Beyond the NPS corals, obviously, target feeding is a waste of time and effort. I've seen no studies that show an improved outcome from target feeing, those who clam it do so based on 'thinking it must make a difference', and my own anecdotal observations suggest that there is no difference. The best approach, in my view, is to target feed your fish and the corals get what they need.
Is spot feeding coral worth it?
- Thread starter mpderksen
- Start date
karimwassef
Active member
That's not true. I've measured my growth rates with and without feeding and it does matter. You may not have seen any benefit, but assuming that this is true of everyone or else they're imagining it is untrue.
http://www.hunterlabhawaii.com/docs/pubs/Forsman et al. 2012.pdf
http://www.hunterlabhawaii.com/docs/pubs/Forsman et al. 2012.pdf
I spot feed everything weather it works or not idk... I feed reef frenzy, selcon, reef energy b, and reef roids once a day. I spot feed everything. The sps obviously doesn't eat anything large but the plates, Duncan's, acans eat large amounts of food and I can't help but think it has a positive effect on them. If not growth at least colors are effected. Not really sure how anyone could disagree....
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karimwassef
Active member
<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/B46706CC-D4C1-4947-8BB5-6DB8DB8C3CE9_zpszcavtmyp.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/B46706CC-D4C1-4947-8BB5-6DB8DB8C3CE9_zpszcavtmyp.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo B46706CC-D4C1-4947-8BB5-6DB8DB8C3CE9_zpszcavtmyp.jpg"></a>
djbon
New member
Large mouthed corals will benefits spot feeding for sure. Of course they can get their energy from lights, but meaty food (occasionally) will improve coloration and growth. I fed my LPS weekly before and I can confirmed they grow much faster. How I know?. Because I don't spot feed them anymore.
karimwassef
Active member
Not knowing how to get small particulate food doesn't mean that sps can't be fed. It just means that you need to find the right food.
mpderksen
New member
This article (seen on BRS TV) is exactly why I purchased Julian's thing and posted this question.
I just picked up my first lps, this is good info to know, Thank you.
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Could you just mash up some mysis and dilute with water to make it fine?Photosynthetic corals don't "need" food but they get bigger faster with it. Like us and chocolate cake... I don't need it but I grow bigger much faster with it
SPS are the same but you need fine particulate food- or fish poop.
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karimwassef
Active member
Depends on what is "mashing up"
If the particles are larger than a polyp mouth, it's a waste. That's why I use liquids or powders...
Reef chilli and reef roids are very fine powders and selcon is liquid fats
If the particles are larger than a polyp mouth, it's a waste. That's why I use liquids or powders...
Reef chilli and reef roids are very fine powders and selcon is liquid fats
Ah, okay. Thanks for the info. Just now getting into reef keeping
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gogo7
pico reefer
actually most 'foodstuffs' are effective, proteins are proteins, although i don't think hot dog weiners are a good idea, but hey if it works... it depends on what species you're feeding...and what size they can ingest.... obviously feeding silversides to sps is not a good idea.... letting the silversides rot in your tank and then the sps feeding on the bacters that develop from that is a different story... but you don't wanna do that because of n-p-k spikes... requiring increased filtration. what needs to be realized is that n-p-k is actually food too...
as for the filter getting 'most of the stuff', turn off your filters when feeding.... seriously, don't feed your filter, feed your animals...'target feeding' needs to be defined properly.... i define 'target feeding' as using a 'pooter' device like a turkey baster, or preferably, a syringe with a piece of rigid airline attached to feed the target, like your corals...or other inverts....making sure that your polyps actually get something to eat.
feeding photosynthetic corals is still a good idea. photosynthetic gorgonians grow much faster when fed appropriate sized foods..especially daytime feedings. heavily fed gorgs will add branches fast, whether they have symbionts or not. leathers fed appropriately sized foods grow very fast... and in some of the dirtiest water ....kenyan tree corals and zenia grow amazingly in dirty tanks.... particulate foods are what you make of them, ....those animals have tentacles and mouths for a reason... even plants 'eat'...
the point about your foodstuffs not making it to your corals, that 95 % mark , i gotta call b.s......we're talking about enclosed systems here, recirculated water.... most of you are very proud of knowing how many times your tank turns over in an hour, it's how you guys rate your filtration..... using circulating pumps will keep these foodstuffs in suspension until they're eaten. no real alternative to this statement, until you turn on the filtration again...then everything ends up in your filter/sump.... which is usually stocked with the hardiest animals that you may or may not want.
if your invert population is dense, diverse, has lots of live rock, a decent sandbed and fish, the food will not remain in your tank for long... as long as there is circulation.
