Feeding corals

mekaeel said:
ok,my tank is 90% SPS.the reason why i skim wet at times it to help remove phosphates.whats yur theroy Mantis?
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Please see my previous post for some of my answer before I saw this question. That is definately one of the reasons I did it too. You are actually removing more phoshates than you know. While you are wasting that saltwater, you are also removing Calcium-phosphate, Magnesium-phosphate, Iron-phosphate, and other complexed chemicals. Sure they are locked up at the time so you shouldn't care about these types of phosphates, right??? Not necessarily. Remember, that these phosphates are readily liberated by bacteria.
 
excellent post.yes i was also looking at wet skimming from that point aswell.you are removing lotsa trace elements at the same time.
 
Magical reading. Awesome thread. Welcome Cuddles :lol:. I have dog eared all your references for luxury time. In anticipation.

The zeo concept treated with disdain by some popular forums...an asset..or liability
 
The zeo concept treated with disdain by some popular forums...an asset..or liability
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At the end of the day i think we may be looking at 2 different ideologies, one being the germans where the system is literally kept on the brink of starvation ie being very nutrient deficient with minimum fish and heavy skimming. They then feed the corals specifically what they need.
The other is a far easier and more accepted method where we kind of let things happen naturally with the fish loads and the feeding of the fish, then removing the excess with the heavy skimming, not as nutrient deficient so the corals are able to feed from the water column.
 
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A fair bit of this is over my head...

I only have one small sps (Pocillopora). I have been feeding it and my goldies with newly hatched brine shrimp. Coral and fish seem to enjoy them imensely.

No one has mentioned brine shrimp... is there something bad about them?

I am not sure if it is the feeding or water chemistry or what, but the tips have started to go pink fairly recently.
 
Pterois said:
A fair bit of this is over my head...

I only have one small sps (Pocillopora). I have been feeding it and my goldies with newly hatched brine shrimp. Coral and fish seem to enjoy them imensely.

No one has mentioned brine shrimp... is there something bad about them?

I am not sure if it is the feeding or water chemistry or what, but the tips have started to go pink fairly recently.
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Your Poci will not be able to eat brine shrimp. It's way too big for the polyp to eat. However, as long as you are using NEWLY HATCHED brine, it's a great food for fish and many other types of corals.
 
Hmm - looks like the polyps eat them to me. THe little nauplii presumably get the shit stung out of them and stop moving. It is hard to sea what happens then but it does look to me like they get eaten...

This is the coral:

img07318092010.jpg
 
People, I want to lob a mix of food into a blender, what do you suggest I put in to feed my coorals, I have softies, LPS and sps
 
Kanga said:
People, I want to lob a mix of food into a blender, what do you suggest I put in to feed my coorals, I have softies, LPS and sps
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in regards to LPS corals.when im in the mood of feeding,i use normaly frozen food (marine mix) which i rinse out with a tea strainer and place into a little container mixed with tank water.then target feed my LPS and clams with it using a 5ml syringe.but do so gently so the LPS can grab them
 
mekaeel said:
in regards to LPS corals.when im in the mood of feeding,i use normaly frozen food (marine mix) which i rinse out with a tea strainer and place into a little container mixed with tank water.then target feed my LPS and clams with it using a 5ml syringe.but do so gently so the LPS can grab them
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I am thinking blending shrimp, squid, roe, and some fresh fish, blend until liquid and go from there
 
Well I tried the Pocillopora again, and I am pretty sure the polyps are eating the brine shrimps. The Polyp grabs and stings the nauplius which then stops moving and the polyp retracts. The "column" of unfed polyps are pretty much one colour. In polyps that have fed, you can make out a lighter gut region.

These are tiny first instar brine shrimp nauplii that I have just hatched...
 
Your Poci will not be able to eat brine shrimp. It's way too big for the polyp to eat. However, as long as you are using NEWLY HATCHED brine, it's a great food for fish and many other types of corals.
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Not sure if I can agree with this.

I would say that corals like pocillipora and stylopora can catch brineshrimp when newly hatched.
ALSO: is it really neccesary for a polyp to ingest (completely swallow) food to benefit from it.
 
irie ivan said:
Not sure if I can agree with this.

I would say that corals like pocillipora and stylopora can catch brineshrimp when newly hatched.
ALSO: is it really neccesary for a polyp to ingest (completely swallow) food to benefit from it.
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Pterois and Irie Ivan,

I was overreaching with my original comments. There are different species of brine shrimp and a few species are small enough when born to be captured by a few species of what we typically call brine shrimp. The species that I have hatched would be worthless. Here's an article that will be right up your alley. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/aafeature1/view The nauplaii of this species in the article are only 400 micromoles big.

Yes, it is necessary for a polyp to swallow food to benefit from it just like it is necessary for us to actually digest our food to benefit. Otherwise, it's actually a net loss for the coral. I.e. Energy is expended to fire nematocysts but no nutrients are gained in the process.
 
Yes, read that article and a few others like http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGS02/01785/EGS02-A-01785.pdf.

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/207/9/1461 ,
Otherwise, it's actually a net loss for the coral. I.e. Energy is expended to fire nematocysts but no nutrients are gained in the process.
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An interesting way to look at it, But i would not say no nutrients gained. Picture a banana sideways in your mouth, except instead of biting, the coral polyp uses digestive juices to dissolve and ingest parts of captured prey.
Have seen this happen with large chunks of fish on lps polyps, but not sure how fast acropora juices act on captured prey and how much of the "dissolved" food actually get into the coral's gut and how much is washed away by the flow. (maybe there is something to switching off pumps during feeding)
AND like you reminded me, is such an expenditure of energy beneficial in terms of nutrients gained????
 
Given how rudimentary a Cnidarian gut is, I see no reason why they can not digest half the prey with the other half the prey stick out the mouth. After all a lionfish can do this! Although with a front and back end to their digestive system the food can move through a lionfish like a conveyor belt. IN a polyp, it can only digest what is inside before vomitting/pooing it all up again...
 
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