Feeding SPS...yes or no?
- Thread starter whalloper
- Start date
gsoaxionsk8
New member
good question, i feed oyster eggs and roti feast but i really have not seen any major response from my coral. i thought about quitting as well
Kip
New member
mother nature saw fit to attribute most of an acro's physiology to feeding.....
.... there is a ton of micro food swept into a reef a coupla times a day in the wild... but the same current that swept the food in, sweeps it away so the food doesnt hang around to compromise water quality
i say feed your coral (or, feed your fish really well)... but make sure you export system is set up and maintained well
JMO
.... there is a ton of micro food swept into a reef a coupla times a day in the wild... but the same current that swept the food in, sweeps it away so the food doesnt hang around to compromise water quality
i say feed your coral (or, feed your fish really well)... but make sure you export system is set up and maintained well
JMO
Serioussnaps
New member
ding ding ding ding!!!! we will see you again on monday's show
Serioussnaps
New member
check it...........pappone is great, cyclopeeze, dt's oyster eggs, rotifers, anything, throw some AA's and selcon in it,,much it up...just let it rip and turn your skimmer off...man i love feeding em...if you have great export just milk your water up ......long term you will notice the difference
DMK
New member
some say SPS don't eat cyclopeeze. that BS, i see mine eating cyclopeeze more than rotifers. i was feeding SPS 3 times a week until a couple weeks ago, pappone 1 day, rotifers another, and cyclopeeze another. all w/ daily coral vitalizer by pohls. use zeo too. aminos. i'm gonna start feeding again tomorrow. 2 times a week though. i've noticed less fresh white tip growth since i stopped feeding.
Justin74
New member
I agree with Kip and gang, I feed rotifeast and am very pleased with the reactive responses from my acros, and the sweet deal is the WHOLE tank loves it, the fish(namely my blue/green chromis) the sps, lps, leathers and corallimorphs all noticeably react expand, contract etc. But just as important after a good feeding be sure and clean up(export) the mess! 
-Justin
-Justin
toothman
Premium Member
FWIW, I stopped feeding my fish for about a month or so. (last year) Let them feed off the land. My acros never looked worse, looked like they were starving. Orange cap was almost pink in color. Now I will feed my tank at least 5 x a week. I also do not feed specifically to the acros and they look fine as long as I feed the fish. Sounds to simple.
MiddletonMark
Premium Member
I too am a coral feeder ... though keeping up on export and not letting water quality drop is the crucial other half.
While you can run a tank many ways and find success - I've always tried to replicate the high-import/high-export tanks as to my eye they look the nicest.
Kip said it well, and his tank is a good example of the great results such methods can achieve.
I go for a variety of foods + particle sizes. I've seen Acropora capture CE, though how much it gets out of larger pieces vs. smaller [don't see them chewing much] is a good question. Check out the seafoods used in the Pappone recipe [Italian thread], and many folks DIY foods. Along with the variety of foods, the variable particle size coming out a blender might be a good thing too.
Take it slow if you up feeding. Keeping your export matched to import is essential - and IMO changes in foods/export are visible sometimes only on a month-to-month basis.
While you can run a tank many ways and find success - I've always tried to replicate the high-import/high-export tanks as to my eye they look the nicest.
Kip said it well, and his tank is a good example of the great results such methods can achieve.
I go for a variety of foods + particle sizes. I've seen Acropora capture CE, though how much it gets out of larger pieces vs. smaller [don't see them chewing much
] is a good question. Check out the seafoods used in the Pappone recipe [Italian thread], and many folks DIY foods. Along with the variety of foods, the variable particle size coming out a blender might be a good thing too. Take it slow if you up feeding. Keeping your export matched to import is essential - and IMO changes in foods/export are visible sometimes only on a month-to-month basis.
Justin74
New member
As to the frequency of feeding that depends on your systems ability to consume and export. I too recommend going slow into a regiment. No sense of dumping a capfull if you have a new tank and new population of filter feeders. I have a pretty well established reef with lots of pods,worms, sponges etc. I consider these my "buffer zone". If I fed my corals what I do now without those things, my tank would be drowning in hair and cyano im sure of it. But it took me years to build it up, and is why I feed on the heavy side.
Kinda of a double edge sword though, at least one example I ran into. Decided to stop one time last year, then as mentioned above I did experience some more drab colors and major decline in my filter feeder diversity along with algae blooms which I assume to be a result of the decline and die off of not feeding.
-Justin
Kinda of a double edge sword though, at least one example I ran into. Decided to stop one time last year, then as mentioned above I did experience some more drab colors and major decline in my filter feeder diversity along with algae blooms which I assume to be a result of the decline and die off of not feeding.
-Justin
