how to feed my coral???

[fitzgerald_jay]

for about a year now i have been keeping my nano reef up and running. i upgrated to my 45 gallon and most of the livestock has been moved. now that i am properly getting into reef keeping, i was wondering how to feed my corals. i add trace elements, calcium, iodine... all by kent. but i have heard people feeding with shrimp etc. i currently have a large brain coral, hammer coral, hairy mushrooms, cabbage coral along with 3 fish in the main tank. now, how do i feed the coral??? all livestock is well and likes the new mh. however, my hammer coral has begun to look more like torch coral. its "hammer" tenticles are more slender than they used to be. help too...

[porky]

Most of the LPS like your anchor will need some supplemental feeding. Try meaty stuff like mysis a couple times a week. The other corals will likely get enough "food" from the water colum. HTH

[fitzgerald_jay]

thanks for you help. i thought that they were getting it from the water. guess i was right. but i know u and i arent the only ones who feed our corals. hint hint

[minh_han]

I have a few corals (frogspawn, bubble, hydnophora), and I sometimes feed them with fish food originally bought for my beta. The corals have accepted the food and have been growing well. Well, with the exception of my hydnophora. It's showing patches where its guts hang out, then the green outside tissue is sloughed off to reveal the brown underneath. Then that melts away too to show white skeleton. It's not the feeding, as I haven't fed it in a few weeks, but it's still doing it, much to my dismay. Still don't know what's going on. But, back to feeding, I do think it helps. Once I get some more livestock, I'll probably get some DT's or something and blend it with fish and other seafood to make a paste and feed it to the tank.

[jdmarano]

Besides what's posted above, I've also added micro-vert food for my corals, etc. It can be direct targeted, which is most effective, or just "dosed." I generally add about 1/2 the mfrs recommendation though to avoid overfeeding (and b/c I don't trust the mfr labels that they are perfectly safe.) These days I just dose for simplicity.

[fitzgerald_jay]

i also use the micro vert

[ciwsmk15]

I have had great success with Spectra Vital by Marc Weiss. Also used DT's green phyto liquid. Since I had the refugium up and running and all the critters multiplying in it, I have rarely added anything for the corals, and every one is happy. I am a big fan of the refugiums for nutrient uptake and for the addtional fauna that they encourage. You will see things that would never survive in the main tank, especially if you have anything fish that are remotely predetory toward little swimmy things in the water column, ie psudochromis, some clowns, chromis.... For a small tank maybe try a small hang on refugium... Minh have you tried an iodine dip for that Hydno?

[fitzgerald_jay]

i have actually thought about making a hob fuge
however, i think if i do get a fuge, i will just have it behind the aquarium, between the wall and tank and have it elevated a bit above the sump. thanks for all the info

[ciwsmk15]

That'll work....just make sure the ref drains by gravity back to the main tank to save the critters from the centrifuge hell of a pump impeller.