Nano-Box: nTOTM - Mike Cao's NPS Nano Tank

This is the first of many nTOTM's I plan on featuring. Mike's tank is not only amazing it is very interesting as he takes a totally new approach to nano reef keeping. Non-photosynthetic tank's are starting to become the new rage but Mike has been perfecting his for almost a year now.

Mike Cao’s Non-photosynthetic Nano NPS Tank

1. Can you give us a background about yourself and how you became interested in reef keeping?
My interest in all living things and the science behind them started from as long ago as I can remember. Growing up in the city made it difficult to keep most pets, except for fish. I started keeping fish from when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I set up my first reef tank when I was about 12, and throughout my early teenage years I always had at least a couple of tanks running. This was over 20 years ago, before we started using the internet to share and learn about reefing. Throughout the rest of my teenage years and my twenties I stopped keeping aquariums and became involved in visual arts and graphics. After working in graphic design for many years, my love for science and animals re-emerged, and I went back to school to study veterinary medicine.
Reefkeeping to me is a combination of art and science. After taking a long hiatus from the hobby, I started up again about 3 or 4 years ago. The main thing that drew me back into the hobby was the nano reef tank boom. I was simply amazed at what people were able to keep in these tiny little boxes of water. What is even more amazing, is that in just a few years nano reef keeping has advanced to the point where some nano tanks can rival their large counterparts. In fact, with certain corals, such as non-photosynthetic (NPS) varieties, nano tanks may be the best option.
2. How did you become involved with in NPS corals?
I became involved with NPS corals when I started stocking my 20 gallon Elos Mini. My local fish store always had a few NPS corals in their tanks. The most beautiful corals that I saw in there were always the NPS ones, so when I designed the rockscape for the tank I made it so that a large portion of the tank would be shadowed by a shelf rock overhang. The original intent with the tank was to have a mixed reef with relatively easy NPS corals such as Dendrophyllia spp. and Rhizotrochus typus. I then “moved up” and tried a couple of NPS gorgonians, specifically Menella sp. and Guaiagorgia sp. I also kept some photosynthetic corals in the tank at the time, but soon decided that life would be much easier if I just concentrated on the NPS corals.

3. What is you current system?
My current system is a 20 gallon Elos Mini, which includes an Elos sump and stand. I purchased this system used in May/June 2009 from a fellow hobbyist that was moving out of state. I sold the “e-lite” LED fixture that comes with the system. I started the tank with Bulk Reef Supply dry Fiji rock, Tropic Eden Miniflakes, some live rock rubble and live sand. The tank houses all non-photosynthetic corals and a young Antennarius pictus (Painted Angler).
4. What equipment are you currently using?
Lighting: Evilc66/Nanotuners 21w Par38 LED lamp. 20K color temp w/ 80º optics.
Filtration: - Ozotech Poseidon 200mg/hr ozone generator - Aquamedic 1000 CO2 Reactor used as an ozone reactor - Coralife Luft air pump to feed ozone - Ozotech Air Dryer - NextReef MR1 Shorty Media Reactor filled with carbon - Euro-Reef RC80 External Recirculating Skimmer
Water Circulation: - Eheim compact return pump - Vortech MP10 on long pulse mode - Maxi-Jet 600 to feed ozone reactor (soon to be replaced with a stronger pump) - Maxi-Jet 600 to feed protein skimmer
Feeding: - 2 New Era Pump Systems “Just Infusion” Syringe Pumps - Modified GEO kalkwasser reactor
Other: - Neptune Systems Aquacontroller Jr. - Milwaukee ORP controller - Finnex 100w Titanium Heater (tank is maintained between 72-74º F) - APC Smart-UPS battery backup - Honda EU2000i Inverter Generator - Ogles Mesoscope

5. What is your current livestock?
Corals: - Balanophyllia sp. - Dendronephthya sp. - Dendrophyllia sp. (multiple) - Diodogorgia nodulifera sp. (multiple) - Guaiagorgia sp. (2) - Menella sp. - Ptilocaulis sp. - Rhizotrochus typus (2) - Swiftia exserta - Tubastrea spp. (multiple) - Several unidentified NPS gorgonians
Fish: - Antennarius pictus
Other Invertebrates: - Crinoid feather star - Nassarius snails - Trochus snails