overfeeding is a real problem in young systems, less than a year. live planktons are not a problem for obvious reasons. easiest way to notice you're overfeeding meaty foods is the presence of bristle worms.... which are very beneficial in removing uneaten foods.
as for live phyto... all corals will consume live phyto, someway somehow.... and it will remain suspended in your reef... the most commonly available species, nannochloropsis, will not swim towards the light, but will eventually settle out...although your tank has circulation..it will pass through a 52 sieve... tetraselmis will actually swim towards the light, and is a larger cell size. i personally feel that tetra triggers feeding responses in nps gorgs like diodogorgia .. it's not so small as to pass over the polyp tentacles. so don't worry about phyto settling out.
and if you have sponges, or live rock, all those animals you don't see, will eventually grow large and be visible... live rock needs to be fed phyto to remain 'live'.
sponges are a good indicator of the presence of microfoods. if you have sponges, they're cleaning the water of micro particles. living and dead.
as for beginners needing to feed their corals...i started feeding my corals in the nineties. i still feed them almost daily. what is not being mentioned here is that most hobbyists can be lazy and want to have a set it and forget it kinda thing. what they do not want to do is the most basic duty of owning an aquarium, and that is water changes. which is understandable when you have anything larger than twenty gallons..
if you're feeding your corals and not noticing any difference, you're probably not paying attention (doubtful) , have too powerful filtration, or you've got sh1tty lighting. animals grow when fed.. it is the basis of life. good lighting will affect the production of symbiotic algae. this will help hasten waste production and aid growth. this applies to photosynthetic corals of course.
most aquarists want a 'reef tank'.... what they actually have is a shallow static glass box of expensive animals, in what they perceive as a controlled environment. reading this forum daily determines that to be incorrect.
only you will know what it is you're trying to achieve. do you want a growing reef, or a florist picture box? either way, you still have animals. and they need to be fed.
training corals to feed in the daytime is easy... just do it.
I feel like you should make a sticky about feeding corals! I just got my frist coral yesterday (frogspawn) so this topic was really helpful, thank you!!
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bif24701
New member
Outstanding post my friend! Well said.
I program my skimmer to remain off for 60 minutes after feeding coral foods. This allows food to pass through my entire system. Since I've done this and completely removed filter socks pod population has increased X1,000. I have also programmed all my circulation powerheads to reduce speed for for a set time after adding the food. This makes capture easier, at least in theory, while keeping food suspended. I have observed that both growth and response to feeding increase with time and consistency.
I add small amounts of BRS Reef Chilli and Reef Roids with my frozen PE mysis thaw dish for the fish.
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I have a nano cube 24g, so no skimmer or canister filter. Just a MJ 1200 pump in my last chamber that spews water out of the top and then a koralia 600 powerhead at the opposite side of tank. Neither of these are controllably, only on/off. Should I shut them both off while feeding for an hour or so?
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sde1500
Active member
Since they are just moving water, no leave them running. They'll just keep the water and food in the water circulating. Though if you are trying to target feed larger foods like mysis shrimp it may not hurt.
Noticed earlier someone made a comment about feeding at night. While not end all be all research, this article indicates day time feeding is more beneficial: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/12/corals2
If you happen to still be doing this in a decade, please post back and let us know when you decided to stop feeding your corals and also let everybody know that there was no difference. Nearly everybody who posted on here that they used to feed and have stopped once had those same thoughts about how necessary it was and then figured out over the years that it was all for naught.
jd371
New member
I do the same. I will add some type of coral food to the fish food mixture twice a week, like Coral Frenzy, Marine Snow or a cube of Rotifers or Cyclopods.
karimwassef
Active member
Actually, I would say that most people who have responded support feeding. I didn't do a count, but I don't see many other posts stating that they were unsuccessful and have stopped feeding.
Again, this isn't to minimize your experience. It's true to you and a valid datapoint. But the experience of the majority (at least in this threads d others I've seen) is not the same. There's a published article that shows the benefits of feeding and even discerning that different corals grow at different rates with different foods.
Corals are both farmers and hunters- can they live on the carbs made from zooxanthelle photosynthesis? sure! But will they grow faster with some meat on the table? Absolutely! That's the experience you're hearing from multiple posts here.
Again, this isn't to minimize your experience. It's true to you and a valid datapoint. But the experience of the majority (at least in this threads d others I've seen) is not the same. There's a published article that shows the benefits of feeding and even discerning that different corals grow at different rates with different foods.
Corals are both farmers and hunters- can they live on the carbs made from zooxanthelle photosynthesis? sure! But will they grow faster with some meat on the table? Absolutely! That's the experience you're hearing from multiple posts here.
