Going DEEP - The deep sea (stylasterid) concept tank experiment

[Gaufl]

Hey everyone,
this thread is to document my experiments with setting up a system dedicated to keeping stylasterid hydrocorals in a "deep sea" setting.
To my knowledge this has not been done before, so I am happy to contribute this experiment to the reefing community.

Note: This is still a concept tank and should not be dupilicated until the concept has prooven successful.

A little background on myself:
Im a reefer from germany and really into keeping NPS corals and have been doing so for the past tree-ish years.
If you would like to check out my work, you can find my tank on Instagram @darksidereefing.

I am also really interested in keeping stylasterid hydrocorals such as Distichopora and Stylaster. As you might know, there are still no long-term success stories with keeping these animals long term. Hopefully I can contribute to their success in captivity.

The idea:
Many Stylasterids can be found in shallow waters in caves or sheltered spots but also in deeper waters. Ive seen some pics and videos of solitary stylasterid colonies on single rocks near deep sea geological structures in really low flow. The idea of this tank is to replicate a low laminar flow deep water environment with a constant supply of suspended foods.

The tank
For this concept aquarium, I am using a tank originally designed for jellyfish by econlux. This tank differs a bit from the typical jellyfish tanks and can also be equipped with a TEC (peltier) chiller for keeping the aninals cool.


Status of the project
As of now, the tank is up and cycling.

Any ideas or input welcome!

Greetings
Flo

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Hey everyone,
this thread is to document my experiments with setting up a system dedicated to keeping stylasterid hydrocorals in a "deep sea" setting.
To my knowledge this has not been done before, so I am happy to contribute this experiment to the reefing community.

Note: This is still a concept tank and should not be dupilicated until the concept has prooven successful.

A little background on myself:
Im a reefer from germany and really into keeping NPS corals and have been doing so for the past tree-ish years.
If you would like to check out my work, you can find my tank on Instagram @darksidereefing.

I am also really interested in keeping stylasterid hydrocorals such as Distichopora and Stylaster. As you might know, there are still no long-term success stories with keeping these animals long term. Hopefully I can contribute to their success in captivity.

The idea:
Many Stylasterids can be found in shallow waters in caves or sheltered spots but also in deeper waters. Ive seen some pics and videos of solitary stylasterid colonies on single rocks near deep sea geological structures in really low flow. The idea of this tank is to replicate a low laminar flow deep water environment with a constant supply of suspended foods.

The tank
For this concept aquarium, I am using a tank originally designed for jellyfish by econlux. This tank differs a bit from the typical jellyfish tanks and can also be equipped with a TEC (peltier) chiller for keeping the aninals cool.


Status of the project
As of now, the tank is up and cycling.

Any ideas or input welcome!

Greetings
Flo

Interesting concept

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!!

 

[taricha]

Had to look up those.
I can see why you'd put the effort in. Stunning.
https://reefbuilders.com/2017/06/09/distichopora/

 

[kwf1800]

Interesting concept

Wow. A different order than corals? One can learn something new every day.
If I read the mentioned attachment correctly. We do not know what they eat?
You mentioned suspended food. So they get food by capturing it as it floats by? Or that is an assumption based on the fact they can't move to the food the food must come to them. Like other similar forms of sea life.

 

[Gaufl]

@taricha Yes these are so unique and awesome. I would love to have them thrive in this system and "crack the code" on them.
Greetings,
Flo

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Cool idea. I hope it works out for you, those are some neat hydrocorals.

 

[Forty-Two]

Interesting. Is it your intention to some how increase the pressure within the tank to simulate a 'deep water' environment?

 

[Gaufl]

Sadly, the tank is not suitable for increased pressure, the idea is to keep them in a dark, cool, laminar flowing tank with constant food. My specimens have been collected from shallower waters, so pressure shouldnt be a problem.

 

[danieyella]

Very cool project, excited to watch your progress

 

[Gaufl]

Thanks! Im gonna post some pics of the specimens tonight. They are so awesome

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My specimens have been collected from shallower waters, so pressure shouldnt be a problem.

Do you collect them yourself?

 

[Gaufl]

No, my specimens have all been collected by Cairns Marine in Australia, then imported by Amblard France

 

[Gaufl]

Soo everyone here are some pics of the specimens I managed to get.
Grertings,
Flo

 

[mav3rick478]

Following.

You should look into the powdered plankton from Captiv8 Aquaculture. If you email Chris and tell him what you are doing he is more than willing to point you in the right direction.

 

[geologeek]

Any thoughts on plumbing this into a larger sump/system so you can maintain water quality with the continuous food in the kreisel? Suitable size mesh in the jelly tank/kreisel to keep the food in, but a larger body of water to help with water quality?

 

[Gaufl]

@mav3rick478 thanks! I will check it out!
@geologeek Great idea. Not really a DIY guy but this might work

Greetings,
Flo

 

[Gaufl]

Wow. A different order than corals? One can learn something new every day.
If I read the mentioned attachment correctly. We do not know what they eat?
You mentioned suspended food. So they get food by capturing it as it floats by? Or that is an assumption based on the fact they can't move to the food the food must come to them. Like other similar forms of sea life.

Sorry for the late reply! Yes, there are Hydrozoans so they are more closely related to jellyfish. They do still have a aragonite skeleton like some Anthozoans.
Sadly, the types of food they consume is not completely known. My best guess based on their habitat and gasterzooid (polyp) size would be super small zooplankton and bacterioplankton. Add in some phyto for the shallower water species.
They will capture the food directly as it passes. They also might be able to consume nutrients and aminos through their tissue directly.

Greetings,
Flo

 

[LRT]

Very cool following along for sure

 

[Gaufl]

So everyone I've made some progress. Let's do it the right way.
Today, I've added "the scape" (I dont know if you can call adding one piece of rock to the tank scaping)...
The rock is a non-calcareous rock that has been "ageing" in the sump of my NPS tank for a few years. Its well covered with all sorts of life, bryozoans and foraminiferans.

Now that there is life in the tank, I will be dosing live Phyto every day to get the microfauna going.

Next week, I will be doing the first water change.

Greetings, Flo