SPS color better with or without...

[IPT]

There seems to be a lot of people on here who do, and those who do not feed thier SPS directly. The question is, which gives better color? (yes, agreed lighting, and flow also play a role but lets focus on feeding).

A lot of people rely on "fish pooh", but is it enough? I am a relative newbie so certainly I don't have the answer. I'd like to see some numbers to represent others experiences.

To clarify for the sake of specificity within the poll. When I say "feed" I mean DIRECTLY feeding the SPS (ie. rotifers, zoo plankton, Oyster eggs). It's understood that feeding fish indirectly feeds coral. However, If you check "yes" it implies you put something into your tank directly for your corals (that does not go through your fish first). No for the "fish pooh" method.

[wentreefgirl]

Well you also have to factor in the how much skim you do for color also. I recently switched to the tunze skimmer and my colors lightened almost instantly. Amazing in the difference so quickly. I dont like it as my colors were deep before and maybe necessary to feed the colum now. I feed about once a week with reef roids and oyster eggs or whatever i feel they might want. However, its been said they dont eat like other species of lps do. So that said, I also only have 3 fish. Not alot of pooo.

[trueblackpercula]

I would like to comment but i still do not know if feeding or not feeding plays a role in Sps color. I will also stress that water quality is a better place to focus on when looking for better colors. I have been reading everything on theses boards for sometime now. Only to find thus far that there is no magic bullet that most look for. some say its lighting others say Amino acids ETC......when you find out what works please let me know. But like i mentioned i second ago water quality is a great starting point.......

Michael

[HecticDialectic]

This is the kind of poll where a photo of a tank should accompany every vote...

[IPT]

well, the polls reflect what's seen on the boards. There is no answer, or as stated "majic bullet" Water quality, sure, but what does that mean? Extra clean? Then why would upgrading a skimmer lighten colors (and in someones elses improve them)? I guess the one and only answer will be "it depends". Each tank has it's own set of conditions and no matter what there is no one right way. Some generalizations, but that's about it. The only thing to do I think is to change one variable on it's own, wait a month or two and evaluate. Then a new variable until you have it dialed in for your specific tank. No real suprise here then...

[sin05_omar]

Fish poo alone does not provide the nutrients/micronutrients needed for sps to develop into its fullest potential.. therefore In my humble opinion human intervention is needed at least in our reef tanks...

[143gadgets]

Originally posted by sin05_omar
Fish poo alone does not provide the nutrients/micronutrients needed for sps to develop into its fullest potential.. therefore In my humble opinion human intervention is needed at least in our reef tanks...

Explain please. Some of the best tanks I have ever seen have dosed nothing except for what comes out of their kalk and Ca reactors.

What human intervention are u refering to? Zeo? AAs? Carbon dosing?

[KEstep]

I noticed a sudden burst of brighter colors when I dosed AA for a couple of months.. When I ran out I never bought anymore and the colors dulled slightly. But I also had an accident with my auto topoff around the same time and had a salinity drop which most definitely could be responsible for the dulling.

[takayan]

Is there any article/thread that fish pooh is food for SPS?
Everybody says fish pooh is a food for SPS, but I never seen the article.

[bogg]

This is a hard one because everyones tank is different. What could be great for one persons tank could be drasticly diffeent for another. IME feeding is better for more rich colors but sparingly not too much. Clean water but feed also. I feed pappone for richer colors.

[sin05_omar]

Sorry for the late reply...

What i ment by human intervention is mainly our role in Dosing Trace Elements or AA...

[IPT]

No writrten article about fish waste as "food" that I know of. However, in this response to a different post/forum (http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic72055-13-1.aspx)
A. Calfo states that fish waste is a good source of Nitrogen for coral with smaller polyps. I guess the question still remains if feeding things small enough (Oyster eggs for example) is benefical. I think we all agree coral need more than light alone. What remains unclear is just what else do they need. I think the answer will always be prefaced with "it depends.." though because every tank is unique regarding it's setup, fish, load, etc, etc.

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by trueblackpercula
I would like to comment but i still do not know if feeding or not feeding plays a role in Sps color. I will also stress that water quality is a better place to focus on when looking for better colors. I have been reading everything on theses boards for sometime now. Only to find thus far that there is no magic bullet that most look for. some say its lighting others say Amino acids ETC......when you find out what works please let me know. But like i mentioned i second ago water quality is a great starting point.......

Michael

It's a combination of many factors, michael; that's why there's no single answer.

But, for me, the easiest answer is to realize that nitrogen sources are going to play a major role in the tissue appearance of your SPS corals. Assuming you keep phosphates low (to keep growth up), and keep alkalinity/ca/mag at NSW or close levels, you're now talking about nitrogen availablity.

A great source of this is from fish, as they break down the food you feed them. Ofcourse, there are still solid waste by-products (some of which is small enough to be consumed by filter feeders, or just skimmed out). The alternative is to dose a more pure nitrogen source like these zeo/prodib type systems.

I like using fish, cause I enjoy the motion and action they add to my tank. If I waned to be without them, i'd have to supplement the tank with something.

But see, nitrogen levels can also be offset by light intensity, so having stronger lights will effectively burn off all those extra zoox on the coral (if you go bright enough, for long enough), so it's a balance.

Then there's your filtration.. remove too much, too fast, without enough introduction, and your tank's too sterile, leaving you with pastel/faded colors...

You have to find the balance based on your equipment, fish load, and husbandry.

[supervdl]

I feed cycolps and DT-Reef. I also add aminoacids, trace elements and Iodine/Strontium.

[Serioussnaps]

I have a very established food web in my tank and thus it is fairly self sustaining with the exception of fish and LPS. I feed the fish the rest feeds itself.....in terms of stonies. Now my blastos, acans, goniopora, chalices and rics I target feed and some of that is blenderized so I am sure there are some extra particles that the acros/montis may consume.

I have stopped the use of pappone, DT's oyster eggs, rotifers etc. I did this for the first year or so and I do believe it helped build the complex food web(my rock is 6 years old and the water is old too so this is a very well established tank that has been through a move), however, at this juncture I believe it is absolutely worthless. I stopped specifically feeding my stonies about 8 months ago and my tank is still flourishing with just less algae.

My color is the same if not better WITHOUT feeding......this leads me into:

Everyones tank is different, there are so many variables and thats why this hobby is so great, but with that said I do believe that a very very very well established acroporid and montipora dominant system does nto need specific coral feedings very often. Maybe now an again but really just for the nutrients---nitrogen particularly, but that brings up whole other more complicated issue which truly gets at YOUR COLOR DISCUSSION.

Color is directly impacted by the amount of nitrogen you put in your tank. No nitrogen ........bad colors.......too much nitrogen .....bad colors. You have to find the proper NUTRIENT BALANCE AND THAT IS DIFFERENT IN EVERYONES SYSTEM

[rigleautomotive]

acording to a article i read in a science journal,(cant find it right now) sps corals derive 98 percent of there nutrition from light and photosynthesis.i have switched from nutrient poor conditions to feeding countless times, and found no better color either way.feeding seems to give better polyp extension and growth but no real noticable difference in color.the best color i ever had was with less light.water quality and constant good parameters give me better color.also keeping mg where it needs to be seems to help.