How do I feed Corals? Long answers prefered.

I really want to know the best way to feed corals and what to feed them with. I would like a description in detail because although my corals are doing good they are not growing at a rate that I think they should.

I understand the basics, phytoplankton, target feeding etc. but I want to now if I am doing everything correct. I dont have a turkey baster but I do have a sqeezer thinga majig. now can I place Rods food in that and target feed the coral? I really want to know how to get max growth out of all my corals. what they eat, how they eat, what to feed them and how to feed them. currently I have phytoplankton and Rodsfood. Do I feed the tank daily the phyto? can I feed at night? also do I turn of the powerheads and the filter when I feed the phyto? if so, how long? Which corals eat chunks of food (such as Rods Food)and which corals only eat pytho? What other food should I add to my mix such as a type of dried? Also when it comes to over feeding, how do you know when your overfeeding? Which of these corals can I target feed and how often? Zoas, hammer,frogspawn,ricordea,sinularia,mushrooms,xenia,monti cap,acropora,birdnest,pavonia.

Please, all the guys that type paragraphs of knowledge please chime in. The pne or two sentence answers really don't do me much good. Remember im fairly new. Think of it as "how to feed corals for Dummies"

 

I'll do me best but here's my take:

Corals do not consume phyto they will consume zooplankton tho.

Filter type foods such as rotifers baby brine etc will be consumed by soft and sps corals.
LPS corals need something a little more meaty, you could squirt them with brine/mysis shrimp, or i like to feed them little peices of krill.

But honestly the best way to get growth isnt just from feeding, its good lighting (with good colour spectrum) clean water and stable parameters!

Hope that helps.

 

I'm gonna modify your sentence a little bit.

Here's some good info. http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral/coral-feeding-general-62915.html

 

ooo i didnt know non-photos ate phyto! Learn something new everyday!

 

This is gonna be short, but really there's not much too it. This is how I feed my LPS's and Ricordeas.

1) Wait about an hour after lights out or until the corals open up to extended their feeding tentacles.

2) Melt one cube of cyclops and one cube of mysis in a small plastic cup with about 5mls of tankwater and a shot of Selcon. Allow to sit for one hour.

3) Turn off all powerheads and the return pump. When the tank is still, use turkey baster to gently squirt open corals with the cyclops/mysis/selcon mixture.

4) Fight off shrimp.

5) Give your corals some time to ingest their food. Usually about 30 mins before turning circulation back on.

One night once a week when all my corals are open I use the turkey baster to blast the detritus in my sump so everyone gets some free marine snow, and this helps with water quality.

 

moved to coral board. please post on the right boards. thanks

 

I feed my 24 gallon mixed reef a variety of different foods.

1) 3x per week I feed PE Mysis to my Acans, Micros, frogspawn, Palys, and Yuma's.
2) Daily I feed phyto,oyster, and Rotifeast using a coral feeder (small turkey baster) to my SPS corals and the zoas and LPS also eat the mix. Doing this has to be done in small quanitities because phyto in particular will cause water issues, if over fed.
3) Silversides and Krill are fed to LPS every few weeks instead of the Mysis. It adds a different variety of proteins and amino acids.
4) Daily I add 10 drops of Brightwell Coral Amino's, which helps the corals color up.

The most important aspect of keeping healthy corals besides feeding is water quality and lighting as stated in a previous post. Each coral and species is different in what kind of flow and lighting is required for them to grow and thrive. Also, I have to do more frequent water changes due to the amount I feed my tank, but it allows me to keep a variety of corals. Keep in mind, every reef system is different and requires a unique balance. Hope this helps...

 

I personally think that feeding a tank regularly helps coral growth...even SPS corals.

I keep all sps corals, gorgonians and Dendros well fed and feed 3 times per week alternating with live baby brine shrimp, frozen cyclops and TM phyton which is a photo plankton like product and Zooton is a zooplankton like food product for corals. I have noticed greater polyp extension and more pods etc. in my tank since I started feeding the Pro Coral foods. I target feed my LPS corals rinsed frozen mysis and krill.

Of course, feeding should be done in moderation to keep water quality as good as possible.

 

I only occasionally feed my corals. I have used oyster feast, blood worms, mysis, "reef snow," and other such foods. I maybe feed my lps about 1x per month. My frogspawn wont' accept the food, my bubble doesn't really need it, so I usually use feed my acans. My sps, I dont really do much. I may feed rotifers every once in a while, but that's about it.

 

1. I don't use a filter sock or any sponges. Every Saturday I use a turkey baster to blow the junk off of my rocks and stir up the settled stuff in the sump chambers. There's alot of good food you in that junk you want suspended in your water column.

2. I have a 46 BF (for reference only). I feed 15ml of DT's one week and 15ml of MarineSnow the next. I rotate them back and forth like that.

3. For the softs that benefit from additional meaty diets like BBS I use a 2 liter water bottle with the bottom cut off so it makes a bell. There's a half inch vinyl tube attached to the neck. I place the bell over the coral and dump half of a full hatch of BBS swimming in tank water down the tube. I leave the bell over the coral for 30 minutes. The BBS are kept in a liter of tank water with 5 drops of Kent Zoe for an hour prior to feeding.

4. For LPS I basically do the exact same as WhiskeyTango. I have a target feeder which is a turkey baster cut in half with a piece of 1/2" pvc added to make it longer. Theres a piece of standard airline stuck in the end to make a 'nipple', the function of which is only to help hold the food in the feeder better. I turn off my pumps, feed the shrimp, bristtle star and put a good squirt on the bottom front corners to distract the hermits (hopefully) then feed my LPS. I usually let them ingest then give the a little more. This is all after lights out. The only LPS I feed while the lights are on is my Duncan and it get fed what ever meaty food the fish are getting that day.