.org.

The website of mine is http://www.twighlightreef.com, click on the dendro icon on the right side, there are several pages of his tank taken throughout the year.

Just wanted to say hi, and hear more on the successes you all are having.

Thanks..

Amy.

[jobr]

Looks a nice site Amy, though the link above doesn't work, here is the working one http://twilightreef.com/

[KeithM]

Hi Amy,

Welcome to Ultimate Reef! I have pretty much read all the Dendro type threads on Reefcentral and Reefs.org!

Would be great to swap notes with Chuck Stottlemire.. Any ideas how to get in contact with him?

Keith

[Shultz]

very nice site you have there Amy.

Cheers, Shelton.

[morgandy]

Thanks for correcting..I fat finger the typing a lot!

[jobr]

Thanks for correcting..I fat finger the typing a lot!


No problem:)

[morgandy]

Keith,
You can post to this thread that he started on reefs.org - http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=111624. I'll shoot him a copy of this URL and see if he'll 'stop in'. He's not much into computers/email, but I'm sure you both could compare good notes. I'll PM you his actual email address.

Are there any current pictures or growth updates, or time in captivity on the dendro's/sclero's, etc.. you have at this point?

Also, do many of you over there keep crinoids or basket stars? He's had some for years (originally in a different tank of his) that are fabulous and large, perfect for this type of tank. So wondering if any of you have had success with them? And, are there other people you are aware of throughout the UK/Europe who have large non-photo. systems that are really working out? I would love to get in touch with them.

Thanks!

[KeithM]

Hi Amy,

Thanks for the PM. I will take a look at the reefs.org link

I will get some growth pics to post up when I have time to take them. There is some growth but its slow. I noticed that growth rates do change depending on how I make my food mix.

I have not tried crinoid basket stars but I know that Claude Schuhmacher has kept a few of these in his system successfully for some time. Here is one of them:

http://lh3.google.com/KeithMan88/R1fmnvFxpWI/AAAAAAAAAoo/_LYqHjpMfCc/s800/SIND052.JPG

The other people in Europe worth talking to is Dr. Jens Kallmeyer (Germany) and Danny Dame (Holland). Jens has recently set up a mixed SPS and non photo tank. He previously lived in the States and has kept Dendronephthya for a few years. Danny is at present, setting up a 200gallon non photo system and his previous experiments can be found on marineaquarium.nl. There are a few more people but can't remember the names at the moment!

On the UK side, here on UR, Jacksok, Shultz and myself are all experimenting with Dendronephthya and other azoo species but none of us has had any long term successes yet.

I will get in touch with Chuck. Thanks for his email

Keith

[morgandy]

Nice feather star! I tried to find an email for Danny Dame several months ago after seeing that site, and very much wanted to know more about the system and age, etc... I sent emails out to others to help me get it, with no luck. Are you or anyone else able to track it down for me? I haven't been able to navigate the .nl website to the point of finding forums that might list him. What about an email or site for Dr. Jen Kallmeyer? Thanks!

[Stottlemire]

Hows it going guys? anybody still using this thread?

Chuck

[KeithM]

Hi Chuck,

Welcome to UR! We'd love to hear more about your experiences with Azoox corals!

We have just setup a new forum dedicated to these corals and I would very much appreciate if you would start a new thread detailing your successes so far!

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=454 Azoox coral forum

I will shortly be moving this thread into the Azoox coral forum.

[SCOOB]

welcome to both amy and chuck :)

[Shultz]

Welcome Chuck, read your thread on RC & would be great to hear more on here

Cheers, Shelton.

[Ruby]

Just thought I would like to say that I think its disgusting that shops sell these sea fans to inexperienced fish keepers. I have the same type that Keith had. Bought it Nov. & since buying it I have tried Various type of food with no luck. My nitrates have gone up from oppm to 80ppm because I just don't have enough filters to deal with the extra feeding this coral requires. It is now fading away slowly branch by branch. I wish 1 of u guys were closer & maybe I could give it to someone who has the experience I don't. I am very sad that this beautiful coral is doomed.

Ruby

[Neptheid]

I feed my partially non-photo tank the mix of Shellfish Diet and Rotifeast that Chuck uses. I'm using a syringe pump to add it continuously over the course of the day. Here are some pics:

Syringe Pump Doser
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/aninjaatemyshoe/SyringeDoser.jpg

Outputs directly in front of Tunze
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/aninjaatemyshoe/DoserOutlet.jpg

Tunze directed at the only Dendro in my tank
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/aninjaatemyshoe/Dendro02-22-08.jpg

[marthin]

Brought back a rescue case yesterday, what once was a beautifull blue gorgonian. As I feed about 4 x cubes mysis, rotifers, cyclops per day for my goni's and LPS, I was stunned this morning to find some of the branches turning light blue. Having no experience with gorgonians other than diving among them. .is this normal?