When do you feed and what for your Acros?

AZMSGT · Mar 22, 2020

I’m trying to figure out the best time to feed my acros.
Right now I’m trying to target feed since they are still small frags, every three days.

I also have 16 fish that I feed regularly and they do their thing.
Nitrates are around 10 (salifart) and Phosphates are .01-02 (HannaULM)

I’ve been feeding Red sea aminos which I pour in at 13ml of each bottle and target feed a mix of coral gumbo, rotofiers, reef roids and reef chili. Most of the time I will feed about an hour before lights come on. During feedings I shut off flow for 15min and skimmer is off for 2hrs.

I’m looking for any advice on improving the targeted feedings. Hoping to optimize things. While what I’m doing now seems to work. I’m looking for ways to improve my process.

Silverfish · Mar 22, 2020

Great question for those who are new to acros like myself!

drawman · Mar 22, 2020

A LONG time ago when I used to feed my acros I would use DTs Oyster Eggs. Not sure if they even make the stuff anymore but PE would be crazy with it. If I were to use something now it would either be reef roids or reef chili. I think the consensus here will end up being feed your fish often to get that fish poop circulating.

xiaoxiy · Mar 22, 2020

I feed mine EasySPS Evo Gel on a doser twice a day.

Zeal · Mar 22, 2020

Acropower. No idea if it works but I feed 5ML every other day

ScottR · Mar 22, 2020

You’re asking the age old question, that will get you a thousand different responses. Some say fish poop. Some say aminos. Some feed everything in the book. Some run high nutrient systems. Some run low nutrient. There are many ways to be successful. My thing is find what works for you and keep it stable. I believe most corals can adapt to any system - within reason. Even acros. I run high nutrients. High feedings but mostly skip on aminos and additives. I prefer to dose trace elements above all else.

Epic Aquaculture · Mar 22, 2020

AZMSGT said:
I’m trying to figure out the best time to feed my acros.
Right now I’m trying to target feed since they are still small frags, every three days.

I also have 16 fish that I feed regularly and they do their thing.
Nitrates are around 10 (salifart) and Phosphates are .01-02 (HannaULM)

I’ve been feeding Red sea aminos which I pour in at 13ml of each bottle and target feed a mix of coral gumbo, rotofiers, reef roids and reef chili. Most of the time I will feed about an hour before lights come on. During feedings I shut off flow for 15min and skimmer is off for 2hrs.

I’m looking for any advice on improving the targeted feedings. Hoping to optimize things. While what I’m doing now seems to work. I’m looking for ways to improve my process.

Hey Ken, I don't target feed at all, but I mix in Boyds Vitachem, Selcon, Reef Roids, and Brightwells Restor (aminos) with my frozen food. I thaw out enough for about 5 days and mix it all together then feed the tank 3-4 times a day.

KrisReef · Mar 22, 2020

Feed and watch the corals response over the next few days. Keep an eye on your nutrient numbers and note how your coral looks as things slowly change.
Watch and let your eyes and test numbers tell you what to do.

Waynerock · Mar 22, 2020

Use Brightwell aminos going to try RS AB+ but it’s always a balancing act with cyano or algae for me. Hard to find the right amount. I will say that I got a nub of ASD Mille and for 3 mo that it did not grow at all then Started dosing BW and it exploded with growth. Some acro ship stress and go dormant for a while so it could of just been coincidence. If I put more than 20 drops in more than every other day I get cyno on the rocks but the corals never mind.

X-37B · Mar 22, 2020

Feed fish and keep trace elements in range.

Graffiti Spot · Mar 22, 2020

AZMSGT said:
I’m trying to figure out the best time to feed my acros.
Right now I’m trying to target feed since they are still small frags, every three days.

I also have 16 fish that I feed regularly and they do their thing.
Nitrates are around 10 (salifart) and Phosphates are .01-02 (HannaULM)

I’ve been feeding Red sea aminos which I pour in at 13ml of each bottle and target feed a mix of coral gumbo, rotofiers, reef roids and reef chili. Most of the time I will feed about an hour before lights come on. During feedings I shut off flow for 15min and skimmer is off for 2hrs.

