Coral Feeding
- Thread starter PeaBrain
- Start date
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texdoc77
Community Member
I feel like this is a little too general to easily answer. I mean all corals need to eat, but I suspect you know that. Softies can be fine if the water is a little "dirty". LPS can be direct fed with the appropriate foods, SPS can be fed with certain liquid additives to the tank.
OP
OP
PeaBrain
Active Member
Thank you. Any direct feeding methods/products for LPS and SPS that are recommended? I have been up and running for two years and have never directly fed any of the corals; soft, LPS, and SPS. They all appear happy, but why not try to make them even happier?
This can be a very complicated subject. I've done a lot of work with non photosynthetic/predatory corals and invertebrates and kept a lot of very demanding species. To start, every coral polyp has a mouth, and is able to ingest food, that's what they're there for. Many of the "normal" corals we keep aren't too picky There is a lot of research into herbivory in corals, as well as other types of feeding. Herbivory as in feeding on phytoplankton, any reef system will benefit from it. If you aren't keeping filter feeders or anything really demanding then a good mix of phytoplankton species and small-medium (5-300micron) particulate foods will work for most reef systems. I like the golden pearl diets and used them plenty in the past. There are also many coral foods sold that will work.
Feeding schedule will differ. If you're feeding phytoplankton you can do it nightly, powdered foods daily-3 times per week. If you're spot feeding with larger foods to bigger polyps (mysis shrimp, krill pacifica, things like that) it can be two times per week or weekly. I've kept non photosynthetic reef systems that were fed by an automatic doser every hour and the water was always slightly tinged with food. It's up to you and which corals you'll be keeping.
For what to feed with, seriously buy a Turkey baster, every reef keeper needs one. Also little pipettes and syringes work too I use them often.
Feeding schedule will differ. If you're feeding phytoplankton you can do it nightly, powdered foods daily-3 times per week. If you're spot feeding with larger foods to bigger polyps (mysis shrimp, krill pacifica, things like that) it can be two times per week or weekly. I've kept non photosynthetic reef systems that were fed by an automatic doser every hour and the water was always slightly tinged with food. It's up to you and which corals you'll be keeping.
For what to feed with, seriously buy a Turkey baster, every reef keeper needs one. Also little pipettes and syringes work too I use them often.
It'll kill the foam and maybe cause some bubbles, but that's harmless. It's worth feeding
