Best Food for Corals

[zemuss]

I searched but couldn't find the information I am looking for. I would like to know which food people are using. I am going to be giving SPS another try soon and wanted to know if people feed them. In general I wanted to know if people feed corals at all and what foods are good. My reef will be dominately SPS but I want to keep SPS / LPS and ZOAS.

"Z"

 

[btkrausen]

I never fed anything but sunshine and fish poop

Just make sure your calcium and magnesium are at the proper levels and you'll be golden. (not counting water quality, proper salinity, proper & stable pH, etc)

 

[CJO]

I never fed anything but sunshine and fish poop

Just make sure your calcium and magnesium are at the proper levels and you'll be golden. (not counting water quality, proper salinity, proper & stable pH, etc)

+1 although I will sometime add Reef Frenzy to my general fish feeding.

CJ

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

Tang poop is the best. My Lavender tang is really good about pooping on my acros.

 

[Ace25]

According to an article on AdvancedAquarist that I read, Reef Chili is one of the best coral foods out there.

Reef Chili 100% Complete Coral Food

 

[zemuss]

Ok crap a TANG in a 34 G hahahahah never I will not stress that fish.

 

[TD2K]

I feed Coral Frenzy and phytoplankton.

would also like to get ahold of some Rod's reef food, but my LFS doesn't sell it.

 

[aherre07]

Tang poop is the best. My Lavender tang is really good about pooping on my acros.

+1 Fish poop is my main source of food for corals. Will occasionally add zeo coral snow.

 

[ritter6788]

I used to feed all my LPS but there's no use anymore. The fish would rather eat out of the turkey baster or pick food off the corals than food floating around in the tank. I've never fed sps or soft corals and they all grow just fine. I'm sure they catch small things we can't see but I see no need to feed them directly. I would imagine a healthy reef tank feeds the corals itself with all the pods and pod larvae.

 

[usfpaul82]

I rely on fish waste also, but I do feed oysterfeast a few times a week.

 

[larryl]

coral frenzy

 

[RRaider]

I feed Coral Frenzy and phytoplankton.

would also like to get ahold of some Rod's reef food, but my LFS doesn't sell it.

Ask them to carry it. I spoke with one of our local stores, gave them the website and they now carry it and use it them selves. Rod is very easy to work with.

 

[shred5]

I searched but couldn't find the information I am looking for. I would like to know which food people are using. I am going to be giving SPS another try soon and wanted to know if people feed them. In general I wanted to know if people feed corals at all and what foods are good. My reef will be dominately SPS but I want to keep SPS / LPS and ZOAS.

"Z"

Well there really is not a perfect food, each coral is different and has different requirements in nutrition and size of food it can eat. Some corals have very little need for food and others like some goniopora would not survive long term with out proper food.


My personal favorite is live enriched rotifers but for most this is not possible and I have not raised them in a while myself. My second is live baby brine shrimp.

Most of the time I use Rods coral food, it basically is a soup of a ton of different foods and different sized food. I also use coral frenzy from time to time also.
I also like frozen rotifers, cyclopeeze, oyster eggs and Nutramar ova.
For larger polyped corals I like chopped shrimp or fish and mysis.

I also encourage bacteria to grow and that is primarily what some corals feed on.

Nps corals require very heavy feeding and also require frequent feedings.

Phytoplankton is pretty much useless in a reef unless you have tube worms or clams, corals eat very little of it and most wont at all. It does not trigger a feeding response.

 

[Ace25]

Some corals have very little need for food and others like some goniopora would not survive long term with out proper food.

Phytoplankton is pretty much useless in a reef unless you have tube worms or clams, corals eat very little of it and most wont at all. It does not trigger a feeding response.

Can you name some corals that do not need much food? Genuinely curious to hear some examples. From all my reading over the years (like the dozens of AdvancedAquarist articles on the subject) it seems corals actually need/consume quite a lot of food. I agree with you 100% about Phyto not being needed for the majority of tanks.

