New LPS Corals and conflicting feeding schedules

That makes sense. I only have 65W PC 2 - 10K an two actinic. so maybe I need to feed a little to make up for the lack of light?

 

Let the coral tell you that. Start with feeding just the fish. If your other parameters are still fine (cal, alk, mag and n03/p04) and you think the coral could be happier then start adding more food. If the coral is happy without the food, great! If not and you can feed more without pushing up the n03 or p04 then go for it!

 

I didnt read the part about ora that is cool and good to know, I guess I will just play with it and maybe feed once in awhile and let the feeding of the fish take care of the rest.

 

ok thanks for the advice!

 

Hey bud, im late to the party but oh well. What I want you to do is look at your corals today. Then about 2-3 hours later look at them again. Most your LPS with have a TON of feeder out. This is when you target feed them a little cyclops, mysis, etc. You can immediately watch the tentacles garb particulates and pull them into their mouths. Once a week is fine, twice if you really want to.

 

ok thanks, I only have seen the main branches on my frogspawn, not sure if that is feeder tentacles. I blew some krill and mysis at him and some stuck but then he slowly let it go? any ideas?.

The bubble definately has tentacles out and I fed him the same and he grabbed it and ate it. I also spray cyclops 2 times a week after the lights go out so the trumpet seems to like that.

thanks

 

I have had the trumpet corals for 7 months and the frogspawn for 6 months. The frogspawn has doubled in size since I have had it!

 

My schedule
Fish: 3-4 times daily. mix of pellets and frozen like mysis, cyclopeeze, etc.
SPS: feed some zooplankton supplements and phytoplankton to increase natural zooplankton leves, cyclopeeze a few times a week.
LPS: drop some pellets in their mouth once twice a week.

 

3-4x a day? There are a few fish that need that kind of feeding. But the vast majority don't. I feed my fish once or twice a week. OP, what kind of fish do you have? Maybe I missed it, but didn't see them listed.

Your fish also eat when you feed the coral and eat crap growing in the tank. So they eat more often than once a week, but I only specifically feed them that often.

I have all the corals you listed. Some for around 3 years, some just over a year. All the ones you listed will eat mysis or frozen clams (what I mostly feed). Frogspawn, in my case, only eats during the day and the trumpets only eat at night. The trumpets will only eat when their feeder tentacles are out. The frogspawn will only eat if I go a while between feedings (like a month) otherwise it just lets it go. My bubble will pretty much always eat.

Feeding corals can not make up for poor lighting. I advise upgrading your PC lights. None of the corals you listed require feeding.

Bubbles grow very slow. The trumpets and frogspawn will split more often with feeding. But, once a month is fine.

I don't have very much in way of filtration (HOB skimmer and LR is all) so I am real careful about over feeding.

 

Good response there, plus 1. Stop the iodide dosing - it's not doing you any good and can potentially be very harmful.

I'd also advise you read up, in general, on dosing and keeping alk and ca stable. Your Kent method is not going to be very stable and will be extremely expensive over the long haul.

Your concerns are around coral growth. The keys to that are good lights and stable params.