What to feed SPS

[hardimanm]

So what product do all yall use to feed sps and how often. Im looking to buy some but wanted to make sure I get good stuff
thanks all

 

[JR's Reef]

Fish poo is all mine get

 

[mike_dani]

Fish pooooo

 

[Tomoko Schum]

While many experts say that SPS corals feed primarily on bacterioplanktons, some researchers reported some successes with feeding live zooplanktons such as newly hatched brine shrimp and rotifers to Pocillopora damicornis and Stylophora pistillata. They confirmed that the zooplankton fed corals grew faster and healthier than the control group. You can read about it here if you are interested:

http://www.burgerszoo.eu/media/108776/chapter 3.pdf
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/aafeature1/view?searchterm=artemia pocillopora

 

[wpecoul]

I fed artemia naupilii for a while after the recent article in Coral Magazine. It did seem to have positive effects, but I had to stop when the weather turned cold (had to hatch them in the garage). I plan to start up again shortly.

 

[atlantisaquari]

light and fish poo...mmmm delicious

 

[atlantisaquari]

course the fish food i make has spray dry phytoplankton and cyclopeze in it but that is in pretty small amounts when considering how little i feed.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Interesting dicussion on coral food here.

 

[hardimanm]

Thanks all

 

[Tomoko Schum]

You should also check out Eric Borneman's articles on the food of reef :

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-08/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/eb/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/eb/index.php

 

[hardimanm]

Thanks again!

Is this the same Eric Borneman that authored Aquarium Corals. selection husbandry and history? I have that book and its really good

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Yes, it's the one and the same.

 

[KniLLifer]

I fed mine lots of water!



No really, light and the occasional reefbooster from Prodibio.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Good to hear from you Art .

Will -
Do you use an incandescent light bulb over your hatching cone? When I used to hatch bbs for my fish fry in winter, the heat from a small bulb allow them to hatch faster in warmer water. My setup was inside the house, but we set the night time temp pretty low. Some people immerse their hatching cone setup inside a 10 gallon tank with a heater going.

 

[wpecoul]

Will -
Do you use an incandescent light bulb over your hatching cone? When I used to hatch bbs for my fish fry in winter, the heat from a small bulb allow them to hatch faster in warmer water. My setup was inside the house, but we set the night time temp pretty low. Some people immerse their hatching cone setup inside a 10 gallon tank with a heater going.

I didn't, because I was going super-ghetto. I just have a 2-liter bottle with two holes drilled in the cap, some rigid airline tubing (try finding THAT these days) and some flexible tubing. Used tank water, poured in cysts, turned on pump, squirted some DT's in after about 24 hours, waited another day until they were pretty well hatched. Cut off pump, let cysts float up, siphoned from the bottom into a pitcher, poured them into tank. I'll probably add a bottle and have two batches going at a time when I start back up.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

My setup was just like what you described except for the two holes (what is the 2nd hole for?). I just had a tiny goose-neck desk lamp with a 20W incandescent bulb over it. Then, Jack (Triton's Garden) gave me a black plastic stand made for the job - works very nicely.

I used to hatch enough to feed a few times (being lazy). I just held extra in my fridge (slow down their metabolism.) You can hold them for 24 hours in the fridge without losing their nutritional value.

 

[shirley386]

Will, did you pour the hatching water in the tank? When I tried that I had a lot of algae. I started straining and rinsing them before dumping them.

 

[wpecoul]

Tomoko -

Second hole in the cap is just for air to escape - the hole for the rigid tubing is pretty tight. I didn't want pressure to build up.

Shirley -

I pour whatever comes through the siphon into the tank. I don't try to get so many shrimp that I risk getting the empty cysts, because those are bad news. The hatching water started out as tank water, and it's pretty vigorously aerated. I didn't notice any algae problems or anything out of the ordinary except for seemingly happier corals.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Will -

I suspect that you did not cut off the bottom of the 2 liter bottle. Mine is open top. As I drain the water, empty cysts generally sticks to the side of the container and stays on the container.

Shirley -

I usually collect my bbs into a non-disposable Merita style coffee filter (cone shaped one) and throw away hatching water myself. The hatching water may have some ammonia especially if the density of bbs is very high. Reefers may not be too concerned about a small amount of NH3, but fish breeders try to avoid it as much as possible.

Brine shrimp cysts hatch better in lower salinity (25 ppt/0.018 s.g.) than the typical reef tank salinity.

 

[wpecoul]

No, the bottle is intact. I've seen the cones, but didn't have one on hand, so I went with what I had. I have the same phenomenon with the cysts sticking to the side of the bottle, and I siphon from the very bottom.

If I do start this back up on a regular basis, I will likely reduce the amount of hatch water that ends up in the main tank. Just because it wasn't a problem in limited use before doesn't mean it won't be a problem over time.