 

[shred5]

Can you name some corals that do not need much food? Genuinely curious to hear some examples. From all my reading over the years (like the dozens of AdvancedAquarist articles on the subject) it seems corals actually need/consume quite a lot of food. I agree with you 100% about Phyto not being needed for the majority of tanks.

Hard to really say but allot of corals like some zoanthids I have never directly fed but it does not mean they are not eating. Corals all need some form of food I believe even though we do not see them eating or are not directly fed. Some can absorb nutrients directly from the water and others are taking in bacteria. Problem is zooxanthellae provide the coral with glucose which is basically sugar, I really doubt that is enough food for a coral or would be good for them. But it is really hard to tell which corals require less food than others.

I think allot of corals we do not actually see feeding are feeding on bacteria. I dose small amounts of carbon in my tank as well as some bacteria from time to time to keep up bacteria populations.

Basically the more fleshy or larger the polyps or even corals with more polyps I would assume in most cases require more food or why have the polyps?

 

[Ace25]

From what I have read, in general corals get about 20-40% of their nutrition from zoothanthallae (for photosynthetic corals) depending on the coral. This is a very generalized article, but it puts some of the conclusions of the AA articles into laymens terms.

What Do Corals Eat? - Corals Need More Than a Lot of Light

In the past, it was believed that the large polyped corals, with their more efficient tentacle formations, obtained a large portion of their nutrition from active feeding on the food that floated by, rather than from their zoothanthallae algae. It has since been discovered that many of the small polyp corals are actually more aggressive feeders than their larger cousins.

 

[shred5]

From what I have read, in general corals get about 20-40% of their nutrition from zoothanthallae (for photosynthetic corals) depending on the coral. This is a very generalized article, but it puts some of the conclusions of the AA articles into laymens terms.

What Do Corals Eat? - Corals Need More Than a Lot of Light

I have not read that article nor do I know who those people are but about.com is really not know for their reef info. There has been very few study's been done on coral nutrition and most is people opinion. Be very careful what you read, most of this hobby is common sense. Look observe and try different things and talk to those that have been In the hobby a long time. . Each coral is different so I would say again what percentage is based on the individual coral. Some sps are very aggressive feeders and some are not. Again I think that even though we don't see some corals feeding they may still feed pretty heavily on other things. Hey we know some coral rely 100 percent on feedings because they have no zzoxanthellae.

I either own or have owned pretty much every publication on this hobby since well almost the beginning. It is funny how things and peoples opinions change over the years based on new findings. New things are still discovered everyday that makes old beliefs wrong. Again you can not fault those people from the early days of the hobby there ideas came based on the info they had at the time.

 

[Ace25]

I have not read that article nor do I know who those people are but about.com is really not know for their reef info.

That is the typical response I see, attack the messenger, and disregard the message.

It is funny how things and peoples opinions change over the years based on new findings. New things are still discovered everyday that makes old beliefs wrong. Again you can not fault those people from the early days of the hobby there ideas came based on the info they had at the time.

Which is exactly why I only rely on science, like this article, to back up my opinions.

Aquarium Corals: Zooplankton Feeding by Corals Underestimated; Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

The final results, obtained by combining video data with nutrient analysis of Artemia nauplii, were quite surprising. From their calculations, the scientists found that when taking extracoelenteric zooplankton feeding into account, daily nutrient inputs from feeding are much higher—about twenty times higher—than previously estimated.

 

[ReefPops]

I switch it up quite a bit. Rod's Reef is great and offer a great variety of foods. Coral Frenzy and phyto feast are also a nice treat. I've started using Fauna Marin pellets which I like as well. Mysis is also on the list. Each coral varies and it often depends on ease of feeding. Some I target feed, others never get "fed"

 

[shred5]

That is the typical response I see, attack the messenger, and disregard the message.


Which is exactly why I only rely on science, like this article, to back up my opinions.

Aquarium Corals: Zooplankton Feeding by Corals Underestimated; Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

I do not know what your problem is.. I never said the article is wrong, I said I didn't read it. I just said beware of what you read because there have not been many test done on nutrition in corals and most is opinion. This is the second time you have attacked me after giving my opinion..