Cleaning glass at night to feed corals?

Jaws · #1 01-03-2007, 01:45 AM

I was just thinking about the amount of algae that is released into the water column when I clean the glass in the day. There's been a lot of discussion about feeding sps corals but a lot of the time the stuff you're feeding is either too large or you have to feed too much or spot feed in order for your corals to get their share. I was just curious, if you clean the glass at night when your sps polyps are fully extended, would that make any difference? Has anyone ever tried this or heard of anyone trying it? Could just be another stupid idea but then again maybe not.

Beverly · #2 01-03-2007, 01:58 AM

Tagging along to see what folks say. Interesting idea. Might scare the sleeping fish, though.

Funky_Fish14 · #3 01-03-2007, 02:54 AM

I know there are alot of pods/planktons that will take up residence in that algae, and depending on how much buildup you have there could be quite the load in there. I would think however that if the SPS are going to benefit at all, it wouldnt really matter the time of day, they should be able to notice the increased food content in the water and extend their polyps. Doing so at night however would make more sense as that is the typical time at which SPS will feed in the wild. Maybe let the algae go for a couple of days and scrub it off sometime when its irregular for your SPS's polyps to open, and if they respond positively, that will be a more indicative answer to your question?

Chris

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #4 01-03-2007, 04:33 AM

Actually, I was discussing this same topic with some local reefers a few weeks ago. Our consensus (admittedly without any scientific proof) is that the algae released with the magnet cleaners might be useful to phytoplankton consuming species of corals. Of course, there are some corals that are specialized to consume only a specific species of phyto so it would not apply to them.

Anthony

G1GY · #5 01-03-2007, 05:16 AM

I've never thought of this, but I've allway's cleaned my glass at night.

In fact........... I can't remember the last time I've cleaned it during the day.

No reasoning at all behind why I do this, that's just the way it's allway's been.