Feeding Zoanthids/Shrooms/Polyps...etc...

[Adam_T]

Okay so...I purchased a whole bunch of live rock for my 55gal tank and it came with an uber amount of life on it, mostly being shrooms and zoas and some a bit more. Also, a friend on another forum just gave me some frags as well and I have some questions on feeding...here are the types of "things" I have in my tank.

Oh and here are my tank stats (if it matters)

55gal
95# Live Rock
2 Koralia #4 powerheads
2 Magnum 350 Canister Filters
48'' Current USA Sundial (4x54watt w/ lunars) T5 Lighting

and here is the life I am inquiring on feeding!



Zoanthids (multiple types)

Shrooms (small green/purple attached to rock)

1 Kenya Tree (small, 1'' right now)

1 Green Star Polyp (4'' long frag)

1 Pink Start Polyp (3'' Diameter Frag)

1 Pink Tipped Green Frogspawn (3 headed frag, 1'' in height)


I've been doing some research on some websites and I am sure I can find out this information at FINTASTIC or a LFS but I really like the community feel of a forum and would love to get some of your recommendations as well.

I hope I get some good responses regarding this, and I thank you all ahead of time!

 

[acanman]

you dont have to feed them... what kind of lighting do you have?

 

[acanman]

your lighting will provide symbiotic zooxanthellae provide all the food they need.. you can dose the tank with zooplankton they will eat that.. ive heard they will eat phytoplankton but im not sure on that 1.

 

[BlazinNano]

My frogspawn has never eaten for me in the year that I have had it. Most zoas will not eat. Some of the bigger Palys will, I know my Paly Grandis, Purple Deaths, and Button Polyps will. Most shrroms wont eat. And the Kenya tree might grab tiny tiny particals like Coral Vibrance but that it all. Just give them good light and they will be good. If you are planning on keeping just softies then I recomened not have completely "clean water" keep it a little "dirty" with Mitrates no higher then 5. The softies grow better that way. But if you are going to go with SPS then you need to keep everything at 0.

 

[acanman]

My frogspawn has never eaten for me in the year that I have had it. Most zoas will not eat. Some of the bigger Palys will, I know my Paly Grandis, Purple Deaths, and Button Polyps will. Most shrroms wont eat. And the Kenya tree might grab tiny tiny particals like Coral Vibrance but that it all. Just give them good light and they will be good. If you are planning on keeping just softies then I recomened not have completely "clean water" keep it a little "dirty" with Mitrates no higher then 5. The softies grow better that way. But if you are going to go with SPS then you need to keep everything at 0.

i keep acans,blastos,dendros and lots of other lps/softies and my nitrates are round 20ppm.. its almost impossible to keep your trates at 0.

 

[Yellowtang]

Good water light and fish poop should be enough.

JR,

 

[Adam_T]

Yeah I am not a fan of Hard Corals really, just planning on doing softies. Thanks for all of the answers guys!

 

[BlazinNano]

i keep acans,blastos,dendros and lots of other lps/softies and my nitrates are round 20ppm.. its almost impossible to keep your trates at 0.

I have tried. I thought I wanted SPS but I changed my mind. I love LPS so mine stay anywhere from 15 - 25ppm.

 

[Adam_T]

I have tried. I thought I wanted SPS but I changed my mind. I love LPS so mine stay anywhere from 15 - 25ppm.

How often do you guys do water changes with LPS only reefs? What %?

 

[acanman]

7 to 10% weekly.. is what i do with my lps dominant tank.. i have mushrooms and zoas also..

 

[BlazinNano]

I have been lazy. I have not done a water change in like 6 weeks. But my tank is also like 1.5 years old. Same sand, same rock, and it is only a 28 gallon. If I would get my butt in gear I would probably have better growth....lol

 

[acanman]

I have tried. I thought I wanted SPS but I changed my mind. I love LPS so mine stay anywhere from 15 - 25ppm.

same here.. i decided to stick with lps.. i love acans, my favorite coral by far.

 

[acanman]

I have been lazy. I have not done a water change in like 6 weeks. But my tank is also like 1.5 years old. Same sand, same rock, and it is only a 28 gallon. If I would get my butt in gear I would probably have better growth....lol

i always seem to slack off in the summer time with my weekly water changes.. i went all summer with only 1 water change. my tank got alil dirty but other than that it was fine.. but my 46 gallon the tank im talking about is about 1 to 1.5 years old also..

 

[Adam_T]

Well isn't 10% a week normal for water changes? I thought I wanted to keep it more "dirty" like you all said...

 

[Dave3112]

I don't feed any of my corals anything but light and fish poop. I'm sure they may grab some of the flake food I feed the fish from time to time but I don't go out of my way to feed my corals. I have zoas, palys, acans, chalices, shrooms..........................and SPS. pretty much all of the typical corals available. I do water changes in the 10 to 15% range about every 2-3 weeks sometimes longer in between but I try not to go over a month or so.

 

[acanman]

Well isn't 10% a week normal for water changes? I thought I wanted to keep it more "dirty" like you all said...

your gonna have nitrates especially if you like feeding your fish like i do:wink:... what kind of lighting do you have?

 

[Adam_T]

Current USA 48'' Sundial. It is a 4x54watt T5 system. 2 Act/2 10k with 4 lunar lights.

 

[acanman]

nice.. thats all you need for softies and you can also put some lps in there... with lps and sps you have to dose 2 part calcium and alk... but other than that its no different. i like to feed my acans some of my lps cause they look awesome with there feeders out....heres a pic of 1 of my acans eating...

 

[stedfast82]

i feed my tank heavy dont forget you mag as well if you plan on sps or lps (cam) cal alk mag and water change i do 20 gal a week on my 110 40 gal sump all is well

 

[Adam_T]

So far my tank has been established for 1.5 weeks now with my live sand, rock and the corals I mentioned in my first post and here is my first parameters test:

pH: 7.9
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
Alk: 10dkH

so far so good?

EDIT: I bought eight.four today...liquid alk+pH buffer. Going to be dosing that to get my pH up.