Coral Feeding Idea

Manic

Manic

Retired Moderator
Joined
12 Mar 2009
Posts
3,311
Reaction score
58
Location
Johannesburg, Edenvale
Whilst filling my auto-top up tank with fresh water today I came up with an idea. My soft coral frag tank which is completely open uses about 6 litres of RO water a day. So what if I put the coral food in the RO water. Then everytime my my auto-top up turns on it would pump food into the system which is about every hour. The tank where the RO water is stored is small (15L) so it gets used up every 3 days so don't think there will be a problem with the food decomposing in the RO water before it gets to the tank. The food I use is Tropic Marin Pro-Coral Phyton and is just basically a phytoplankton substitute. It all stays in the water column, Doesn't sink or float. Anyone think this will work?
 
You would need to make sure the food is consumed within 6 hours, as the effect of decomposition will effect the water and in turn the tank.
 
Soft corals need very little food, but cyclopese or coral snow etc once or twice a week could help.
 
I've been reading the coral propogation book by Anthony Calfo and he says if there is a lot of fish in the system it will cause soft corals to grow faster due to more food being added to the water. So I thought by adding a lot of food this would increase their growth. I don't want to add fish to the tank though.
 
I agree with Mike - normal photosynthetic softies (leathers, zoanthids, etc) will do very well if fed only one or twice per week, as they get *most* of their needs from their symbiotic zooxanthellae.

Anthony Calfo and he says if there is a lot of fish in the system it will cause soft corals to grow faster due to more food being added to the water
Click to expand...

That is true, and the corals will benefit from more than just food - the fish also increase the CO2 in the water, which the zooxanthellae use in the process of photosynthesis. It is always a good idea to keep one or two small fish with one's corals for this reason.

Hennie
 
Manic said:
I've been reading the coral propogation book by Anthony Calfo and he says if there is a lot of fish in the system it will cause soft corals to grow faster due to more food being added to the water. So I thought by adding a lot of food this would increase their growth. I don't want to add fish to the tank though.
Click to expand...

Fish waste and algae you scrape off the glass will keep them happy, but don't overstock for the sake of the corals - they'll be happy.
 
Reef Maniac said:
I agree with Mike - normal photosynthetic softies (leathers, zoanthids, etc) will do very well if fed only one or twice per week, as they get *most* of their needs from their symbiotic zooxanthellae.

That is true, and the corals will benefit from more than just food - the fish also increase the CO2 in the water, which the zooxanthellae use in the process of photosynthesis. It is always a good idea to keep one or two small fish with one's corals for this reason.

Hennie
Click to expand...

I agree with Hennie with the exception/note... NOT with this food. These pseudo-plankton products are just not what you want to be feeding your corals.

Also, fish feed corals with their poop too...
 
Ok following this from daytime and came to conclusion my tanks water is flowing upside down! With the move tomorrow it means my water from predators tank must flow to fish only tank then flow lastly to the corals then to the filters so the corals can benefit from the "poo" before it get skimmed!
 
sihaya said:
I agree with Hennie with the exception/note... NOT with this food. These pseudo-plankton products are just not what you want to be feeding your corals.
Click to expand...

OK, just to clarify - I was referring to the FEEDING of the corals, and not endorsing any specific product.

Also, fish feed corals with their poop too...
Click to expand...

Yes, that was what Mike was saying, and what I concurred with. The fish waste also feeds bristle worms, amphipods, copepods and thousands of small critters living in a mature deep live sand bed and/or live rock, which in turn spawn in the tank, resulting in their larvae (i.e. plankton) becoming food for the corals.

I target feed my mushrooms and zoanthids about once every two weeks, and never feed the leather corals, but all do very well because of the extensive food chain in my tank.

Hennie
 
Sorry Manic not meaning to Hijack your thread but guys what do your'll think about my conclusion about my water flowing "upside down" at the moment due to the info contributed so far to this thread?
 
chikaboo said:
Sorry Manic not meaning to Hijack your thread but guys what do your'll think about my conclusion about my water flowing "upside down" at the moment due to the info contributed so far to this thread?
Click to expand...

Personally, I would keep the water flowing through the skimmer first, to remove whatever waste it can. It's a lot easier to feed the corals than to correct problems caused by high nutrients.

Hennie
 
But is not the same water that is poo filled in tanks that has fish and corals? I'm saying that the way my tanks are layered at the moment, my corals are being deprived of fish poo as the tank containing the corals are at the very top getting water from the filters first before the fish only?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom