Feeding Corals???

[garrettjohnson]

I have been reading alot lately on feeding sessile invertebrates. I was wondering how I should feed them. Everyone told me to turn off all of my filtration when feeding? How am I supposed to do that with a CPR hang on overflow box??

[acroreef123]

No you dont need to turn off your filtration, please tell me what type of coral you have so that i can give you the right info thanks

[garrettjohnson]

I have alot of polyps. One yellow leather coral, and several LPS Hard Corals(brain, bubble, hammer, torch etc.)

[acroreef123]

Your LSP corals whould like some phytoplankton about 800 microns in size every once and awile this will also feed your polyps and leathers, although the corals you have are not dependent on phyto. the get most of their nutrition for the light in your tank feeding them phyto will enhance growth and color, Good luck!

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

we feed ours marine snow !

[JENnKerry]

We feed a mix of mysis shrimp, krill and cyclopeeze mixed with microvert and a touch of garlic. We syringe feed twice a week to our brains, goniopora, hammers, torch, frogspawn, long tenitcal plate, and trumpets. The growth has been outstanding!!! Give it a try

[saltshop]

Originally posted by acroreef123
Your LSP corals whould like some phytoplankton about 800 microns in size every once and awile this will also feed your polyps and leathers, although the corals you have are not dependent on phyto. the get most of their nutrition for the light in your tank feeding them phyto will enhance growth and color, Good luck!

Unfortunately stony corals for the most part do not eat phytoplankton at all, other than possibly some Gonioporas and the like. Eric Borneman did seven articles a while back on the foods of the reef that will probably help you out a bit. (Part 3 was on phytoplankton: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/eb/index.htm)

There is also a general purpose coral food recipe that can be found here to give you some food ideas even if you do not make the whole "mix": http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?&threadid=176530
For the most part it is best to provide a variety of particle sizes with foods containing a high protein content (animal products).

HTH

[twLoaf]

Just tagging along, but...

Lets say you have phyto or something...do you just squirt it into the water, or do you squirt it onto each coral? Any general guidelines, or does it depend on each individual coral?

[MCsaxmaster]

Things that actually eat phytoplankton will retract if it is "squirted" at them. They tend to eat constantly (usually day and night) and simply need it to be in the water to be caught. Most corals are somewhat similiar, though spot feeding is applicable if it is done carefully. On natural reefs there is always food--and lots of it. Most reef organisms are adapted to (and perhaps dependent upon) a constantly available food source. Most of our failings in reefkeeping are, I think, a consequence of the way we feed our tanks. It is very different than what happens in nature.

Cheers,

-Chris

p.s. Again, corals don't eat phytoplankton. Many things do, but they don't (for the most part).

[Flipturn88]

I agree with Chris. Corals like to capture food on a constant, gradual basis throughout the day.

The same goes with feather dusters; if you try to "target feed" them by squirting food near their crowns, they will just close up. I like to add phytoplankton at nights for my feather dusters in a high output area. I have hundreds of them now (as compared to zero before) because of this I believe.

[AJ31655]

Cyclopeeze has proven to be hard for me to find at any LFS, as have golden pearls which I heard work great. One of my LFS guys actaully told me he fed Tubestria (probly spelled wrong, but sun coral)frozen blood worms. Although he also said that simply letting them get what drifts past is enough. I have been told several times that they NEED to be fed polyp by polyp but anyways...Where can you find these foods online? I will be moving to a small town for college in a few weeks and it has only 1 LFS (which I am trying to get a job at) and I know they do not sell either of these. Thanks.

[Reefmaniac1]

I am going to go ahead and stir up the hornet's nest here: When I started out in this hobby 10+ years ago, feeding your reef was a major NO-NO. The thinking was this: A stable reef tank should be able to support itself...and following that advice, I never fed my tank besides a once-in-a-blue-moon live brine shrimp feeding. All my fish and corals did well and no one ever starved in my tank. Granted, however, that feeding your corals will make them grow faster, it is by no means a requirement for a healthy system (as my experience, and that of countless other "seasoned veterans" proves).

Please note that I am NOT saying that you should't feed...I am only saying that it isn't necessary.

[MiddletonMark]

AJ - many go online for such foods. I'd check around the cities and the MN reef club to see where people get their cyclops.eeze.

Golden Pearls are availble via www.brineshrimpdirect.com

Do realize on both of these foods, they're mighty `rich' + very easily can be overfed. I would start with miniscule amounts and very slowly work up to the final amount you'll feed.

---

That said, I'd go with the homemade food mix that Saltshop linked, probably much cheaper and likely as `good' if not better IMO.

As for the phyto, only thing that I've seen since quitting feeding it is that I clean my glass much less often.

[O'Coralman]

...just joining in. This a personal thing. I in general agree with Reffmaniac....but I to like to "force feed" my corals and FWIW...they seem to like it. Especially the ones with pronounced mouths. I do have to watch to load on the system and find myself feeling the need to change water if feeding was a little heavy handed...............Steve:dance:

[Reefmaniac1]

I do occasionally give my LPS corals something to "chew" on. For a while, I fed my LTA a couple of times per week and the thing exploded! I have since cut back on that.

[SOMEthinsFISHY]

I like your avitar salt shop !!