Can you over feed your corals ?

[Lesley]

I am just wondering if you can actually overfeed your corals.
I use seachem reef plus & trace twice a week and Reef energy A & B twice a week.
I have noticed a few of my LPS corals starting to brown a little.
They have good polyp extension and good feeding response.
I have read that overfeeding causes the coral to gain more zooxanthellae cells that are brown in color.Can someone confirm this is true (as I only saw it on one site) ???
they still look healthy but are losing a bit of the bright color.
I run a low nutrient tank and was worried corals would not get enough to eat.​

 

[NanaReefer]

How are you keeping it low nutrient when dosing that much? Shoot I dose a half a cap full in my 40B of SeaChem zooplankton 1x a week and worry about excess nutrients. Your dosing a lot!! To me anyways

 

[Pete polyp]

I feed reef roids or coral frenzy twice a night and rods original 3-6 times each day without issues

 

[Lesley]

I have a 260 gallon with over 40 corals. My nitrates always 0.01 and phos 0.02 never more. I dose nopox daily ! Red sea suggest daily feeding with A & B while using nopox so I actually use less than they say to use. I am just wondering if the slight browning color may be due to overfeeding ?

 

[NanaReefer]

I have a 260 gallon with over 40 corals. My nitrates always 0.01 and phos 0.02 never more. I dose nopox daily ! Red sea suggest daily feeding with A & B while using nopox so I actually use less than they say to use. I am just wondering if the slight browning color may be due to overfeeding ?

Ah ha!!! That's how you do it-lol. Guess it would help if I followed your tank thread right? Beautiful!

 

[Lesley]

Your funny. Lol. Still doesn't answer the ? Are they showing brown because if over feeding ???? Lol.

 

[NanaReefer]

Oh wait I have been following you!! On another forum. Couldn't answer you there either-lol

 

[Vinnybagodoughnuts]

Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate And Math: Yes You Need To Understand Both ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
This is a good article.

 

[Vinnybagodoughnuts]

Aside from insuficient lighting, nitrate can contribute to the browning of corals. It fuels the zooxanthellae which will mask the coral's coloration.

 

[Lesley]

Thanks for that, I don't have high nitrates always less than 0.02 normally 0.01 or undetectable.

 

[Lesley]

very interesting article. I appreciate the link. thank you.

 

[SantaMonica]

At first I thought you were asking if corals would eat too much if you kept on feeding. And for this, I've seen some posts going in different directions. In the wild, food particles are never ending (especially at night), so I don't think you would be able to "over feed" them in a tank.

But I see you are meaning more about water quality.