I’m looking for any advice on improving the targeted feedings. Hoping to optimize things. While what I’m doing now seems to work. I’m looking for ways to improve my process.

Sounds like you already have your feeding down. Not many people bother to target feed acros so I am curious about your results. Personally I have never bothered to feed any sps directly. I see many people try this for a while and eventually find their nutrients tend to build up. Got any pics?

OnPointCorals · Mar 22, 2020

I’m still not even sure if acros eat foods such as reef chili or reef roids etc.

AZMSGT · Mar 23, 2020

Pedoconfuego said:
Sounds like you already have your feeding down. Not many people bother to target feed acros so I am curious about your results. Personally I have never bothered to feed any sps directly. I see many people try this for a while and eventually find their nutrients tend to build up. Got any pics?

Sorry no pics however I do think that some of my faster growth recently might be attributed to some of this effort. To be honest my growth was stagnant till I started doing this. All that said, it could simply be that my Po4 and Nit have stabilized and my tank has matured some more. It's really hard to be sure one side or the other on this subject. All that is mainly why I ask the question in the first place.

willtheld · Mar 23, 2020

xiaoxiy said:
I feed mine EasySPS Evo Gel on a doser twice a day.

How are you liking it? How long have you been running it? I love the idea of the consistency of the automation aspect of it.

Acrofiend · Mar 23, 2020

I’ve switched to phyto and bacteria after reading this article from Dana Riddle.

Coral Nutrition, Part Two: Foods for Corals

While once reefkeepers believed lighting and chemical additives were all we needed to sustain corals, coral nutrition is now recognized as vital for a thriving captive reef. Dana Riddle delves into more detail about foods for coral.

reefs.com

xiaoxiy · Mar 23, 2020

willtheld said:
How are you liking it? How long have you been running it? I love the idea of the consistency of the automation aspect of it.

I really like it. It's super easy to set up and hands off as well. Acro growth so far has been exceptional (can't attribute it to easybooster and easySPS alone though).

drawman · Mar 23, 2020

thereefingguy said:
I’ve switched to phyto and bacteria after reading this article from Dana Riddle.

Coral Nutrition, Part Two: Foods for Corals

While once reefkeepers believed lighting and chemical additives were all we needed to sustain corals, coral nutrition is now recognized as vital for a thriving captive reef. Dana Riddle delves into more detail about foods for coral.

reefs.com

What bacteria are you feeding?

NanoDJS · Mar 23, 2020

I do the acro feeding about 1 hour before lights on , then I do another amino shot when the zoas and other stuff is open , this is good because they dont have to fight over the food , one is dormant when I feed the other . The zoas dont absorb till they are open .

DesertReefT4r · Mar 23, 2020

Now adays I really dont feed my sps at least not directly. In the past I have spot fed several different coral foods or broadcast fed the tank with things like, Kent phytoplankton and Micro Vert, DT phytoplankton, rotiers, cyclopees, Reef Roids and some other products that I dont know if they are even made any more. I also dosed different aminos like Fuel and RS AB+ and never saw a difference. I only will spot feed lps corals now and feel other corals find what they need on their own. There have been some studies that sps in the reef aquarium have lost their ability to capture and consume foods and its questionable if any foods we can provide are able to be digested by sps corals. Desolved nutrients in the water is how most corals seem to get their food sources.

2Wheelsonly · Mar 24, 2020

Everyone swears by oyster feast and acro power but the only thing they have ever seemed to do for me is raise my nitrates lol.

Good light, good flow and fat fish seem to do the trick. I have yet to find a "food" that magically makes my corals appear a different color. Whenever someone reviews food and says their acros grow like crazy I think the whole placebo effect is playing tricks with them and I rarely take people who say dumb stuff like that seriously. It's like, no guy you didn't notice your corals grow magically better in 3 days of giving them acro power.