Feeding corals

lol, Welcome to the forum mantisfreak. Would love to see a pic or two of this monster mantis :)
 
Welcome to MASA mantisfreak!
 
Okay reading the above where bacteria forms an important part of the corals diet could one assume then that a fairly high fish load would be beneficial for the corals?
It stands to reason that more fish=more bacteria in the system. The reason i ask this is we in SA have followed the theory for a long time of nutrient deficient systems with minimum fish on starvation diets.
Welcome to MASA Mantisfreak, gr8 to have you on board.
 
THX for the kind welcomes everyone.

I need to find a good picture. I have a pic but he was just glancing at the camera. Unlike us, they see infra-red and that is what is used on auto-focusing cameras and they don't like it.
 
Alan said:
Okay reading the above where bacteria forms an important part of the corals diet could one assume then that a fairly high fish load would be beneficial for the corals?
It stands to reason that more fish=more bacteria in the system. The reason i ask this is we in SA have followed the theory for a long time of nutrient deficient systems with minimum fish on starvation diets.
Welcome to MASA Mantisfreak, gr8 to have you on board.
Click to expand...

I really have to think hard how to describe this. You've likely seen where all of the SPS corals turn brown. Well, plain and simple, that would be too many nutrients in the system. The zoox (combined) would look brown so too many nutrients would cause a zoox population explosion. Do you have colorful SPS that are lightening in color? You are starving your corals....plain and simple.

Yes....most SPS live in oligotrophic conditions. Yet, they also live in the most productive ecosystems in world. How on earth can the most productive ecosystem in the world be oligotrophic (nutrient deficient)? It's actually quite simple....the excess nutrients get swept out to the abyss. After you eat your dinner and have leftovers, do you leave them there or do you put them in the freezer or throw them away? (Please tell me you don't allow them to rot in your kitchen). I feed heavy and then I skim heavy. That is my preference. There's other ways to do this, that's just my preference.
 
Very interesting never thought of feeding in this way before, and the effects it has on your colouration , i knew about high nutrient systems and sps turning brown, but colourfull sps that are lightning because of low nutrient systems is something learned.

Thanks Mantisfreak.
 
mantisfreak said:
I really have to think hard how to describe this. You've likely seen where all of the SPS corals turn brown. Well, plain and simple, that would be too many nutrients in the system. The zoox (combined) would look brown so too many nutrients would cause a zoox population explosion. Do you have colorful SPS that are lightening in color? You are starving your corals....plain and simple.
Click to expand...

Hmmm... where did you read this?

I feed heavy and then I skim heavy. That is my preference. There's other ways to do this, that's just my preference.
Click to expand...

Mine too. ;)

Low-nutrient is NOT the same as low-food. Like Curt is saying, low-nutrient just means the food is "taken out" before it starts degrading into "nutrients."
 
sihaya said:
Hmmm... where did you read this?
Click to expand...

I didn't read this anywhere. Let me rephrase my comments. From PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, I have found this to be the case and PERSONAL EXPERIENCE has shown that this problem is easily remedied. Start feeding more and the colors become more vibrant again. Additionally, when Anthony spoke at one of our club meetings, it was held in a club members house. Anthony pointed to one of his corals and said it's not getting enough food and when Brad started feeding more, his colors darkened as well.


[Exactly]Low-nutrient is NOT the same as low-food. Like Curt is saying, low-nutrient just means the food is "taken out" before it starts degrading into "nutrients."
Click to expand...

Sara....ya gotta be nice to me today. :razz: 20 minutes ago I just got home from a 25 hour workday where I acclimated over 500 fish that arrived late last night. My back is killing me, my feet are killing me, and I have a headache of unimaginable proportions. I'm pooped!!!
 
Welcome Mantisfreak! This is one EXTREMELY interesting thread! Tagging along!
BTW: perhaps off-topic - but if mantisfreak can answer (even in a seperate thread) would be great - what about the food/detritus that get's stuck inside one's live rock (that the skimmer cannot get too)? I have read that this detritus (if it can get into the water-column) could also act as food for the corals? Is this true? If so, how do one ensure that one's live rock stay "clean"? Very high water flow? Or are there some other tricks? Regenerating of the micro live that lives inside the live-rock?
 
Jacquesb- I can't say for sure if this "stuff" provides food (and if so to what corals/animals), but it might make some sense. And I have heard of people using powerheads to blast it off their rocks and into the water column. They even have a name for it... "storming" or something? lol
 
mantisfreak said:
I didn't read this anywhere. Let me rephrase my comments. From PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, I have found this to be the case and PERSONAL EXPERIENCE has shown that this problem is easily remedied. Start feeding more and the colors become more vibrant again.
Click to expand...

Hmm... well, I DO AGREE that corals are largely underfed in aquariums and god only knows what myriad of ailments this is directly or indirectly responsible. I don't want to speculate about the "science" between feeding and zooxanthellate, but your guess is as good as mine.

