Feeding coral
- Thread starter lsouth913
- Start date
Oldreeferman
New member
TBH it varies because mine is a mixed reef tank. I feed 2X a day mainly due to the fish.
Some LPS and large polyp gorgonians tho are fed by hand weekly at least and the SPS get all they need from the light source & the nutrients in the water. This way the water remains clean, no algae issues etc. Some food escapes into the DT while feeding the fish so i leave all but 1 pump off until i see nothing left, then i turn on the filter, skimmer, and other pumps back on. More fun then work even in the am.
Some LPS and large polyp gorgonians tho are fed by hand weekly at least and the SPS get all they need from the light source & the nutrients in the water. This way the water remains clean, no algae issues etc. Some food escapes into the DT while feeding the fish so i leave all but 1 pump off until i see nothing left, then i turn on the filter, skimmer, and other pumps back on. More fun then work even in the am.
Don't. Research is showing feeding corals can be very problematic due very species specific needs. Here's some of the research if you're interested in reading:
https://www.academia.edu/1647139/Coral_farming_effects_of_light_water_motion_and_artificial_foods
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207956
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848619310282
https://www.academia.edu/1647139/Coral_farming_effects_of_light_water_motion_and_artificial_foods
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0207956
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848619310282
billdogg
Well-known member
^^^What Timfish said^^^
The only thing in my tank that I target feed is a rock flower anemone. About once every 7-10 days I'll thaw out some Rod's Original and use a turkey baster to make sure it gets some. Otherwise, it's catch as catch can in my system. Usually NLS pellets, .5 and 1mm size.
The only thing in my tank that I target feed is a rock flower anemone. About once every 7-10 days I'll thaw out some Rod's Original and use a turkey baster to make sure it gets some. Otherwise, it's catch as catch can in my system. Usually NLS pellets, .5 and 1mm size.
Lights ramp up from 10:00am to 100% at 12:00pm, then 8:00pm they ramp down until off at 10:00pm.
Amino acid auto dosed daily from 12:00am until 5:00am for a total of 20ml/day, every day.
Keep PO3 at 0.03-0.06 and Nitrates 5-12ppm
Fish are fed ~7:30-8:00pm 5-6 days a week.
Fish poop at will, I got no control over that.
Any more than that and your overfeeding and wasting money.
My last tank had over a hundred heads of hammer coral and I didn't feed it a thing---just fish living there and my feeding them mysis and such were quite enough. It gets what it needs from the water, fish poo, and from the light. And calcium. The calcium demand of that tank was still within the capacity of a kalk system driven by evaporation (translation, I had 2 tsp kalk per gallon [full saturation] in the gallon-a-day ro/di topoff demand.)
