Best coral food

[lsu_fishfan]

What do you guys use for feeding your corals? I've heard that reef rods are good and I've tried LRF coral powder. What have you found your corals like best? Trying to feed a scolly who is on his way out unless I can start fattening him up, but I haven't been able to because the crabs and snails keep stealing it from him. Thanks for your info

 

[marquiseo]

I grind up NLS pellets, some old flake food, Reef Chili, and Coral Frenzy to make a reef mix. I then add that mix, tank water, and oyster feast into a uline specimen cup and store for next day feeding. The oyster feast makes the food stick to it so it's sorta pasty when spot feeding but it gets the job done.

 

[tonymission]

LRS reef frenzy, oyster feast, splash of phyto feast and a cube of cyclopeeze. All mixed together with tank water. Sometimes I'll add coral frenzy powder when I feel like growing some algae.

I store that for a couple days in the fridge before it starts to smell bad. I've heard people saying to make it fresh every day but it hasn't seemed to be a problem for me.

Usually just broadcast feed the tank and fish.

 

[gacolt]

fish poo

 

[benpoole28]

gacolt;997470 wrote: fish poo

its hard to get them to stay still to collect it though.

 

[twhaddon]

Reef Chili......my corals love it.

 

[dball711]

gacolt;997470 wrote: fish poo

Same here, no target feeding any of my corals.

 

[marquiseo]

gacolt;997470 wrote: fish poo

I always wondered why people recommend fish poo as the best food source when it is second hand nutrients. It is less nutritious than the original whole food that is eaten by the fish. The fish uses the nutrients from the original food and whatever is not digested comes out as waste and you feed that to the corals. Your corals are not getting the maximum amount that they could be getting.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

I don't target feed. I use Reef-roids as well as Blackpowder and GP Active Spheres Larval diet from BrineShrimpDirect. I've seen a HUGE change since adding Reef-roids to the mix. I broadcast feed twice a week.

 

[dball711]

MarquiseO;997484 wrote: I always wondered why people recommend fish poo as the best food source when it is second hand nutrients. It is less nutritious than the original whole food that is eaten by the fish. The fish uses the nutrients from the original food and whatever is not digested comes out as waste and you feed that to the corals. Your corals are not getting the maximum amount that they could be getting.

I don’t really recommend it but I just don’t feed corals directly. I do use Rodds food and I am sure corals get some of that as well as some misyss and I only keep SPS and some softies (polyps and Mushrooms). I also add some Zooplankton to the feedings but only twice a month. All my stuff has great colors and is growing well so I don’t want to add extra nutrient if it doesn't seem like I need it.

 

[bulkrate]

MarquiseO;997484 wrote: I always wondered why people recommend fish poo as the best food source when it is second hand nutrients. It is less nutritious than the original whole food that is eaten by the fish. The fish uses the nutrients from the original food and whatever is not digested comes out as waste and you feed that to the corals. Your corals are not getting the maximum amount that they could be getting.

True... but the fish by definition are always making it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Therefore the corals have access to some form of food at all hours. Or (if your fish are like mine) they'll blow & spit chewed up food EVERYWHERE when feeding in addition to the aforementioned second-hand output.

 

[acroholic]

gacolt;997470 wrote: fish poo

Fishy poopies +1.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

How many people recommend dosing zooplanktons on a normal basis to the tank? I found a thread on another site about it but I'm not sure if it would be ok to post it?

 

[benpoole28]

Do you guys turn off circulation pumps when broadcast feeding? I have always read to turn them off, but it seems like they would have better access to it with it blowing all throughout the tank.

 

[camellia]

LSU_fishFan;997523 wrote: How many people recommend dosing zooplanktons on a normal basis to the tank? I found a thread on another site about it but I'm not sure if it would be ok to post it?

I keep fresh refrigerated and feed twice a week.

benpoole28;997528 wrote: .

I leave pumps on low.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

benpoole28;997528 wrote: Do you guys turn off circulation pumps when broadcast feeding? I have always read to turn them off, but it seems like they would have better access to it with it blowing all throughout the tank.

I leave them on

 

[acroholic]

benpoole28;997528 wrote: Do you guys turn off circulation pumps when broadcast feeding? I have always read to turn them off, but it seems like they would have better access to it with it blowing all throughout the tank.

I have a standby mode on my RKE that I press, and it turns off the return pump for 10 minutes, and the vortices have a 10 minute feed mode as well, where they go down to 50% flow for that period.

I think it is a good idea, as it keeps floating food from going into the overflow and into the sump. This is particularly beneficial in my 465 gallon, because I have such high in-tank flow that even sinking food can be sent into the overflow if I did not do this.

 

[bulkrate]

Circulation powerhead remains on for a minute or two when broadcast feeding for just that reason - to broadcast the food. Filtration pump is switched off for the entire time - there's no point in sucking food into floss that then can't be reached by anything that would eat it.

 

[dough]

I use the following for the corals:

Polyp Lab Polyp Booster 1-2 week
Dragons Reef Blends 1 x week
Fauna Marin LPS - Direct feed about 1 x month
Corals Smoothie -
Rod's Reef for the fish and the tank

 

[davidinga]

Overstock the tank with fish so my corals get fed better...poo