CW's

[pcw]

On 5/13/2020 at 10:59 PM, soggycookies said:

lovely. looking forward to seeing your tank grow again! and glad the toadstool i got from you is doing well too


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Thanks! Haha glad that it is doing well with you (: 

[pcw]

One of my favourite goniopora frags (: hoping to find more after the circuit breaker period

 

[pcw]

Got this prata while it was almost completely bleached some time ago. Some colour (brown nonetheless) seems to be coming back.

[pcw]

Another bleached prata that is recovering:

[titustitus]

Wooo would love to see the recovery progress man! 

[Alfredphua]

Nice tank


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[pcw]

Took the opportunity to inspect the NPS corals I've placed a dedicated compartment in my sump.

The water that overflows from my DT into the sump is entirely channeled through this rather narrow compartment before hitting the mechanical, biological and chemical filtration systems. This was done in the hope of (1) giving these corals the chance to catch food particles that flow into the sump; and (2) keeping them in a shaded location away from light (coralline seems to hurt them and balanophyllia is a coral which remains sensitive to light even after years in captivity). 

Most of them seem to be recovering. Some much slower than others.

[JiaEn]

I have been thinking about the feeding habit of these NPS.

They have colonial polyps which require individual feeding. I am quite doubtful that they can all have a good share of bigger pieces of food in the wild. The density of larger sized planktons is just not that high. Thus I suspect they actually prey on smaller nanoplanktons 

I did some quick search on papers regarding the gut content of Tubastrea sp. , it seems that 70%+ of the content is in fact nanoflagellates. 

If so, would an aquarium with robust nanoplakton population be able to sustain these animals without additional feeding? 

[pcw]

On 3/1/2021 at 10:08 AM, JiaEn said:

I have been thinking about the feeding habit of these NPS.

They have colonial polyps which require individual feeding. I am quite doubtful that they can all have a good share of bigger pieces of food in the wild. The density of larger sized planktons is just not that high. Thus I suspect they actually prey on smaller nanoplanktons 

I did some quick search on papers regarding the gut content of Tubastrea sp. , it seems that 70%+ of the content is in fact nanoflagellates. 

If so, would an aquarium with robust nanoplakton population be able to sustain these animals without additional feeding? 

In respect of colonial-type NPS corals, I agree and highly doubt that each individual polyp is able to capture big pieces of food in the wild. 

It is probably possible to keep without dedicated feeding in a tank with a robust plankton population. Though I am not sure how that can be done with various mechanical filtration systems that are now mainstays in the hobby.

 

[JiaEn]

46 minutes ago, pcw said:

how that can be done with various mechanical filtration systems that are now mainstays in the hobby.

Indeed fleece style filtration is not condusive for planktons. But perhaps good generation and less aggressive mechanical filtration may spare enough? 

[pcw]

On 3/3/2021 at 7:58 PM, JiaEn said:

Indeed fleece style filtration is not condusive for planktons. But perhaps good generation and less aggressive mechanical filtration may spare enough? 

Then there's the trade off with having more detritus accumulate :/

[JiaEn]

Reporting back some finding. 

I have placed this colony of sun coral in my sump,  right after mechanical filtration. It's in the same chamber as my zeovit reactor. My sump is unlit. 

Most of the polyps are out, most of the time. So most likely they do feed on bacteria plankton. 

[Guest]

Update on your corals please

[subxero]

Reporting back some finding. 

I have placed this colony of sun coral in my sump,  right after mechanical filtration. It's in the same chamber as my zeovit reactor. My sump is unlit. 
Most of the polyps are out, most of the time. So most likely they do feed on bacteria plankton. 

Interesting..

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[Harlequinmania]

seem like they are also alot of sponges growing on your sun corals.

[pcw]

I've been cutting up scolymias and cynarinas. 

Snapped a picture of one of my scolymia frags. This frag has rounded off nicely from half a scolymia over the course of a year. I realised that the frags really need to be fed. The other half which was not fed (left as a control) withered over the course of 3-4 months. But this half seems to have grown well.

I'll share the feeding regime again in a separate post to follow.

 

 

Edited June 3, 2022 by pcw

[pcw]

Rhizotrochus can be fragged! Sharing this in case anyone would like to try. 

16 June 2022

 

2 July 2022

 

8 January 2023 (finally some skeletal growth showing)

 

20 January 2023 (with more frags coming along)