Do SPS need food?

arconom

arconom

Premium Member
I ask this question since I have a BB tank. No fish to feed:) I run a all SPS system. 110x Water turnover

I add no additives or food. I use a calcium reactor and a Kalk reactor. Calc 420-430 ALK-8.3. 0 Phosphate on the Deltec test kit. MH 2x250 XMs


I have read it all and am to some degree,a believer that all SPS need to grow is Light,alk,calc and mag and other water requirements that are supplied by water changes and in the salt mix.

Since I don't have fish and don't feed the tank anything I really don't know if my tank would benefit from some type of food.

Basically a Typical person runs a tank with some fish. The excess food that the fish don't eat may or may not get eaten by the corals? This may or may not contribute to the color and growth of SPS corals?

In my situation since I have no fish, no food goes in the tank.

In a Typical tank people who believe SPS don't eat also don't feed there corals intentionally but is the excess food helping there corals grow and give them more color?

From what I have read DTs are not eaten by SPS.


After reading some of the new "Reef Aquarium Vol 3" book. I see on page 575 it is mentioned that

"Seriatopora,ACROPORA, and Pocillopora feed on Zooplankton (copepods,rotifers,ciliates) or pulvarized feed"
 
I've been wondering the same thing. I have one gramma loretto that I plan to be the only fish in my tank, so I guess this sort of applies to this thread.

I look foward to future responses.
 
Man, how did you get 110X water turnover? I'm only getting 15X and I'm getting worried after reading your value.......
 
I would take a look at all the TOM's and what fish they stock. From what I can see it does not hurt to have fish in your sps tank. There is even a thread telling how one person lightly feed his fish and all his sps's were pail. Went to a friends home saw that the friend feed his fish more in 1 feeding then he had in a week of feeding. All of the friends sps's were in great shape. So for me fish it will be.
 
I believe in some way, shape, or form, EVERYTHING needs food.

I feed my fish heavily and feed my corals. While I will admit to having a nice lush growth of macroalgae, my SPS colors are beautiful.
 
Thanks guys for all of your input. I just want to take have a plan. In the quest for a nutrient poor system how can I have fish and feed them and not end up with tank pollution?

In the begining I just planned on SPS no fish.
 
The only way to feed alot and still have low nutrients is means for nutrient export. It seems that you need to put lots in, while removing all excess quickly. Its not just a matter of having zero nutrients. I used to feed my fish only 1/2 cube every day and my corals grew VERY slow. My LPS didnt hardly grow at all. Now that I have increased my feedings, things have started to grow much quicker.
 
You could just feed a small amount of Cyclopeeze for the corals without having any fish in the system. It might take a while for the SPS to catch it all but with good circulation, they should be able to
 
I make my own food, similar to the recipe from Eric Borneman.
Cyclopeeze is a good start, but Golden Pearls is even smaller and my corals have responded well since I started feeding the tank with my food.
You've got a good skimmer, put it to work.
 
Corals need food in two ways. The polyps feed, and their symbionts need food. Since their symbionts are algae, they benefit from a little nitrogenous waste. Wait! Doesn't sound right? Too much nitrogenous waste will fuel the algae we hate, which chokes our corals out. And it also causes greater densities of zoox's, which is ugly. Too many zoox's also causes a shortage of sugars produced for the corals.

BUT, they do benefit from a little nitrogen. Both extremes of the scale, too little or too much, are bad. Take for example a study that showed that corals that provide refuge to juvenile damsels and chromis grow faster than corals without. It's because the waste produced by the fish acts a a local source of nitrogenous waste in an environment normally depleted of nutrients.

In some of the European forums I visit, they actually discuss supplementing their tanks with ammonia. One of the safest ways to do this is with an amino acid additive.

I also believe it helps to feed your corals. I feed frozen rotifers. Not sure if they are of correct particle size though. I'm looking into trying a few other products.


Some additional anecdotal observation:
When I was dosing vodka, my nutrients got sooo low, that it took weeks before I would see a spec of algae on the glass. And the algae that appeared was usually diatoms(silicate users). My corals lightened in coloration severely, and completely stopped growing. I decided to stop dosing vodka. I also upped my fish feeding. Now I get algae on the glass within 2 days, which I don't like. But my corals have had amazing growth spurts! They are returning to a richer/deeper color as well, now that the zoox's are returning.
 
I culture rotifers and copepods just for my sps. I also feed cyclopeeze but that seems to be a bit big for most sps. I also feed phyto to my tank to keep whatever zooplankton I have alive and hopefully reproducing. JMO.
 
Yup. If corals (regardless of species) don't have ready access to food they will starve to death as surely as any other animal. Light provides energy, but nothing else. An organism can't survive with energy but without materials (N and P) to build tissues. Might be worth reading the "SPS Corals" section in my article in RK this month. I speak to this a bit and provide some references.

cj
 
Here are my SPS's reaction to rotifers. I feed them every other day

feedingtime1.JPG


Feedingtime2.JPG


feedingtime3.JPG
 
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