Coral Feeding Regimes?

[tonyespinoza]

I've been using a combo of DT Phyto and RotoFeast on a mixed reef (SPS, LPS, Xenia, Gorgonians). There's a small mandarin goby, tiny clown goby, and a small cowfish (which gets mysis/selcon daily).

It's a 50g BB that's over-skimmed by a Tunze 9010 + 3167 surface skimmer running GFO and Carbon in addition to mechanical media. I do a weekly 10% water change. I keep dKH 9, Ca 425, PO4 (undetectable on Deltec), N03 (undetectable Salifert). I dose Bionic, Polyp Labs, and 2-part Tropic Marin Elements. Tank is lit by (1) 150W 14K Phoenix, 24W T5HO Actinic, 48W 18K T5HO

I've been feeding every day (standard dosage) on a one-week-on, one-week-off pattern. The corals are growing like crazy - I can see growth in the birdsnest and montipora from morning to evening...

I didn't want to feed continuously because I was afraid the system might not keep up with the nutrient load. On the other hand, I'm too big a spaz to keep track of the every-other-day regmine. Not sure if having that full week to "recover" helps at all. (Rationalizing...

Anyway, for those of you who've had success feeding your corals, I'm curious to hear what your regmine is!

Pls excuse the bit of white tissue on the edge of the Favia... showed up when I placed another Favia near it... this pic was taken just a day after I moved it -- it's fine now.

 

[aharrow]

Great looking tank!

Do you dose any amino's? Also do you spot feed or overall and when do you feed? I have just started feeding Amino's and DT's. I mix in cyclopeeze when feeding the fish. I usually dose an hour after the halides have gone off for better polyp extension.

 

[tonyespinoza]

Thanks Andrew!

I do use Polyp Labs which includes Aminos as part of the system.

I do cyclopeeze during my "feeding week" as well.

I probably have time to spot feed once or twice during that week and the rest of the week I just dump it all in.

This morning, I was tripping out at how fast this ORA pink birdsnest is growing... (even during this non-feeding week.)

I've also noticed that my Tunze skimmer seems to work more efficiently drawing a darker skimmate during the off-week. Maybe it's catching up. I dunno.

 

[kingsland]

The tank looks great. Which company produces the Polyp Labs?

I am adjusting my tank to a low nutrient environment and dosing small amounts of vodka and sugar as a carbon source. I am just starting to add AAs and doing more target feeding than I was previously. At least twice a week, the SPS are fed Daphnia, and/or Cyclopeeze.

 

[tonyespinoza]

here's a link to the full polyp labs system i've been using:
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewI...ives_Specialty_Coral_Supplements~vendor~.html

i'm shocked that it's worked as well as it has... every time i check nitrates i cringe ... but it has not failed me yet. of course, i'm starting to push the feeding harder, so i may go over the top (added sun corals!). but i'll post to this thread again as i test along the way...

 

[kmckay]

Just curious, but if things are going so well, why do you want to change the feeding regimen?

 

[tonyespinoza]

i want to get some experience keeping dendros so i can decide if i want to tackle them as part of my new build. (400g peninsular system with several fuges (including cryptic and filter feeder zones).) so far so good -- they're really beautiful.

 

[42un81]

Tony,
Any updates on your use of Reef fresh?

 

[tonyespinoza]

it seems to be working... phosphates are undetectable as are nitrates with only a monthly water change. (20%)

i'm actually feeding 4-5 days per week now with a full load of cyclopeeze, phytofeast, and DT Oyster Eggs on top of the fish getting Mysis and Formula 1 & 2 pellets.

honestly, i'm waiting for it to all come crashing down, but so far no sign of any of the precursors of system failure (cyano, etc.).

the sun corals are multiplying steadily (small polyps springing up on edges) and the carnation corals are extending, although they say those never make it more than a few months -- we'll see.

btw - i'll have to take a new pic soon -- just looking back at that FTS above i can see that the birdsnests have grown visibly as have the frogspawn (and btw there's a hammer on the other side that's growing huge).

there's a small scribbled rabbit fish in the tank now (which I plan to move to the larger system when he outgrows this one (hopefully the new system will be up in a few months).

 

[JCTewks]

The combo of the PolypLabs and the oversized skimmer should keep up even with the heavy feedings.