Whats the best Coral food for Z's and P's?

None, chances are the dirtier water from feeding your z's and p's will actually make them grow slower, and some of the fastest growing zoanthids I've seen are ones that are in cleaner systems and never get fed. Feeding corals is a myth...
 
organism said:
None, chances are the dirtier water from feeding your z's and p's will actually make them grow slower, and some of the fastest growing zoanthids I've seen are ones that are in cleaner systems and never get fed. Feeding corals is a myth...
Click to expand...

I have always heard that zoanthids prefer dirty water to "clean" water....
 
Not sure about the relativity of clean to dirty water, but I had better growth when I actually fed mine, heard the same from a few others with zoa dominated tanks. I have been doing targeted cut up mysis, flakes, and some coral frenzy about once or twice a week.
 
organism said:
None, chances are the dirtier water from feeding your z's and p's will actually make them grow slower, and some of the fastest growing zoanthids I've seen are ones that are in cleaner systems and never get fed. Feeding corals is a myth...
Click to expand...

What??? :rolleyes:

To the O.P. I shut my pumps down, except for one koralia, once a week (at night and one hour after lights off) and feed a mixture of Cylops, dry phyto, and roti rich. This feeding schedule, and recipe has given me the best response from them. Colors are looking great, and growth is fantastic. The next morning I turn everything back on again. The skimmer takes any excess from the water that wasn't consumed during the night. What I've noticed is they will slime a stringy mucus, catch any floating matter, and a few hours later, suck the mucus in and close up. Just make sure you have a sufficient skimmer. I'm running a S.r.o. 3000xp on 114 gallons total, so it's been easy removing the excess food left the next day. Let us know what you decide to try, and post some progress pics, if any! :) Thanks Scott W.

Here are some recent pictures of mine, they seem to be happy to me.. You be the judge?
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1882312&page=3
 
Scott-CapeCoral said:
What??? :rolleyes:

To the O.P. I shut my pumps down, except for one koralia, once a week (at night and one hour after lights off) and feed a mixture of Cylops, dry phyto, and roti rich. This feeding schedule, and recipe has given me the best response from them. Colors are looking great, and growth is fantastic. The next morning I turn everything back on again. The skimmer takes any excess from the water that wasn't consumed during the night. What I've noticed is they will slime a stringy mucus, catch any floating matter, and a few hours later, suck the mucus in and close up. Just make sure you have a sufficient skimmer. I'm running a S.r.o. 3000xp on 114 gallons total, so it's been easy removing the excess food left the next day. Let us know what you decide to try, and post some progress pics, if any! :) Thanks Scott W.

Here are some recent pictures of mine, they seem to be happy to me.. You be the judge?
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1882312&page=3
Click to expand...


Your frags/corals sux bro give em to me ;)... I like that aussie superman shroom :beer: tank looks good...
 
Zoas and palys tolerate dirtier water better then some corals, they don't thrive in it. I feed a mixture of Rod's regular, Rod's Coral, Reef Roids, Coral Frenzy, Reef Chile and some mysis. Everything gets the size they need. I do it twice a week and have had great success.
 
I started feeding all of my corals some months back. I have seen a great difference. Better growth, much better coloration especially in my sps. My zoas have better growth and color as well. The change was amazing. I do not have a tank of the month but I am not afraid to have other reefers stop over and take a look. My next purchase/hobby is a nice camera. If i had something other than a cell phone camera I would share a few shots. I used to only feed the fish and let the left overs feed whatever it fed. I fed cyclopeeze, mysis, pellets, oyster blend, etc.. I am getting ready to make a batch of DIY food that I have seen others feed.
Feeding does not not equal dirty water. I have an oversized skimmer (Reeflo Orca), an unlight 120g live rock refugia. And I do 10% water changes every 10 to 15 days and a larger change as I fell is needed.
Different hings work for different tanks but heavy feeding has worked for me. It seems that other people that feed have success as well. You will have to be the judge for yourself and do what works for you. I do not recall the thread but I really liked the statement "if they don't eat why do they have a mouth"
I am definately not an expert but I like to feed my tank and my tank likes to eat........
 
I feed mine Coral Frenzy, cuz that's the only small coral food I have. I've always fed them and I never actually see them do anything with the food, but it makes me feel better feeding them.
 
shinninja said:
Do you always keep the skimmer on when you feed the tank Jeff or shut it down?
Click to expand...
I keep it on right now but I need to setup a couple feeding routines in my ReefKeeper Elite. I would like to hit the feed button on my RKE and have the pumps turn off for an hour and the skimmer turn off for 4 hours or so.
 
The myth of saying corals do not need food is a myth in my opinion. I have tried a lot of foods out in my time and have found that a variety of food and sizes works the best. My zoas, palys and ricordea thrive when I am on a good feeding schedule.
Check out this thread for some great information on feeding soft corals: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1896006
His information about triggering a feeding response is genius.
 
organism said:
None, chances are the dirtier water from feeding your z's and p's will actually make them grow slower, and some of the fastest growing zoanthids I've seen are ones that are in cleaner systems and never get fed. Feeding corals is a myth...
Click to expand...

feeding corals is a myth? i know thousands of people that will disagree with you... not saying zoa's need to be fed, but your statement is ridiculous...
 
I've read about this in a couple of books, and have heard it from speakers. I myself have never heard of an autotrophic only (light only) coral. They say coral tissue is mostly Nitrogen. There are a couple ways of delivering nitrogen to the tissue and that's either by feeding, or your "Dirty water". Think about it and do the math, a browned out coral is the result of an overabundance of nitrogen which creates an over abundance of zooxanthellae. Instead of creating "dirty water" for the corals nutrient supply, feed the coral what it can eat and have a sufficient skimmer and other effective ways of nutrient export. This way, the coral has control over what it ingests, rather than than forcing it to live in the dirty water.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Brian60077
Blue Tang best food besides small pellets
Replies
5
Views
148
Brian60077
Brian60077
K
What are the best invertebrates and corals
Replies
10
Views
322
Kitkatryno$6
K
S
N and P uptake
Replies
2
Views
372
Scotty333!!!
S
DjPhato
Which is your favourite online coral store?
Replies
2
Views
201
griss
griss
E
What’s the best way to approach this?
Replies
3
Views
132
SantaMonica
S
Back
Top