Dendronephthyadendronephthya - Need to pick y'alls brain

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BrianC

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[I have one atop a thorney oyster. On the same shell is 2 sun polyps... Both the Dendronephthya and sun polyps need Zoo plankton.

The Dendronephthya has been in the tank over a month iti's actuall doing ok??? Though I've taken no special measure? It's actually split and there is one on the glass infact!

Here is what I am planning on doing; (idea is owed to Amanda)

I will use the top half of a coke bottle to inclose the area around the oyster and corals. Using air hose I will make a drip line from the first 1/2 inch inside the bottle and connect that to a drip container of some sort.

Every other night I would drip and ounce of phyoplankton into the apparatus

My question is what could I use to hold the phyto and run the the drip line from... any suggestions?]



Edited By BrianC on 1095556258
 
[FYI, the stuff I showed you today by Two Little Fishes is probably a great food for that coral. It is called ZoPlan - Advanced Zooplankton Diet.

I was reading the container finally when I got home from Dallas, and it states:

ZoPlan is a blend of dried crustaceans and other sea creatures in a size range that makes it an ideal food for filterfeeding marine invertebrates such as soft and stony corals, gorgonians, seafans, anemones, zoanthids, hydrozoans, clams and featherdusters. Particle size range includes Nanoplankton, Microplankton, and Macroplankton. Also a food for plankton eating fishes or larval fishes.

Ingredients are dried shrimp, copepods(!), fish, crabs, and other marine invertebrates.

A jar of this stuff won't last long on my tank, but I gave it a shot. I had to mix 1 tsp for every 20g in my setup. I decided to pretend my tank was a 240g to avoid overdosing the tank. Premixing it in a cup of RO water and letting it mix for a few minutes, it was dumped in the tank. It is recommended to do this daily. :lookaround:

It might be worth getting some and using a turkey baster to feed that coral once or twice a day through the feeding cap you are going to make. You can actually have the baster does the food via the long tubing.

I know you wanted a drip system, and I'm sure you'll figure one out. Even an inverted bottle with a flip top lid would probably suffice, set up to drip into a funnel that leads to the tubing. I just think it won't fall down far enough via drip unless the actual 'food' is heavier than water, since the tubing will be full of tank water up to the surface.]
 
[Good point on the drip Marc didn't think of that. Doesn't phyto usually disipate in water though?]
 
[A plastic bottle, drill a hole in the cap sized perfect for airline (a little small is probabaly better). Glue the airline in. Others have taken it a step farther by replacing the cap with a rubber stopper. Add an airline valve, when you need to feed, simply turn the aparatis over and let some drain out through the airline?

Never tried it, but thats how I have done my DIY CO2 generators for my planted tank. Though I never had to turn it upside down, it did have to hold enough pressure so the CO2 would make it into the tank and not escape from the bottle. For the cheap cost of materials it may be worth a shot.]
 
[Because the inner diameter of the tubing is so small, I have a hard time picturing the phyto making the long trip down. However as long as there is more dropping into the tubing, I have to imagine that force will push it down.

Another option would be to do similar to what Matt suggested, but use an airpump to pressurize your bottle. You can control how much air goes into the bottle with a tiny in-line ballvalve. Now you can set the bottle next to the tank, and run the tubing from the bottle to the feeding dome and using an airpump slowly force the food up and over and down into the dome at the pace you prefer.

Drawback? The pump won't turn off until you do it or a timer turns it off. Add a check valve on the feeding tube to avoid siphoning water out of the tank.]
 
[Trying to feed it with the bottle method is a great idea. The biggest problem is that phytoplankton only makes up about 35% of its diet. I would think that home cultured phyto would be less effective than DT's, because it contains 3-4 different strains of phyto.
Another approx 30% comes from other bacteria in the tank. Cyano, dinoflagellates, etc.... and then the rest is still unkown.
They arent known to die quickly, some taking 6-8 months before showing decline.
Sorry, Im not trying to bum you out! I think its great that are you willing to make an effort to keep it thriving. Maybe with some dedicated care its survival could drastically improve. Keep us updated on your efforts and its health.]
 
[hmm yah it may get stuck in the airline good point...

you could try some 1/4" from the hardware store maybe?]
 
[If the source (whatever your putting into the Funnel) is abouve the hieght of the water it will floww down the tube. Like a manometer it will seek it own level. Its own level will be the level of the water in the tank, so if you put the phyto in the funnel it will push the tank water out of the tubing and flow down to the "feeding bottle".
I hope this makes sense. I did while I was typing it. :nod:]
 
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