Sara....ya gotta be nice to me today. :razz: 20 minutes ago I just got home from a 25 hour workday where I acclimated over 500 fish that arrived late last night. My back is killing me, my feet are killing me, and I have a headache of unimaginable proportions. I'm pooped!!!
Click to expand...

I bet! Weren't you going to the airport at like 2am?!? :029:
 
Do you have colorful SPS that are lightening in color?
Click to expand...
Please clarify lightening. Are you referring to lightening from eg. rust brown to rose pink in the case of acropora millepora or paling of an already pink acropora millepora?
You are starving your corals....plain and simple.
Click to expand...
If lightening in colour means expulsion/ingestion of zooxanthellae by the host to the point where colour reflected by the chromophores is the predominant colour, i have to disagree. YES, you are starving your corals of food produced by zooxanthellae, ie junk food/quick fix sugar! BUT you have to remember that the population of zooxanthellae is not only controlled by nutrient conditions.
The actual host also has quite a bit of say in the matter: I suspect that reduction of zooxanthellae by the host is in response to it making more efficient use of zooxanthellae, as well as requiring less zooxanthellae to meat its carbon demand. Possibly (probably) because of the availability of another food source. Something like bacterioplancton.
The more I think about it, the more some methods in systems like zeovit/fauna marin etc makes sense!!


Yes....most SPS live in oligotrophic conditions. Yet, they also live in the most productive ecosystems in world. How on earth can the most productive ecosystem in the world be oligotrophic (nutrient deficient)? It's actually quite simple....the excess nutrients get swept out to the abyss.
Click to expand...
And those that are not are converted to biomass, ie bacterioplancton and zooplancton, corals favorite source of nutrition! (a big part of me starting this thread.
 
Skim wet or dry? Sorry I don't know what that means... isn't all skimming wet? :blushing:
 
As I understand it Sihaya, it is variations on how your skimmer is set up. With a higher water level in teh skimmer you tend to get a "wetter" foam and the skimmate is more dilute. A lower water level gives you a dryer foam and more concentrated skimmate.
 
sihaya said:
Hmm... well, I DO AGREE that corals are largely underfed in aquariums and god only knows what myriad of ailments this is directly or indirectly responsible. I don't want to speculate about the "science" between feeding and zooxanthellate, but your guess is as good as mine.
Click to expand...

If the corals are getting their daily carbon needs met, they need less lighting and will kick out some of the zoox. These dinoflagellates will regrow their flagella and will eitheir "re-infect" another coral, or they will swim around for a while, or they will get picked up by our skimmers or other filtration. Another thing that can happen is they get too much light and the zoox is giving the coral too much Oxygen as a result. Why this has an affect on SPS coloration, has never been figured out. (A lot of work done by Richard Harker, Sanjay Joshi, and Dana Riddle on photoinhibition offers some suggestions but not proven anything yet).

I bet! Weren't you going to the airport at like 2am?!? :029:
Click to expand...
You're one hour ahead of me but, yes, it was very late.

I have read that this detritus (if it can get into the water-column) could also act as food for the corals? Is this true?
Click to expand...
The detrital mulm that comes off the rock is not really the food source. It's the bacterial floc that is attached to this detritus that benefits the corals IMO.

The actual host also has quite a bit of say in the matter: I suspect that reduction of zooxanthellae by the host is in response to it making more efficient use of zooxanthellae, as well as requiring less zooxanthellae to meat its carbon demand. Possibly (probably) because of the availability of another food source. Something like bacterioplancton.
Click to expand...
I agree completely.

Please clarify lightening. Are you referring to lightening from eg. rust brown to rose pink in the case of acropora millepora or paling of an already pink acropora millepora?
Click to expand...
The paling of an already pink milli.

And those that are not are converted to biomass, ie bacterioplancton and zooplancton, corals favorite source of nutrition! (a big part of me starting this thread.
Click to expand...
I agree again. One time I had a drawing of how very tightly cycled that nutrients are on a reef. The efficiency of a healthy coral reef is nothing short of amazing.

so do we skim wet or dry with with a high fish and coral bioload?
Click to expand...
When I had my SPS prop tank running, I did both wet and dry skimming at the same time for the advantages of each type of skimming.
 
mantisfreak said:
When I had my SPS prop tank running, I did both wet and dry skimming at the same time for the advantages of each type of skimming.
Click to expand...
ok,my tank is 90% SPS.the reason why i skim wet at times it to help remove phosphates.whats yur theroy Mantis?
 
sihaya said:
I'm not sure it matters... have I showed you guys this yet?
http://www.asira.org/proteinskimmers
Click to expand...

Great link Sara.

Here's the differences IMO;

Dry skimming.....removes DOM more efficiently, wastes less salt, wastes less water. Pretty much Chemical Filtration at it's finest.

Wet skimming....removes DOM less efficently but also acts as Mechanical Filtration and captures particulate material before it has a chance to break down.

Wet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom