When do you feed your corals ?

[gregzz4]

I've just started keeping some SPS, Zoas and a Frogspawn
I currently have no fish in the DT to feed, so I'd like to keep the corals fed
The Frog and Zoas close up after lights out, and some, but not all, of the SPS polyps recede

I suppose I could feed once daytime, and once after lights out, but there's nobody left to feed at night :smile:

I've read differing ideas as to when to add phyto and would like to know what you all do
Ie;
Do you feed during the day whenever you feel like it ?
Do you feed after lights out ?

Thanks for your input

[gregzz4]

Um, forgot to add ...
About 1 hour or so after lights out, some SPS polyps come out, but I'll not be up regularly to feed them

[monocus]

i put rotifers and phytoplankton in my sump in the morning and at night.that way there is a constant supply of food as the water circulates.the rotifers also reproduce every 16 hours

[gregzz4]

Bill, you don't run socks, do you ...
I am running with the idea of turning off my return pump for 5-10 mins when I feed the phyto as I have socks

So I can't put them in the sump, you see

[gregzz4]

Bill, that was a question more than a statement ...
I got the impression last time we spoke that you don't
You don't run socks, correct ?

[Reefie]

I've got a mixture of zooplankton and phytoplankton that is fed to the tank 1 hour after lights out via doser. Everything seems to be doing well since I've been dosing food along with Ca & Alk supplements.

I'd like to suggest picking up some Zeo Amino Acid Concentrate for SPS and as well as some Zeo Sponge Power to be dosed twice a week and when adding new corals. I met the Zeo Rep a few months ago at J&L, and we had a quick chat about some of the products. Zeo makes some great colour enhancers. The best thing about them are that they are still compatible with Bio-Pellets, ZeoVit, and as well as Prodibio.

[Madmak]

I feed my tank a heavily blended slurry of many frozen foods, cyclopeze, vitamins C and E, and SeaChem Fuel right before lights out and have my feed cycle set to leave the return and slimmer off for 30 minutes and the closed loop off for 15. Everything seems to open up or extend its feeding tentacles and get their share.

Cloudy as heck for a bit but it's dark.

[gregzz4]

I've got a mixture of zooplankton and phytoplankton that is fed to the tank 1 hour after lights out via doser. Everything seems to be doing well since I've been dosing food along with Ca & Alk supplements.

I'd like to suggest picking up some Zeo Amino Acid Concentrate for SPS and as well as some Zeo Sponge Power to be dosed twice a week and when adding new corals. I met the Zeo Rep a few months ago at J&L, and we had a quick chat about some of the products. Zeo makes some great colour enhancers. The best thing about them are that they are still compatible with Bio-Pellets, ZeoVit, and as well as Prodibio.
Great info, thank you

[gregzz4]

I feed my tank a heavily blended slurry of many frozen foods, cyclopeze, vitamins C and E, and SeaChem Fuel right before lights out and have my feed cycle set to leave the return and slimmer off for 30 minutes and the closed loop off for 15. Everything seems to open up or extend its feeding tentacles and get their share.

Cloudy as heck for a bit but it's dark.
Also great info, thanks

But, what's a slimmer ?
Can I find one for the wife, or is it some secret device ?

If she ever saw this, you would never hear from me again :twised:
8 feet under, or burned and fed to the plants !!!!!!

Honestly, for the record, my wife is in awesome shape, ex-gymnast, so I have to clarify it ...
I AM ONLY KIDDING HONEY :mrgreen:

[gregzz4]

I feed my tank a heavily blended slurry of many frozen foods, cyclopeze, vitamins C and E, and SeaChem Fuel right before lights out and have my feed cycle set to leave the return and slimmer off for 30 minutes and the closed loop off for 15. Everything seems to open up or extend its feeding tentacles and get their share.

Cloudy as heck for a bit but it's dark.
Is this just your coral food mix ?

[Reefie]

Just thought I'd keep this for future reference in case you have something that I want or NEED. :wink:

Also great info, thanks

But, what's a slimmer ?
Can I find one for the wife, or is it some secret device ?

If she ever saw this, you would never hear from me again :twised:
8 feet under, or burned and fed to the plants !!!!!! :mrgreen:

[gregzz4]

Just thought I'd keep this for future reference in case you have something that I want or NEED. :wink:
Blackmailer :twised:

I'm sure I can find you something you need that I don't want ......

Great way to start a new friendship ... just you wait ....

[gregzz4]

So, back to my questions ...

[Nano]

I have just been feeding my tank reef roids for the past few months, and dosing vitamin c, calcium and magnesium. nothin fancy, I just mix it into my top off water

[Aquattro]

I don't feed corals at all.

[Madmak]

Is this just your coral food mix ?

The fish eat the majority of it but I blend it up for the corals and filter feeders. I feed the fish nori and the frozen food as well, just not blended up.

[monocus]

no i don't run socks.water splits at the drain-one side to an algae scrubber,and one below it-runs to the refugium with sand,live rock,and macro algae,bubble disperser,then to return.adding a phosban reactor today.the rotifers are 130-340 microns and the phyto is around the same size to a little bit bigger

[PurpleMonkey]

I have mainly LPS, I usually get some TLF coral snow, and Coral Frenzy and Cyclopeeze, mix em up with some tank water, turn off circ pump but leave the mp10 on. Using turkey baster, I "target" the corals and then leave the circ off for at least an hour (mp10 is on the whole time tho).

