So at the show in Lansing, I attended a rather good presentation on 'feeding your tank', in other words, feeding not just your fish and inverts, but your LPS & SPS corals as well. I was interested to learn that the polyps on SPS corals are kind of like 'spear hooks', and basically shoot out, and nab things like Zooplankton, and drag them in for the coral to feed on.
I started adding some phytoplankton yesterday, also dosed today; figured that's why some of my amphipods are dying, they had nothing to eat.
Looking around, I see basically two types of products:
One, would be dosing/adding phytoplankton and zooplankton individually as needed in the tank, the other would be something like 'Reef Snow' or 'Marine Snow' as the single component.
Right now I have one acro, an acanthophylia, scoly, favia, montipora, plate coral, ricodera, 2 zoo's, a torch coral, and a few heads of an acan lord colony, tank is just over 2 months old.
I'm planning to get quite a few more SPS corals once I get dosing under control and a better grasp of it, a clam, and probably some more LPS too and maybe some more zoo's as well.
Just wondering if people find more success with the Marine/Reef Snow, or independently adding.
Also, I'm presuming if I'm going to be doing this, I ought to remove my filter socks?
Thoughts, opinions, anecdotes, free samples (haha), all welcome. Thanks in advance!
I've actually got some of that ... but mainly using it sparingly right now to target feed a few LPS. I couldn't remember if that had zooplankton & phytoplankton in it or not, as well. I know it's great LPS food, though.My acanthophylia loves it. Tried to tempt my new corals with it; my torch & plate coral, and my scoly (all new from the show on Sunday), but neither responded. Going to try again tonight when the lights are out, and the plate has his tentacles out. I wasn't sure if the particles were too big for the torch, or not.
I would not remove the filter sock. It is hard to find a single food source that will feed the variety of coral that you want to have. Phyto plankton is a food source that is commonly over fed also. Products like coral frenzy and coral extacy are good food sources because they are phyto and zoo plankton enriched. I personally count more on zooplankton and high lipids. I also shut my return pump off when I feed and let the power heads keep the food suspended and moveing around so the coral and fish can have plenty of time to feed. The filter sock will catch excess food that does not get consumed during feeding. Excess food that gets trapped in your fuge will eventually effect your water quality.
i culture multiple phyto and zoo plankton. the pods are just for the pipefish and the garden eel. i do dose my phytos to my reef tank in small amounts and dose coral frenzy. i think live phyto helps things liek clams and scallops more, but i dont think corals care whether its live phyto or coral frenzy.
---------- Post added at 03:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------
and dont remove your filter sock. just turn off the return pump when broadcast feeding. let the powerheads move it around the tank for a half hour or so. as mentioned above.
I will feed my tank a little reef roids, reef chilli or coral frenzy every week. But my tank po4 is usually .01 or less. If I start to se it creep up i will stop. I just feed it as extra measure, but really all they need is good light. I wouldn't feed any of this stuff is po4 is .03 or higher.
I really all they need is good light. I wouldn't feed any of this stuff is po4 is .03 or higher.
I disagree with this. Coral do need to be fed. Aquariums can not properly duplicate the nutrient levels and food source created in the ocean. Feeding essential nutrients and lipids will give your corals better color and keep them healthier. You will also see better growth. They all have polyps for a reason.