SPS food?

[snagged by reef]

I'm setting up an SPS frag tank for a "hobby"...lol.

Anyways, what is the suggested food and/or chemicals for SPS only tank? 40lbs frag tank w/ a sump/fuge set up. i'll have live rock with cheto in the sump for bio filter both frags only in the main tank.

All the manufacgturers say just about the same for all their products (phytoplankton, zoplankton, chromoplex, phytoplex, etc). "Enhance color, 5 - 10 microns, filter food, etc, etc"

Let me know what has worked best, "IMO", for SPS frag tankers.

thanks everyone!

 

[cnaegler]

Believe it or not, just feed the fish well and their "poo" will feed them, no joke. You could also try rotifers, cyclopseeze, and oyster eggs. Anything else, i think, would be too large for them to capture.
I'm sure someone else will chime in with more options.

 

[dcog277]

fish poo

 

[DLANDINO]

I have been using Coral Frenzie and rotifers. Seems to work well.

 

[o.c.d.]

Nutrient balance is what is important. Are you going to have fish in your setup? If so than fish poo is great but how large the tank is and how much fish food going in makes a difference also the amount of sps stock will need a certain amount of food. This is where your observation comes in too much food = excess nutrients = algae. Always start with less observe over time and then decide if more or a supplement is needed. Just keep track of what you are doing so if there is a change you know why. I add reefroids once a week just for good luck and it's the fist thing I stop adding if cyno or algae appears.

 

[XSiVE]

Skimmate!

Seriously, whenever I accidentally spill skimmate into my sump, all of my SPS go nuts.

 

[cnaegler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13273063#post13273063 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by XSiVE
Skimmate!

Seriously, whenever I accidentally spill skimmate into my sump, all of my SPS go nuts.

Concentrated fish poo!

 

[Hop]

Fish poop. Its what's for dinner

 

[manofcoral]

We need one of the big guys who sell frags for a living to chime in. What works for them.

 

[phish guy]

light and fish poo is a coral delacasy (i did not spell that right)

 

[Everyones Hero]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13273063#post13273063 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by XSiVE
Skimmate!

Seriously, whenever I accidentally spill skimmate into my sump, all of my SPS go nuts.

I thought skimming was supposed to be extremely important in taking out nutrients so corals can grow... Now I'm hearing that skimmate makes good coral food...

Anyone have a link for the home brewed foods?

 

[abulgin]

I purchased Golden Pearls 5-50 micron after reading a lot of good things about it on RC and other places. I feed it once or twice per week, and my corals are all very healthy and growing. The thing I like about this product is that it is so fine that it stays in suspsension for a long time.

Who knows whether the Golden Pearls makes a huge difference, but many of the more experienced reefers swear that feeding your corals is just as important as feeding your fish.

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/c11/GP-5-50-Micron-Reef-Larval-Diet-c32.html

 

[Logzor]

Serious about the fish poo. Dont waste your money!

Brew up a nice DIY frozen frozen from reefkeeping magazine and have enough food for a year plus enough to sell to cover triple the costs.

Since fish gorge a lot of the food comes out churned up but not digested completely so this is great good for your sps and it is cheap.

I say forget shelling out cash for golden pearls, it sounds like a gimmick to me.

 

[Everyones Hero]

So basically fish wastes & uneaten food makes a good meal for corals?

 

[abulgin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13275054#post13275054 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Logzor
Serious about the fish poo. Dont waste your money!

Brew up a nice DIY frozen frozen from reefkeeping magazine and have enough food for a year plus enough to sell to cover triple the costs.

Since fish gorge a lot of the food comes out churned up but not digested completely so this is great good for your sps and it is cheap.

I say forget shelling out cash for golden pearls, it sounds like a gimmick to me.

I'm sure that corals can by fine in nutrient rich water, but Golden Pearls appears to be a quality product. It's not a gimmick.

 

[Logzor]

I believe it is, in that if the main promotion of the product is the particle size. If you can achieve this particle size by just letting your fish poo then it is a gimmick.

I am sure it does a great job but it seem unnecessary and expensive.

So, IF you can achieve the same particle size and quality of food from fish poo by feeding an inexpensive home made food, which would you choose?

I have no proof really but it seems that this is the case as ive never seen many of the TOTM with massive SPS colonies feed anything special like that.

The guy from Thailand with tons of sps only fed F1 and F2.

 

[abulgin]

Well, by definition a gimmick is a trick designed to attract attention. If SPS feed on GPs, then it's not a gimmick. It may be unecessary, or you may be able to achieve the same result using other methods/means as you suggest, but that doesn't make it a gimmick. In my experience, home-made foods don't always/usually work because I have never been able to blend them small enough to get a useful particle size.

 

[Logzor]

By definition yeah you are correct.

You need a bass-o-matic!

 

[Everyones Hero]

To get back onto the topic:

Would ground up Mysis & Brine shrimp, along with ground up fish food make an adequet coral food?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Anyways, what is the suggested food and/or chemicals for SPS only tank?

On the chemical additive end of that question, it is mostly just calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. I address it in this article:



The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php