Reef chili vs reef roids?

[Coraliscool]

I have mixed 70g cube with a total water volume of about 100g, 18mos in service. I think it and I have finally got to a mostly stable relationship.
I have 2 clown and a domino damsel some rock work and both LPS and sps. Along with a cleaning crew.
I spot feed and broadcast reef chili at least once a week and do half a cube of mysis every other day.water changes are 10g bi-weekly. Everything has been stable but not as much growth as others seem to have.
I have seen a lot of folks use reef roids for spot and broad cast.
Finally my questions
1. Am I feeding enough
2. Can anyone who used both chili and roids give what they use now and why. I don't trust product research as much when it's provided by the team selling the product.
3. Does it matter what I use as long as I spot feed something?
Thank you for reading this far and for any opinion or fact you can provide.

 

[billyocean]

You don't really have to feed anything..I do but it's not necessary. Fish poop and aminos go a long way IME. If you do reef roids just keep an eye on your phosphate. When my phos gets low I just spot feed some reef roids to raise it. I have also mixed reef Chilli with it plenty of times. Don't know if it makes a difference but figured it may add something the other doesn't have. I don't find RC raises my phos like roids.


Edit

Would like to also ask how do you keep your tank stable? Dosers, ato, reactors, anything that adds trace elements besides water changes...etc?

 

[Coraliscool]

Would like to also ask how do you keep your tank stable? Dosers, ato, reactors, anything that adds trace elements besides water changes...etc?

Thank you for your response. Water changes with my own rodi and salt along with ATO. Haven't figured out dosing. Kinda scared to try it since tank seems stable

 

[billyocean]

If you have coral your alk will continue dropping every day. Not sure if it drops solely on micro organisms but it would seem it would. Making sure your alk is stable with a doser or at least manually daily will help tremendously. Salt brands have quite a wide variety of parameters and even vary quite a bit batch to batch within the same brand. If your not checking the 3 parameters, water changes could be changing your chemistry as well. If your batch of salt says 400-450 ppm calcium but is really 340 calcium then it needs adjustment. Mag drops super slow, calcium drops slow to medium compared to alkalinity. If you're not on top of that then this may be your problem.

 

[gill]

Lights? Lights are a huge factor in growth, more so than feeding i believe.

 

[billyocean]

Lights? Lights are a huge factor in growth, more so than feeding i believe.

Agree...a lot unknown at the moment. Lights, stability, flow, nutrients, filtration.

 

[Coraliscool]

Lights are 24"aquatic life t5 hybrid with AI prime HD 16 Puck. Mr. Cook has done a par reading and that is a place I am super confident on. The flow is an ice cap gyre that I had to turn way down so that fish could still swim. If anything I may have too much flow. Filtarion is a sock, ice cap k2 skimmer, poly-filter and refugium. I have been told my water may be too clean since I only have the three small fish. My refugium doesn't grow much either but I only have a cheap Amazon light in it. I am leaning towards stability or nutrients because the coral is not dying but there is very little growth. There is some, but far from what others claim they see on the regular. Even the gsp is just above stagnant. It's why I wonder if I am not feeding enough.

 

[billyocean]

Looks great for set up. I'm thinking your nutrients may be too low. Do you test phos/nitrate? The macro could be eating all the nutrients before your corals can. I have a 125 with filter socks and rock in the sump, no skimmer or fuge. My phos and nitrate stay on the lower end >.07 and >11, so I have not hooked up my skimmer. Ph stays in range day and night as well. I use the hanna ULR phosphate checker and the HR nitrate checker. The ULR and HR models are key for these checkers if you go that route. You can use NeoPhos and NeoNitro to raise either one if they are low. Roids is another good way to elevate phosphate while also feeding the corals directly. I also dose acropower and red sea AB+ for aminos which seems to make a difference, but this a personal preference. These things work well for me but as im sure you know, every tank has different requirements. My advice would be to keep the alk, calc, mag stable and make sure you have some phos/nitrate in the water...things should improve with that.