bird's nest coral

[redfishSC]

Howdy all, new here to this forum, and kinda sorta new to reef keeping (long time fw plant keeper though).

I just picked up a bird's nest frag at the lfs cheap, and have done some browsing on the net and haven't found a ton of helpful info. Take a look at my tank specs and give me any tips you may have. This is my first sps. Mainly I was wondering if,what, and how often I should feed this tank considering the main inhabitants are not heavy filter feeders.

13g nano (4th month)
80w pc (50/50 and 6500K)
8lbs lr
asst'd shrooms, zoanthids, star polyps, two small xenia colonies
small ocellaris, small scott's damsel, 3/4 inch yellow watchman,
a couple peppermint shrimp
plenty of macroalgae,
emerald crab
asst'd snails

water chems:
pH stable at 8.2 or better
calcium 450~
alk 8-12 dKH
no ammonia or nitrite, *barely* detectable nitrates, must be 5 or less ppm
po4 less than .25


Many thanks for your help!!

 

[Anonymous]

Howdy all, new here to this forum, and kinda sorta new to reef keeping (long time fw plant keeper though).

I just picked up a bird's nest frag at the lfs cheap, and have done some browsing on the net and haven't found a ton of helpful info. Take a look at my tank specs and give me any tips you may have. This is my first sps. Mainly I was wondering if,what, and how often I should feed this tank considering the main inhabitants are not heavy filter feeders.

13g nano (4th month)
80w pc (50/50 and 6500K)
8lbs lr
asst'd shrooms, zoanthids, star polyps, two small xenia colonies
small ocellaris, small scott's damsel, 3/4 inch yellow watchman,
a couple peppermint shrimp
plenty of macroalgae,
emerald crab
asst'd snails

water chems:
pH stable at 8.2 or better
calcium 450~
alk 8-12 dKH
no ammonia or nitrite, *barely* detectable nitrates, must be 5 or less ppm
po4 less than .25


Many thanks for your help!!

Hey redfish, welcome aboard.

I would think you need to run a skimmer and some carbon on such a small tank with that heavy a bioload.

The soft corals and sps will use a little chemical war fare to keep their spot on the reef, the carbon will help.

I would not feed anything but the fish, and feed them lightly. You may want to consider removing most of these fish or getting a larger tank.

Good luck, I'm sure you will get a ton of info on this site.
Andy

 

[Tackett]

I would put one huge ass skimmer on that thing. I agree with andy about the fish. Feeding the fish should take care of the corals in a tank that small. As far as totally removing them...I dunno, try it for a while and see if you can feed them well without overfeeding. Vitamin packed mysis shrimp is always a good idea. You can also check out the seafood section of your grocery store and pick up some squid or something else.

 

[redfishSC]

I considered the skimmer thing, and they're not too hard to build (college students, especially married ones like me, aren't too fond of dumping $100 for anything I can build for half that price!). I do keep up quite well with water changes and I do use purigen and carbon.

I will be connecting this tank to a 20 gallon refugium that is well lighted (it's "cycling" as we type) that will be lit 24/7 that should be pretty good at nutrient export, which hasn't been a problem anyway (0-5ppm nitrate, likely on the *lower* end of that range) other than PO4 (.25 ppm).

As far as the feeding, I really appreciate the advice--- I do feed lightly (small fish don't eat much) and as the fish grow they will likely move to another tank.

Upgrading the tank would be nice, (which is kinda what will happen with a 20g refugium) but I like the 15 since it's a good shape and size for a nano and basically all I can afford to mess with now.

 

[SnowManSnow]

Check the DIY forum here for skimmer plans. You should be able to come up with a decent air driven one at a reasonable price.

B.

ps.. like your sig.

 

[Anonymous]

As far as feeding, do not feed every day, not even a pinch.

In every tank I have had, Including my Clown/anemone 30g I have now, I feed a pinch or two every two days. This time out, I have zero algae probs. The fish have been doing fine for over a year. Remember, what goes in, for the most part stays in. It becomes food for the next critter down, etc, etc

Does the SC stand for South Carolina?

 

[redfishSC]

Thanks Snowman

Hesaias-- I know what you mean about the feeding. I probably feed heavier than you do but I also feed mostly frozen food (except on lazy days). So far algae hasn't been a terrible problem, I'm quite willing to have a little in the tank. I'll be connecting a big macroalg fuge to this nano soon so I'm sure my current feeding regimen will work.

And yes, SC does stand for South Carolina (Charleston, in particular). I love it here. It was 75 degrees today (In JANUARY! I LOVE IT!).

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Snowman

Hesaias-- I know what you mean about the feeding. I probably feed heavier than you do but I also feed mostly frozen food (except on lazy days). So far algae hasn't been a terrible problem, I'm quite willing to have a little in the tank. I'll be connecting a big macroalg fuge to this nano soon so I'm sure my current feeding regimen will work.

And yes, SC does stand for South Carolina (Charleston, in particular). I love it here. It was 75 degrees today (In JANUARY! I LOVE IT!).

Hey! Upstate SC here, Gaffney!

Be careful on the feeding. It takes time to get going, and once it is going downhill, it takes a lot to get it under contrl.

Good luck!

 

[Tackett]

A little hair algae usually leads to a massive army eventually. Try to keep it away my friend or you will be locked and loaded for bear like the rest of us were.