[gregzz4]

I don't feed corals at all.
But you have fish :smile:

Thanks everybody, lots of great input

[Aquattro]

But you have fish :smile:

Thanks everybody, lots of great input

Even when I didn't have fish, I don't feed corals. Frag tank, fishless, no feeding.

[gregzz4]

Even when I didn't have fish, I don't feed corals. Frag tank, fishless, no feeding.
Hmm
I guess it won't hurt to only feed them once a week then

[Aquattro]

Hmm
I guess it won't hurt to only feed them once a week then

honestly, IMO, feeding corals is not necessary, and contributes to water pollution in the tank. I've got a large frogspawn that has doubled in size and I've never fed it.
As for SPS, I think feeding is a complete waste of time and wouldn't bother. I tried feeding mine years ago, found they tended to brown out more, and I got nothing positive out it.

[mohammadali]

i feed my corals 3times a week
i turn off all the pumps and power head and leave the lights on after i feed em all about 30min to 1 hour lafter feeding i turn on my pumps and power head except the skimmer

[Aquattro]

i feed my corals 3times a week
i turn off all the pumps and power head and leave the lights on after i feed em all about 30min to 1 hour lafter feeding i turn on my pumps and power head except the skimmer

Why? What benefit do you see from this? How do the corals compare to not being fed?

[Rice Reef]

honestly, IMO, feeding corals is not necessary, and contributes to water pollution in the tank. I've got a large frogspawn that has doubled in size and I've never fed it.
As for SPS, I think feeding is a complete waste of time and wouldn't bother. I tried feeding mine years ago, found they tended to brown out more, and I got nothing positive out it.

+1. I find that fish poop is already enough. I have a bubble coral that had almost discintegrated and two yrs later is a size of a softball and I have never fed it.

[toytech]

for my mainly zoa and lps frag tank i blend a sea food mix(fish ,clams,squid) into a fine mush add some selcon and feed every couple of days , like 3 or 4. Ive been getting good growth and some better color out of my zoas and the lps love it my duncan has gone from 3 heads to 24 heads in 6 or 7 months after years of no growth , and my acans are fat and happy.

[reefwars]

for my mainly zoa and lps frag tank i blend a sea food mix(fish ,clams,squid) into a fine mush add some selcon and feed every couple of days , like 3 or 4. Ive been getting good growth and some better color out of my zoas and the lps love it my duncan has gone from 3 heads to 24 heads in 6 or 7 months after years of no growth , and my acans are fat and happy.



yup lps will benefit from target feeding, my duncan exploded once i started feeding it would grow around 10 heads every 2 weeks:)

my elegance has went from 6-8" in january to about 15-20" now:P

all my zoas grow like crazy same with my palys.

i also have nps corals so feeding them is a must or they would die.


feeding this adds no polution to my tank no matter what i feed it cant keep up to the algae scrubber.....right now i feed about the equivelency of 4 cubes of frozen and a cup of powered foods every day in the evening.


the way i see it if it has a mouth it could prob do with some feeding or else why is there a mouth??

sps dominated and i would be more careful but for lps i feed with a turkey baster and the take it all what doesnt get eaten gets swallowed up by fish and cuc.


can corals do good with no feedings= yes
can corals do good with feedings=yes

be your own judge....just because someone else doesnt feed doesnt mean its the way its supposed to be, judge your feeding by what your tank can handle.

generally if you are unexperienced and have a basic set up feeding may not be for you, if your tank is well mature and you have things in place to control your nutrients then have at er boss;)

alot of corals do very well with low consistent nutrients as they would find in the wild its the ups and downs that hurt it...corals dont like change they like stability.

clean water and lots of food....its hard to do but worth the pay off.


i have some zoas that are growing up to 40 polyps a month and some very noticible growth on alot of my lps/sps.....before i hooked up the algae scrubber i was fighting ups and downs in my nutrients bigtime...since the scrubber has matured i have to feed super heavy to reach my target nitrates( which is 10ppm)




ps....i also have like no fish so fish poop aint cutting it for me, and i run 2 x 25ow halides/4 x 54w t5, 2 skimmers( 1 rated 200g and 1 rated 450g) plus the ats and gfo in a reactor, plus macro and full mature fuge:)

another benefit to so much food is the pod growth, on the floor of my fragtank is thousands of pods and other life...youd have to see it to believe it, i account this to not many fish and lots of feedings:)

[gregzz4]

OK then, I think I'll hold of on feeding and just watch the SPS for now

I'll be picking up some stuff tomorrow that may need spot feedings, but I'll cross that bridge after the seller tells me what he's been doing with what I buy

Thanks again for the great info guys

[monocus]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/coral-recovery-from-bleaching-is-highly-dependent-on-food-availability

found this today while surfing-posted it for bleached corals.i run my tanks on natural or live foods-very rarely using pellets and never ready made foods except for flakes in some tanks.in my frag tank i feed twice a day with rotifers and a bit of phyto to feed the rotifers.the rotifers eat the phyto which enriches them,and the coral can catch the rotifers in the water column

[gregzz4]

Thanks for that Bill

That was kinda in the back of my mind ...
With new SPS frags, do you feed or not ? :smile: