Dendronephthya & Scleronephthya aquaculture

najer · Mar 4, 2020

MixedFruitBasket said:
Does the purple with white have sclerites near the tips? If so, it's probably Chromonephthya. Good find if so. The yellow/gold one appears to be stereonephthya, but I'd have to get a closer look at the stems to be 100% sure.

AcroNem · Mar 4, 2020

I am going to rejoin this thread, it's been a long time

MixedFruitBasket · Mar 4, 2020

Oh yes, exquisite. Pretty darn sure that's Chromonephthya! Wow what a stunning color!

MixedFruitBasket · Mar 4, 2020

Here’s a photo of my new stereonephthya that I received Tuesday.

And yeah it really is that incredibly violet colored. It’s amazing.

yes those are tiny yellow brittle stars living on it.

Dr. Dendrostein · Mar 4, 2020

Recently sent to me(photo). Tonga and Indonesia carnation corals, dendronephthya sp.
At a wholesaler

Dr. Dendrostein · Mar 4, 2020

MixedFruitBasket said:
Here’s a photo of my new stereonephthya that I received Tuesday.

And yeah it really is that incredibly violet colored. It’s amazing.

yes those are tiny yellow brittle stars living on it.

Thanks for sharing

Dr. Dendrostein · Mar 4, 2020

najer said:

Definitely we need to cut that up and everybody chip in and help him grow it....Hahaha

Dr. Dendrostein · Mar 4, 2020

Time to increase powder foods, when it just gets dark . Once every 45 min

Dr. Dendrostein · Mar 4, 2020

AcroNem said:
I am going to rejoin this thread, it's been a long time

I was very green then....Hahaha

Dr. Dendrostein · Mar 4, 2020

Just for AcroNem

What have we learned and/or discovered by accident

In relation to NPS soft corals, we know we need proper food, proper flow, proper filtration.
If we rely on having these corals in a typical reef tank, we are looking at disappointment, they need a dedicated tank

Foods
We feed liquid Reef nutrition Phyto-Feast dead version, add shrimp food,we add Reef Roids, raw egg. Blend together. Then I have a fish feeder that can feed powder Foods, and I modified to come on once every hour. Powder foods are Reef Roids, and freeze dry algae. In the last 4 days I started adding powder whole egg, to it.

Filtration
I have approximately 20 lb of Marco Rock, 2 and half gallon do-it-yourself canister filter it circulate in the sump, for biological filtration. And a homemade DE filtration system that connects on the discharge of the return pump. It is charged every two weeks.

Flow
Now flow took a while to figure out, try to describe it the best I can. First of all the tank has a divider that is approximately 6 inches away from the back of the tank. That way water circulate around it in a circular fashion and the corals are attached on to the divider. So I have a pump we'll call South pump and I have a North pump. The South Palm will stay on 8 minutes and the North pump will turn on for 20 seconds and then turn off for 30 seconds , North pump will do this within the 8 minutes that the south pump is running continuously. Then the North pump will come on for 8 minutes and the South pump will turn on for 20 seconds and then turn off for 30 seconds within the 8 minutes of the north pump being on. I use 3 micro timers to achieve this.

Rotation or spinning of corals
I was spinning the coral very slowly every time I would look at it or them, 90° or a hundred and 80 degrees. since I discovered the flow pattern I described above, I no longer need to rotate them.

The flow pattern I discovered about a little over 2 months ago, and every carnation I have since then show no atrophy, neither rapid growth, but the carnation corals that I cut to frag, the area that is cut on the coral has small polyps sprouting out after about 2 weeks.
There's more but for another time.