how to feed SPS?

Discussion in 'SPS Corals' started by Gexx, Apr 25, 2010.

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  1. Gexx

    Gexx Giant Squid

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    i was wondering what you would feed SPS corals? do you feed them plankton? i have some in cubes but wasnt sure. any help?
     
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  3. Dingo

    Dingo Giant Squid

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    from the light... occasionally they can be fed organisms (dead or alive) that make up part of the planktonic suspension. the plankton is not going to make them grow at an overly noticeably faster rate though
     
  4. Gexx

    Gexx Giant Squid

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    its right under my MH i see some growth but not amazing (im not using a very good salt) so ill just leave it there then.
     
  5. phoenixhieghts

    phoenixhieghts Panda Puffer

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    I just throw in some frozen rotifers every couple of weeks. They key to sps growth is stability in your calcium and KH.
     
  6. horkn

    horkn Giant Squid

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    Yep, aside from some stuff they get floating in the water, calcium, alkalinity and lighting are what make them grow well. Flow is a very important matter as well.
     
  7. schackmel

    schackmel Giant Squid

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    i use coral freenzy a couple times a week. It is designed mainly for LPS but has oyster larvea, salmon roe, rotifers, HUFA etc.
    Coral Frenzy `The Ultimate Coral Food`

    I have seen more growth since I started using this then before I started. My LPS love it and my SPS polyps very well with it
     
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  9. Jason McKenzie

    Jason McKenzie Super Moderator

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    I personally do not feel additional feeding is required for SPS. I have felt the advantages are far out weighed by the disadvantages. Keeping very low nutrient levels is very important with SPS and the additional feeding tends to increase the nutrient levels. The amount of food needed to trigger a feeding response from the coral would fowl the water and cause more damage than good.

    J
     
  10. stylaster

    stylaster Gigas Clam

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    I use a dry mix called reef chili, and it really gets polyp response out of the corals when i add it. I only add a very small dose (comes with a scoop i do one level scoop) to my 120g tank. I have seen Acropora Milleporas, Nana, Prostrata and Tenuis eat it. I have also noticed stylophora, pocillipora, and birdnest eat the particles. Montipora, some of the other acros i have never eat any, put polyp extension is good. The trick with any food of course is to not over feed. I also only add this food every other day
     
  11. gabbagabbawill

    gabbagabbawill Pajama Cardinal

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    I dust with reef snow around once every three days... it does seem that my sps corals grow noticeable the day after the dose.

    I am not one that thinks low nutrient systems means almost no feeding... In fact, just the opposite... I like to feed lots and export the excess nutrients... this is a lot closer to the natural reef setting, except that nutrient export is done by extremely large volumes of water in the ocean rather than mechanical/ chemical filtration, skimmers, etc.

    Reefs are naturally nutrient rich, but the nutrients do not have a chance to build up as nitrates and phosphates like they do in our tanks.
     
  12. Screwtape

    Screwtape Tonozukai Fairy Wrasse

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    A well established reef tank may not need supplemental feeding but I've been reading a bit about how much zooplankton SPS feed on in the wild and it's pretty interesting/impressive so I've decided to try some foods out. It's going to depend a lot I think on your particular setup.

    Right now I'm feeding reef chili a couple times a week and also Rod's Food which has a variety of stuff in it as well. I'm going to be trying out some live and frozen rotifers as well in the next couple weeks as well. You do have to be careful that you're feeding the appropriate size food for the coral which is one reason I like reef chili, it has foods of several different sizes in it. Not all SPS will eat the same varieties/sizes of food. On the other hand if you only have a few acros, or only a few seriatoporas something like reef chili might not be the best because they may only eat a small portion of the food in the mix and the rest may go to waste/decomposing in the system. You might want to find out what that particular type of coral feeds on in the wild and try to find a substitute for that.

    I'm going to be trying out broadcast feeding (just dumping a bunch into my frag tank), as well as target feeding the corals to see if I get different responses from them. Right now if I squirt some reef chili at most of my SPS I can see the polyps retract but I'm not sure if that is a feeding response or just the fact that they are getting hit with a stream of particulate-filled water.

    One thing I think is important is be sure your system can handle the additional bioload. Right now my system is very lightly stocked, 3 small fish in a 120g system so I'm pretty comfortable dumping in a bunch of food. If you're going to try it I would say start slow and only increase things after a couple weeks to be sure you're not overloading your filtration too quickly.

    Also, just to be sure you saw this thread. Some good info.
    http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral/coral-feeding-general-62915.html