6.What is your feeding and dosing schedule?
Maintenance & Dosing: - Daily 1.5 gallon water changes with Instant Ocean salt - Brightwell Aquatics MB7 3-4 drops daily - Kent Iodine 2.5 ml weekly - Glass cleaned with Magfloat and Kent scraper periodically
Feeding: - 0.85 ml/hr Reef Nutrition Roti-Feast via syringe pump  - 0.35 ml/hr Reed Mariculture Shellfish Diet via syringe pump - 5 ml/day Fauna Marin Dendronephthya System with Ultra Pac via GEO kalk reactor - Fauna Marin Ultra Min F, Ultra Seafan, Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp, Cyclop-eeze manually target fed 6-8 times/day - H2O Life Mini Mysis, Hikari Mysis, PE Mysis soaked in vitamins and/or Selcon target fed to Balanophyllia, Dendrophyllia, Rhizotrochus and Tubastrea daily - Live saltwater feeder fish fed to Antennarius pictus 2-3 times/wk - Sandbed stirred daily

7. Do you have any future plans for this tank or an upgrade?
For the most part, the tank is on a regular schedule now and I am just dealing with the every day feeding, maintenance and observation which in itself can become quite time consuming. Some of the gorgonians grow incredibly fast, even faster than SPS corals. I have also had a Tubastrea colony spawn and have seen a few baby polyps throughout the tank. My future plan is to connect this tank to a 65 gallon marine planted tank that I am setting up. I hope that the nutrients from this tank will feed the plants/macroalgae, and the planted tank will feed this tank with zooplankton larvae, detritus and mucus/bacterial aggregrates. The continuous feeding and lack of pod eating fish has allowed for a tremendous amount of life to exist all over the tank. Even now, the tank has pods crawling on every surface at all times of the day and night. They even help the gorgonians and sponge stay free of detritus build up on their surfaces. To ease the daily maintenance involved in keeping this tank a bit, I also plan to set up a continuous water changing system.
8. Do you plan on upgrading any equipment on this tank or incorporating any new idea's?
Perhaps the thing I am anticipating most is the development of a chilled food reactor. The idea was brought to my attention by the creator of this website. For me, it will provide a way to feed the Fauna Marin Dendronephthya system in a much more efficient manner than with a kalk reactor. It will also allow me to automate the feeding of foods like frozen Cyclop-eeze and Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp. This aspect of the food reactor would also make it a very useful tool for those keeping many of the more demanding zooplankton feeding fishes, such as Apogon parvulus or many of the Anthias. Technology in reef keeping has come a long way from when I first started and we are keeping animals that I never thought possible before. I really think this food reactor is going to fill a growing demand.
9. Can you give us any tips and tricks for people wanting to try a NPS tank?
I am going to stick to some basic principles for giving tips and tricks to new NPS reefers. First, nutrient export must equal nutrient import or you will eventually crash your tank. With the amount of food required to maintain NPS gorgonians and soft corals, plan on doing a lot of water changes. If you plan it out right, this doesn’t have to be a lot of work. Now this is where I will throw common belief out the window. Nanos are well suited for NPS tanks because the cost of salt won’t be as high, nor will the cost of food. Sure, a large tank gives you more stability and dilution of nutrients, but with these tanks you have to achieve a certain concentration of food in the water no matter what, so that extra water volume can hurt you more than help you. If anything, connect a small NPS tank to a larger system and feed the NPS tank first. Second, start with something easy and work your way up. I suggest trying some of the Dendrophyllia spp., or anything that doesn’t require multiple feedings throughout the day. Once you get the hang of that, try something a little more demanding, and keep advancing this way. This not only allows you to gain knowledge and improve your husbandry, but it allows your tank to adjust to higher nutrient levels. My next piece of advice relates to the previous one. Work on developing your observation skills. This is a big part of where the art and science of reef keeping come together. There is no recipe on how much to feed NPS corals. You must learn how to observe and adjust the feeding based on these observations. I pull out my Ogles Mesoscope and look at all of my corals whenever I can, especially when feeding. Finally, take it seriously. This is a hobby, but we are dealing with living things. I’m going to be blunt here. Always give your best effort in maintaining an aquarium, and with an NPS gorgonian/softie tank if your best effort means you can’t afford or don’t have time for continuous feeding and multiple water changes per week, it’s best to stick with different corals.