What do you all feed your polyps?

[OceanMinded]

Hello. Im looking to turn my Aquapod into my zoa/paly collection tank. Im wondering what you all feed the tank as a whole? Any tips? Dosing techniques or recommendations on products that these corals seem to thrive on?

Thanks!

 

[Mr. Microscope]

I think they just need plenty of light and decent flow. Though, I've read they like trace iodide.

 

[46gReef]

I feed my mixed reef cyclopeezee & prawn eggs(nutramar ova is the product), everything in my tank eats it well including my zoas & palys.......

 

[Wy Renegade]

Light :angel: and flow +1

supplement with oyster eggs, cyclopeez, and mysis or ground up seafood buffet. If you have a iodine test kit, you may need to dose iodine, but don't dose without testing. For best color in many cases, nutrients need to be zero, but zoas actually grow better with a slightly higher nutrient load, so depends on you overall goal.

 

[therman]

cheap-o SFbay mysis, slightly crushed up into smaller pieces.

 

[650-IS350]

zoanthids = Light/good flow and steady parameters

palys/protopalys/parazoanthus/bottompolyps etc = will take in pretty much what it can fit in it's mouth. Cyclopeeze, flake food, soft sinking pellets, mysis, brine etc.....

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

STEAK!!!

No really I don't feed zoas or plays anything. They love my light and flow plus they just adore the fish poo and leftovers.

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Rev,

What's that on your Avatar? Discus or mandarin goby?? Sorry haven't been too active reading 'thru everyone's for a while.

thx,
Paul

 

[650-IS350]

Looks like a wrasse to me, is that a bristle tooth Rev

 

[OceanMinded]

thanks for the info guys. Atleast on this site I actually get replies to my questions haha.

So whats the safest way about switching my 150w to a 250w? Or is that too much like for a 24g?

 

[650-IS350]

Are you hooking it up on cable/wires or just those 2-3" stands in comes with an plop it right on top of your tank?

 

[OceanMinded]

I could do either. I have a 150w sunpod mounted with the legs, but I also have a hanging kit I could use.

 

[Wy Renegade]

For acclimation, I would use three sheets of black fiberglass screen from your local hardware store, cut to the size of the top of your tank. Remove one layer of the screen each week over a period of 3 weeks total. That should give your corals ample time to adjust to the lighting. I would suspend the light above the tank for heat issues, but from everything I've read, air isn't going to have much of an effect on the PAR. What is the depth on the 24 gallon?

 

[OceanMinded]

bottom of the sandbed to the waterline is about 17 inches. My sand bed is only about an 1"1/2.

I had a 250w on there once but all my LPS started dying. I thought it was the quick switch of the light but my CA, MAG, and ALK were all very low and unstable. For heat i was planning on getting some of those clip-on fans to blow at the glass of the light. I always found that more efficient then having it blow towards or above the water

 

[majorb]

I put mine at the top of the tank what the heck good flow. I have LED's. I target feed oyster-feast with shaved frozen mysis( I use a hobby knife and make really fine shavings with the frozen mysis cube) every other day, and phyto-feast on the others. So they eat 7 days a week. I bascally double, sometimes triple the amount of polyps I start with within a month. They grow like weeds for me, and it's mosty high end ones.

Cheers,
majorbonr

 

[OceanMinded]

awesome, I gotta look into the Oyster Feast. I ordered a 20" Nova Extreme Pro so lets see how my corals like that

 

[drainbamage]

Two things to caution just from my own experience:

Current Nova's aren't that amazing. I'm not trying to rain on your newfound buyers feeling or anything, but I ran a comparison of a 4 bulb nova against a 2 bulb glolight and a 4 bulb teklight. Teklight>glolight>nova.
The 2 bulb glolight was putting out more light than the 4 bulb nova. I know pleanty of folks who use the nova, and I did only test it with the bulbs it came with while the glolight was running geismann's, but still, just throwing that out there.
Also, in a nano like that, be reeeealy careful with the oyster eggs. They tend to polute the water somewhat simply, and in tanks with a smaller/not as awesome skimmer, the skimmer tends to go out of whack. I'm running a tunze 9002 (a pretty good skimmer by most standards) in my 35 gallon nano, and I still have to turn it off for at least 4-12 hours after feeding the oyster eggs. Instead I like using the prawn eggs/roe that someone else mentioned. Use a turkey baster, spot feed the zoa's and especially the palys, and you'll get good growth.

Lastly...just a random add on, do experiment with lighting. I have a colony of lunar eclipse palys, their growth has simply exploded since being hidden by a frag rack. They always looked good in full light (the 4 bulb teklight) but when they got hidden, it was simply astounding the growth they've undergone. I've experienced similar with other species, just not to that extent. So if you're trying to get something to multiply, play around with both increasing, and also decreasing light amount.
HTH somewhat.

 

[OceanMinded]

thanks for the advice. It makes sense. How much do you like the 9002? If i can figure out how to add a HOB overflow then im planning on adding a 9002 to a 5g fuge I wanna make. I had a Nano Remora and it didnt do anything at all.

The Nova Extreme Pro is a 6bulb fixture. 108 watts. Im not sure if you have seen the new UVL 18" bulbs but they look very promising. Internal reflectors and each bulb is 30w's. After the bulb upgrade were lookin at 180w fixture. check out Nanotuners.com - Nanotuners.com for the bulbs.

 

[drainbamage]

I'm a real big fan of the 9002, it works great, easy to set and doesn't get upset easily. The only things that'll throw it off and make me have to turn it off are the oyster eggs, and a few other extremely rich nutrient foods. I've left it on while feeding rotifers and phytoplankton with no problem.

The nova I used was just the stock "nova extreme" 4 bulb, with individual reflectors, etc. I haven't really compared too much, I just did that comparison as I needed a standby fixture, thought it would work. After hooking it up and seeing just how extreme the difference was, I returned it. But again, I ran it with just their stock bulbs, so that could be a large part of it. For my display and frag tank, I run the 4 bulb teklight with geismanns, and everything seems to just grow. Only problem was some chalices that couldn't take the light. Go figure they had been growing under a nova extreme, but yea.

 

[OceanMinded]

Yea i see where you are coming from. The reviews ive read on the NEP's is that they are great...but the stock bulbs are JUNK. Ill have to wait on another paycheck or so until i can purchase all new bulbs. Hmm, maye I should have gotten a new mH bulb. But this way, I can play around with PAR and actinic value by switching out bulbs.