• Spotlight on Non-Photosynthetic Coral Tank

    Spotlight on Non-Photosynthetic Coral Tank at The Aquarium of the Pacific. Long Beach, CA

    Tank Size: Acrylic, 600 gallons total water volume. Stand-alone system.
    Equipment: ETS skimmer, sump with a lot of live rock covered in sponge growth for natural filtration, & a filter bag. No refugium.
    Lighting: one 250w 20,000K Metal Halide bulb
    Water Temp: 76° F
    Feeding: The tank is fed throughout the day on average hourly. Foods include: lots of Cyclop-Eze; Ocean Nutrition Nano Reef food; baby brine shrimp (nauptili); frozed mysid for the fish; and phytoplankton occasionally. Some days food is only offered to the fish.
    Cleaning: Filter bag is cleaned daily, sprayed clean with fresh water – protein skimmer is cleaned weekly. We used to do daily 25% water changes when all the corals were closed, but now that they have adapted we can do two to three 25% water

    changes per week. We use a hydrovac to keep the sand clean.
    Coral Location: About 15 species of coral from Indo-Pacific. One or two gorgonians from the Caribbean that may get removed.
    Most Expensive Coral in Tank: Dendrophyllia and Micro Dendros
    Fish: Deep water fish mostly. Fathead / Sunburst anthias, Ventralis anthias, yellow damsel, firefish, yellow assessors, and pipefish.



    Advice from the Curator for keeping a Non-Photosynthetic Tank: Most important factor is clean water quality. With the amount of feeding required the nutrient levels are going to rise so you're going to have to do water changes frequently in order to keep a good balance on the tank. Keep the tank closer to 76F degrees instead of 80F. Don't try to keep dendronephthya (aka cauliflower coral) in any home aquarium. No matter what they always seem to decline and perish.




    Curator Interview with Phillip Scheller by: Jessy Timko
    Video Shot in HD & Produced By (using a Nikon D90): Jessy Timko



    Comments 10 Comments
    1. Jessy's Avatar
      Jessy -
      My Article has comments now
    1. VulcanRider's Avatar
      VulcanRider -
      Nice, now ya just gotta get the comments from the other page over here.
    1. melev's Avatar
      melev -
      That sounds like merging - I ain't gonna touch that.
    1. VulcanRider's Avatar
      VulcanRider -
      LOL. That sounds like a challenge.
    1. Servo's Avatar
      Servo -
      Great tank. With all of that feeding, I predict the sun corals take over like overgrown palythoa's.
    1. MeVsTheWorld's Avatar
      MeVsTheWorld -
      Very nice. A guy (Chuck Stottlemire) is in my local club and has been a pioneer of sorts in NPS corals. Here is a link to a write up done about him in Reefkeeping online magazine http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-02/feature/index.php I believ he is in the works on another tank. January, he gave a speech at our meeting about the process, incredible to say the least..
    1. seapug's Avatar
      seapug -
      i've seen this tank in person. It really is cool. On a side note-- I would definitely consider "a sump with a lot of live rock covered in sponge growth" a refugium just like a sump with a DSB and macro ball.
    1. spllbnd2's Avatar
      spllbnd2 -
      That is an awesome set up. I currently have one of my own reefs set up that I dedicate to the non-photosynthetic corals I have.
    1. upster's Avatar
      upster -
      When he says hourly feedings, do you think that is done by hand? Or would a doser be used?
    1. Finna's Avatar
      Finna -
      Quote Originally Posted by upster View Post
      When he says hourly feedings, do you think that is done by hand? Or would a doser be used?
      When I volunteered for him about a year and a half ago, it was all scatter feeds done by hand, several times a day. It was a great exhibit to get to watch develop. =)