blueribbon May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 What is a good commercial food for soft corals? 38 gal cube with 5 fish, snails, shrimp, sea fans - and 8 or 9 frags of soft coral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 Light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 Yeah Troy said it best...most soft corals..and some LPS do not need supplemental feeding... Maybe if you tell us what you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sen5241b May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 I've seen substantial growth in my corals after feeding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 (edited) I've seen substantial growth in my corals after feeding. which corals and what are you feeding?I have many soft corals such as leathers that I have never fed and grow very well in my tank, so please let all of us know...that is what this thread is for...... Edited May 13, 2014 by smallreef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Rhoads May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 Light +1 I occasionally feed my LPS some small bits of shrimp, but only those that have mouth openings large enough to accommodate the food. Otherwise, my softies get what they need from light, and dissolved nutrients in the water column. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott711 May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 fish poop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildcrazyjoker81 May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 I like broadcast feeding Reef Roids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaddc May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 The rule of thumb is to feed the photosynthetic Cnidarian based on the size of its mouth (e.g. Larger LPS like lobophyllia will benefit from target feeding.) With that in mind, most corals absorb their supplemental nutrition from the water. In nature, that can eat microplankton, but that's not readily available in our tanks. Most tanks do fine with just the fish poop and dissolved nutrients that come from fish food. If you do want to feed your coral because you want faster growth or maybe more color, I suggest a suspension food, like Marine Snow or Red Sea's Reef Energy, but every company makes a variant. I'm using Red Sea currently because when I add it, I observe significant polyp extension -- which is visually appealing. If you broadcast feed your coral keep a close eye on your N's and P's and adjust the feeding accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crob5965 May 13, 2014 Share May 13, 2014 I feed my Paly's Mysis, Brine and Coral frenzy, they seem to be doing great, I had 4 heads this time last year I have 75+ heads now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incredible Corals May 14, 2014 Share May 14, 2014 Around 20 nitrates and decent light. They will grow like mad under those conditions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave w May 17, 2014 Share May 17, 2014 (edited) If you had the inclination, you could grow rotifers in a bucket or tub, enrich them for a few hours, then dump them in your tank. Rotifers are very weak swimmers and are easily caught by most soft coral polyps. Depending on what you use to enrich them, they would add a lot of protein and vegetable fats. Live foods cause fewer water quality problems than the dosing dead food particles in your water. However you need to handle your water flow in a different manner than a standard water pump and skimmer. Many people turn off the pump and skimmer at night for a few hours for the polyps to feed. An out of the box solution would be find an alternative water movement device to the standard 1700 rpm pumps so you could always have live plankton for the polyps. This is very hard to do, which is why almost everyone in the hobby uses high speed water pumps and skimmers. Walter Adey wrote a book 20 years ago about using a piston pump that did not damage live plankton and has pictures in his book. You could also use types of water displacement devices. There is no easy, standard or cheap solution to keeping lots of live plankton in your water and also circulating the water adequately. Edited May 17, 2014 by dave w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.x-ray May 17, 2014 Share May 17, 2014 Around 20 nitrates and decent light. They will grow like mad under those conditions. Exactly.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaddc May 17, 2014 Share May 17, 2014 http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/fish-poop-is-great-coral-food Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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