Feeding SPS?

Mark75 · Nov 6, 2015

Okay,...lets talk about feeding/supplements targeting sps.

I have a 50g. cube that has 3 acros and 1 birds nest that have been in the tank for about 2 weeks. They look good, good poly extension and color, I can even see where they are just starting to encrust the plug. I am adding more in the next few weeks planning a sps dominate tank.

As of now I have only 3 fish, 2 clowns and a Kole Tang. I am feeding PE Mysis, pellets and flakes twice a day. I have no algae to speak of, every 3-4 days I clean the glass and and there is just a very light dusty film, cant even tell it needs cleaned.

I have 0 nitrates (3month old tank) and I only have API test kits for phosphates so I haven't even bothered testing it. I am maintaining cal.440 and alk 9 with Kalk in the ATO ready to start two part as soon as my acros take off (hopefully)

My last sps tank I had good growth with very pale pastel colors, we have since learned (this was several years ago) that my tank was probably to "clean".

So what else should I be adding? I am very leery of magic potions, there where several back in the day that did nothing but waste your money and grow algae.

I am looking for proven additives that will improve the health of my sps.

Brandon McHenry · Nov 6, 2015

Im in an interesting position regarding SPS as well. I am by no means an expert but I would at least like to share a few of my experiences. My tank is 150 gallons and primarily SPS as well and I too can't get my NO3 above zero by just feeding. I have been told that my acros range from some paleness to colorful to brown all based on my terrible pictures. I believe it is possible to have a tank that is too clean. Only having three acros and one birds nest you may not need to worry about any additions if you are getting nice rich colors. When you have colonies ranging from 8inches to over a foot wide than maybe you might want to be more concerned. Just keep an eye on the colors of your pieces as well as the polyp extension. If you start to see a shift towards a paler color then maybe you will want to take action. Beware of magic cure all additives. I have tried many things over the past few years to try to make my reef vibrant and extraordinary and many times its just a $20 bill down the drain. To this day the only thing that I have added on a regular basis (aside from my two part) is acropower. This was done for a few months a little while back and I feel as if the benefits leveled out to were it was no longer worth my money. Many people swear by fish poop and that is the route I am currently going as well. Add some more fish before you look for additives in my opinion. Id rather spend $30 on a fish than a bottle of stuff that at then end I look at the bottom and see nothing but disappointment.

ReefBum · Nov 11, 2015

Brandon McHenry said:
Im in an interesting position regarding SPS as well. I am by no means an expert but I would at least like to share a few of my experiences. My tank is 150 gallons and primarily SPS as well and I too can't get my NO3 above zero by just feeding. I have been told that my acros range from some paleness to colorful to brown all based on my terrible pictures. I believe it is possible to have a tank that is too clean. Only having three acros and one birds nest you may not need to worry about any additions if you are getting nice rich colors. When you have colonies ranging from 8inches to over a foot wide than maybe you might want to be more concerned. Just keep an eye on the colors of your pieces as well as the polyp extension. If you start to see a shift towards a paler color then maybe you will want to take action. Beware of magic cure all additives. I have tried many things over the past few years to try to make my reef vibrant and extraordinary and many times its just a $20 bill down the drain. To this day the only thing that I have added on a regular basis (aside from my two part) is acropower. This was done for a few months a little while back and I feel as if the benefits leveled out to were it was no longer worth my money. Many people swear by fish poop and that is the route I am currently going as well. Add some more fish before you look for additives in my opinion. Id rather spend $30 on a fish than a bottle of stuff that at then end I look at the bottom and see nothing but disappointment.

Agree on the fish poop route. I like to keep a lot of fish and have a "slightly dirty tank", with some traces of nitrate and phosphate. Feeding the fish a lot, skimming heavily and fairly large weekly water changes work for me.

GlassMunky · Nov 11, 2015

Im a strong believer in feeding your tank and your corals.
I personally make my own fish food from fresh fish that i pick up at the local asian food mart. Fresh fish, scallops, clams, shrimp, copepods, etc.... to this i also add vitamins, amino & fatty acids as well. my daily feedings of the tank do a good job of feeding both the fish as well as some of the corals (even my NPS Dendros and sun corals come out each day). But about twice a week i will go through the tank and specifically target feed the corals. For this i make up another mix of fish roe, copepods, rotifers, zooplankton, and Reef Chili (BRS freeze dried phyto, zooplankton, daphnia, artemia) which we keep frozen in the freezer until needed.
every Acro colony in the tank loves it, especially the millis, efflo, and nasutas, and after feeding you can see these long stringy white strands from each polyp; its kind of cool.
Just remember: They are animals, they need to eat, and will be happy for it.

Now of course with all of this, you def need to make sure you have ample nutrient export via Skimmer, macro, etc to keep up with the nutrients you are putting in. Hope this helps.

frogman_reefer · Nov 11, 2015

Two things I feed my tank and have been very happy with are Rotifera and Reef Roids. It seems to be good for everything and every time I feed (daily) the polyps come out like crazy and everything in my tank opens right up. Plus, I never strain my frozen food juices either. Pour it all in and create you own marine snow.

I agree with the dosing, all I done is Reef Plus. Mainly to ensure the amino acids and vitamins are at good levels for the animals in the tank. I put 4 oz in my ATO and dose it that way.

Just my two cents