Feeding corals

[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.

[MitchM]

Drfu, if your objective is to grow corals, I would concentrate only on keeping your water clean and chemicals balanced.
You have corals from one spectrum to the other. By that, I mean that you have corals that thrive in a low sediment environment and ones that thrive in a high sediment environment. Not all corals require the same conditions.

Your devils hand is going to secrete a waxy substance that helps keep it's surface clean. That waxy substance will irritate your SPS corals.
You have corals that require high water flow and corals that require low water flow.
Your tank is not big enough to create both environments effectively.

What have you read so far on the subject of coral feeding?

[Myka]

I do not recommend feeding corals via the water column in a small tank. The reason being that it is very easy to pollute a small tank. When feeding the water column, most of the food doesn't even get to the corals - it ends up getting lodged in live rock and sand. Some corals benefit from water column feeding, but I don't suggest it in your tank. You can target feed corals by physically putting the food into the tentacles with feeding tweezers or dropping food through rigid tubing aimed at the coral, but I don't see any in your list that would benefit much from that. Corals like Open/Closed Brains, Plate Corals, Acans, Scolymia, Candy Canes, etc LOVE target feeding. Keep in mind that ANY food that goes into the system no matter what delivery method are nutrients that need to come out via skimming or water changes. It is very easy to overload a nano and end up with algae troubles.

[Drfu]

Originally Posted by Myka

I do not recommend feeding corals via the water column in a small tank. The reason being that it is very easy to pollute a small tank. When feeding the water column, most of the food doesn't even get to the corals - it ends up getting lodged in live rock and sand. Some corals benefit from water column feeding, but I don't suggest it in your tank. You can target feed corals by physically putting the food into the tentacles with feeding tweezers or dropping food through rigid tubing aimed at the coral, but I don't see any in your list that would benefit much from that. Corals like Open/Closed Brains, Plate Corals, Acans, Scolymia, Candy Canes, etc LOVE target feeding. Keep in mind that ANY food that goes into the system no matter what delivery method are nutrients that need to come out via skimming or water changes. It is very easy to overload a nano and end up with algae troubles.

Good advice, i have a tube coral that i spot feed it omega one reef formula frozen cubes once a week.

I agree that most of my corals are photosynthetic and the water column should do with whats in he oceans reef crystals.

This is where the extra feeding comes in, do the polyps need spot feeding too? This is where the mix of three might come in handy i thought?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Drfu

Good advice, i have a tube coral that i spot feed it omega one reef formula frozen cubes once a week.

I agree that most of my corals are photosynthetic and the water column should do with whats in he oceans reef crystals.

This is where the extra feeding comes in, do the polyps need spot feeding too? This is where the mix of three might come in handy i thought?

My advice is simply that your tank is small and feeding the corals can easily cause water pollution which will be a much bigger detriment to the corals than not feeding them will be.

If you really just want to "do something", then add a few drops (literally) per day of LIVE phytoplankton which will help to increase the zooplankton population in your tank. Then your corals can eat zooplankton as it comes along.

[MitchM]

Here's a great article on zooplankton feeding, along with videos of coral feeding.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/10/corals

[Drfu]

Originally Posted by Myka

My advice is simply that your tank is small and feeding the corals can easily cause water pollution which will be a much bigger detriment to the corals than not feeding them will be.

If you really just want to "do something", then add a few drops (literally) per day of LIVE phytoplankton which will help to increase the zooplankton population in your tank. Then your corals can eat zooplankton as it comes along.

I think that is the way i wanna go which is why at my lfs they have 3 live tanks of phytoplankton, rotifiers & copepods. They tell me that as the first multiplies the second eats them and the third eats the second sustaining all three in balance. Im not sure if any of this true which is why i possed the first question. Hope this helps in my thought process or am i/they out to lunch?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Drfu

I think that is the way i wanna go which is why at my lfs they have 3 live tanks of phytoplankton, rotifiers & copepods. They tell me that as the first multiplies the second eats them and the third eats the second sustaining all three in balance. Im not sure if any of this true which is why i possed the first question. Hope this helps in my thought process or am i/they out to lunch?

That theory is a bit out to lunch. Both Copepods and Rotifers eat phytoplankton. Any of the Copepods that I imagine you would be wanting to put into your tank don't eat Rotifers. Do you see any 'pods in your tank currently? Look close. If there are some, you can simply add a tiny amount of live phytoplankton a few times per week or so and the pods that are already in your tank will increase in population.

[Drfu]

Originally Posted by MitchM

Drfu, if your objective is to grow corals, I would concentrate only on keeping your water clean and chemicals balanced.
You have corals from one spectrum to the other. By that, I mean that you have corals that thrive in a low sediment environment and ones that thrive in a high sediment environment. Not all corals require the same conditions.

Your devils hand is going to secrete a waxy substance that helps keep it's surface clean. That waxy substance will irritate your SPS corals.
You have corals that require high water flow and corals that require low water flow.
Your tank is not big enough to create both environments effectively.

What have you read so far on the subject of coral feeding?

I didnt see much in term of "sediment" when it came to coral care. I have been using liveaquaria as a guide in terms of lighting & wager flow, have my pumps placed accordingly as well as placement for lighting. Where the feeding came up is the mention of dosing of trace elements.

Good to know about the Devils hand, when i have seen it shed, twice now, i have removed the gunk from the tank but should it ve removed to a bigger tank that i have?

As for the trace elements, i was thinking that my weekly water changes should have taken care of it. I have my calcium always over 450, alk @ 200, ph is 8.0, magnesium @ 1350. I have seachems fuel if needed but have not been using it that much.

I have a larger 15 gallon column that is done its cycle and will be moving some of my corals to it, the devils hand could be one of them.

I have looking for a PAR meter from Apogge to rent but no luck so far.

[Drfu]

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 don't think their is anything wrong with that, I'm just making sure they are all happy, i have added some others too, like a orange digi, monti plate and thought they may need more as they are listed as not being beginners corals