Continuous plankton feeding?

[surgeonfish]

I was reminded on Sunday while in a LFS to regularly feed my corals every 1-2 days. This made me feel guilty as I have been feeding them rarely and they haven't been thriving.

This got me thinking. A few of my corals appear to have open polyps and feeding at night, but most of them are contracted at night. Would it be beneficial to continuously feed them 24/7? Would this more closely approximate real conditions on the reef? If so, is anyone doing this?

I was thinking of mixing a weeks worth of phytomax, chromamax, zoomax, reef-roids, coral frenzy etc. into a few litres of SW and dripping them directly into the tank. I am thinking of using a peristaltic pump to accurately control the rate and use a magnetic stirrer or airstone to keep the plankton in suspension. Does this sound crazy?

[Delphinus]

There has been some exploring into this area but it doesn't seem to have taken hold in the mainstream just yet.

In short, yes there is benefit to a continuous feeding regimen if you could somehow manage it.

There are a couple commercial plankton reactors that grow phyto and can be dripped into the tank, presumably could also be dripped into a second stage reactor growing rotifers to feed those, and then have that dripped into the tank. (These are the ones I'm thinking of:
http://www.aqua-medic.com/products/products.php?category=Plankton%20Units&product=Plankton%20Reactor )

I've always wanted to try something like this at some point:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/nftt/index.php

There's also this:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-10/nftt/index.php

More articles:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/subject/feeding.htm

[albert_dao]

I was reminded on Sunday while in a LFS to regularly feed my corals every 1-2 days. This made me feel guilty as I have been feeding them rarely and they haven't been thriving.

This got me thinking. A few of my corals appear to have open polyps and feeding at night, but most of them are contracted at night. Would it be beneficial to continuously feed them 24/7? Would this more closely approximate real conditions on the reef? If so, is anyone doing this?

I was thinking of mixing a weeks worth of phytomax, chromamax, zoomax, reef-roids, coral frenzy etc. into a few litres of SW and dripping them directly into the tank. I am thinking of using a peristaltic pump to accurately control the rate and use a magnetic stirrer or airstone to keep the plankton in suspension. Does this sound crazy?

Sounds like the recipe for a big vat of microbial rot to me :(

You'd have to be going through the batches in pretty short order. Having that stuff sit around at room temperature for any length of time will only yield bacterial snot; lots of it.

[Sushiman]

I agree, put alot of thought into it, it just sounds like if anything goes wrong, it could go wrong bigtime.

[Reefer Rob]

I think you need to look at something else besides lack of food for your corals not thriving. What you're suggesting looks more like a recipe too keep your LFS guys well fed :smile:

I haven't found that any of my corals, except my sun coral, need to be fed to thrive. Feeding just speeds up their growth.

When I get my new tank stable, I'm going to start feeding "Pappone" a couple of times a week.

[danny zubot]

I'm curious if its best to feed during the day time or a night? Or does that depend on the coral?

[KrazyKuch]

Depends on the coral....If you look at say Candy caines their polyps are only out at night!!

[surgeonfish]

Reefer Rob
What is "Pappone"?

[andsoitgoes]

Depends on the coral....If you look at say Candy caines their polyps are only out at night!!

Hrm - interesting. Mine are out morning, noon, sometimes night... All the time, really! It seems rather random ;)

[albert_dao]

Reefer Rob
What is "Pappone"?

Seafood slurry + sugar. Involves amino acid use prior to feeding. Italians have mastered this method.

[Reefer Rob]

Pappone and the "Blue Coral Method" is discussed on this thread (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=971190)