Feeding corals

[Seriak]

I spot feed all my LPS in my frag tank and nothing in mt DT. I haven't noticed a real difference in color or growth patterns so far. Only been doing it for 3 months.

[Drfu]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

If you're polluting the water in the attempt to make them happy, it's not going to make them happy Especially if they don't actually eat any of what you dump in.

Sorry my post wasn't clear, I'm saying that there is nothing wrong in just letting them feed off whats in the tank from feeding fish & whats already in the tank from water changes. I am concerned as to what i put in the tank, as i see a lot of dosing around and I'm sure some of its necessary I'm sure much of it is not and i don't want to be one of those that doses with everything !

[MitchM]

Drfu,
Trace elements are not what feed corals. Trace elements provide the minerals necessary for the corals to carry out their life functions.
Simply put, to feed a coral, they require sugar and protein. The zooxanthellae through photosynthesis provide the sugar. For protein, corals need to capture prey and digest it.
SPS corals require much less protein than larger fleshy corals. SPS corals can get by with bacterioplankton which will occur naturally in your aquarium.
Photosynthetic corals with a larger fleshy mass require more protein than that and will benefit from extra feeding.
Non-photosynthetic corals require all their nutrients from capturing prey.
If you try to keep all those corals in the same aquarium, you will end up either underfeeding the larger fleshy corals or overfeeding the smaller SPS corals. Nutrient overload will give you algae problems and suffering corals.

I don't come across much in the way of debate anymore regarding coral feeding other than aquarists trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. They try to force corals to survive in environments that are unsuitable, trying to create a certain look but become discouraged when they run into inevitable excess nutrient problems.

In order to save you some grief down the road, I would suggest that you limit your coral selection to a certain type, learn about the proper care for them and keep those corals only.
There are quite a number of good studies out that will help you learn about coral feeding.

[Drfu]

Originally Posted by MitchM

Drfu,
Trace elements are not what feed corals. Trace elements provide the minerals necessary for the corals to carry out their life functions.
Simply put, to feed a coral, they require sugar and protein. The zooxanthellae through photosynthesis provide the sugar. For protein, corals need to capture prey and digest it.
SPS corals require much less protein than larger fleshy corals. SPS corals can get by with bacterioplankton which will occur naturally in your aquarium.
Photosynthetic corals with a larger fleshy mass require more protein than that and will benefit from extra feeding.
Non-photosynthetic corals require all their nutrients from capturing prey.
If you try to keep all those corals in the same aquarium, you will end up either underfeeding the larger fleshy corals or overfeeding the smaller SPS corals. Nutrient overload will give you algae problems and suffering corals.

I don't come across much in the way of debate anymore regarding coral feeding other than aquarists trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. They try to force corals to survive in environments that are unsuitable, trying to create a certain look but become discouraged when they run into inevitable excess nutrient problems.

In order to save you some grief down the road, I would suggest that you limit your coral selection to a certain type, learn about the proper care for them and keep those corals only.
There are quite a number of good studies out that will help you learn about coral feeding.

Good advice, thx.

When you say only keep one type do you mean only sps soft or hard,lps only or softies? Is that too much of a blanket statement or are their types of corals that just require the same care, ie all photosynthetic that require just proper lighting/flow/placement within a tank and let the water column take care of the rest. If this is the case then is their a list of these on one spot? Their are so many types of them out there & like you said, to save grief down the road. Thanks again for your input!

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by MitchM

Simply put, to feed a coral, they require sugar and protein. The zooxanthellae through photosynthesis provide the sugar. For protein, corals need to capture prey and digest it.

If you could explain this to my LPS, I would appreciate it. Even without protein, they refuse to stay small

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by Drfu

Good advice, thx.

When you say only keep one type do you mean only sps soft or hard,lps only or softies? Is that too much of a blanket statement or are their types of corals that just require the same care, ie all photosynthetic that require just proper lighting/flow/placement within a tank and let the water column take care of the rest....

It depends on what you want for an aquarium and how much work/expense you want to put into it.
A high nutrient environment tank will take a lot of involvement on your part. You would need to be constantly adding and removing food in order to prevent excess nutrient problems.
A low nutrient tank would be easier to take care of. I don't like a small tank having soft corals (like leathers) because they would outgrow it quickly.
SPS are very sensitive to water quality and a small tank's parameters can change very quickly, so I wouldn't recommend those.
If you're interested in actively feeding corals, I would go with Myka's suggestion and have LPS corals which you could target feed; they are very forgiving plus relatively slow growing. They don't absolutely require feeding on your part but it's interesting to watch.

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

If you could explain this to my LPS, I would appreciate it. Even without protein, they refuse to stay small

Sure, send me their email address.

The nice thing about LPS is they have that big mucous covering which catches all sorts of things. With the great flow your tank has, along with the fish, you have a lot of detritus available to them - and with detritus essentially being bacteria clumping onto DOC's, falling to the bottom, they have lots to eat.
- but then you already knew that....

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by MitchM

Sure, send me their email address.

They're too young, I don't let them have their own accounts

[Madreefer]

How's bout just don't feed your corals anything but good ol fish poop? I've never fed my corals anything for years and they grow really good.
But I'm trying an expirement at the moment. I've started feeding Coral Frenzy since begining of Jan. I see no difference other than more pea soup in my skimmer cup and an ugly paly that's decided to spread quite fast. I'm doing this until June.

[windcoast reefs]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

I feed my fish, that's it. Don't really see any point to adding extra stuff that won't directly get to corals. And my corals do pretty good without any feeding.

I have to agree with this. I never feed my corals, they seem happy.