Dingo Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 I will be starting up a new nano soon, and I would like to make the jump into sps corals. I will get a 10 gal tank, and have already purchased the 96W coralife Aqualight. I will use a thin aragonite substrate, LR and a 2 part calcium additive system for Ca and Alk. The question is, what do you guys feed the sps? Just light? or do you add phyto? In most of the posts that I read, people seem to believe that their DSB feeds them, but I don't really buy that, especially in a nano (no DSB's here) P.S. - 6 yrs. experience with a 5 gal softie nano Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 i used to feed mine live rotifers every second day,my clown breeder friend used to hook me up with them tho,good luck raising them!on all my sps frags i had MASS polyp extention,i dont know if it was from the rotifers but im sure it helped! Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 Well acropora and such primarily consume zooplankton & detritus. Soft corals will feed on phytoplankton but it doesnt do much for SPS corals, UNLESS you add in the food cycle.....zooplankton feeding on phyto and then corals feeding on the enriched zooplankton. So if you have tons of micro fauna living in your sand bed and they release eggs and such, in a sense your sand bed is feeding your corals, but it would have to happen often to be truly affective. To directly feed your SPS corals you need to find a food source that is small enough. Rotifers are your best bet if you truly want to feed your SPS corals. There are other options such as golden pearls and from what I know artemia is too large for some & Cyclop-eze is too large most. I suggest reading Bornemans "Aquarium Corals" for more info. IMO feeding SPS corals in nanos can be difficult (but not impossible). Theres a thin line between feeding your corals and polluting the tank so you really have to watch how your tank reacts to the added bio-load. HTH Link to comment
Dingo Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 Hmm. Well, Rotifiers are out for sure. Farming them is more work than the nano! I will look into Golden Pearls, and order the book. In the member tank section, I do see many examples of SPS. Surely, they do not all culture rotifiers? Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 Nope....They are basically getting all there nutrients from detritus and the light source, and pulling what ever chemicals they need from the water (ie calcium). Thats how most tanks are. After reading that book though you will see that they really would benefit from feeding than relying on just the light source (there are other books that state this as well). Theres a lot of evidence that proves most of there energy is optained from what they consume. One obvious example, what other reason is there that they have so many polyps? Link to comment
Dingo Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 Ahh. So they just stir the sand once in a while to kick up the goo. I thought that there must be a more simple method. Thank you for your responses, I appreciate it. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 other food sources: cyclops-eeze (supposedly very good - too early to tell in my tank) home made pureed seafood mix coral heaven from ipsf.com my old 7, which was sps heavy for a while, was rarely fed. The fuge and the sandbed were both loaded with critters and I never fed the tank. This would go with DJ's theory of the sand bed feeding the tank isn't completely off. Link to comment
Dingo Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 Seems to be alot of approval on other boards about both Golden Pearls and Cyclops-eeze, although everyone says to be careful not to add too much. About the sand beds, it always made sense to me that they provided live food sources, until it was brought to my attention that having one never seems to improve success with keeping non-photosynthetic corals. Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted September 17, 2003 Share Posted September 17, 2003 Well non-photosynthetic corals are in a totally different ball park. SPS corals can at least still rely on a light source Link to comment
Dingo Posted September 17, 2003 Author Share Posted September 17, 2003 True. I just figured that if the sand bed was producing food, those buggers out to be able to eat it, thats all. If sand beds help, thats fine. I am a great believer that this hobby does not have to be all that complicated. Hobbyists just want it to be that way so that they can be more involved. Some people who own those "Maxo Tanks" are nuts. Link to comment
Ike Posted September 25, 2003 Share Posted September 25, 2003 Golden Pearls are great. But like everyone has stated, be careful about how much you use. A VERY little bit goes a LONG way. Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 Ike What size GP are you Using. I just ordered the 50-100 micron Size. I beleive they were the Rotifer 1 size. Would larger or smaller particles be more effecient? Link to comment
Crakeur Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 I have a bag of the larger size and I never use em. too damned big. Maybe I'll give em a shot tonight. Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 How can you tell they're too big? Do your acros Choke? Do you have to give the heimleich(sp)? I got the 50-100 size after much research and asking of a coral farmer down here (1500 gal system) who feeds roti's. It seems to be the most generally usable. The larger size, I think, are better for larger polyp SPS while the smaller are better for SPS like pollicipora and pavona, but the 50-100 micron are generally accepted all around. What have you guys found? Link to comment
Crakeur Posted September 29, 2003 Share Posted September 29, 2003 large as in they end up not getting eaten and make a mess of the tank. now that I have some fish I will see if they eat them. Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted September 30, 2003 Share Posted September 30, 2003 do you notice your skimmer going crazy when you feed the larger size as opposed to the smaller? What micron size are you using? Rotifer II? Link to comment
kennerd Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Crak: I may have to hit you up for a small variety sample pack for my 65. The Euro Reef skimmer is way-sensitive to some foods or additives (Marine snow is like putting liquid soap in there). Coral heaven is great, but really stays clumped up, maybe I should blend it. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 ken, you frag up some corals and I'll gladly unload a half a block of mysis (4 pounds or so) and a nice chunk of cyclops. Bring some ice packs in a cooler for the trip back. after the 15th of course Link to comment
kennerd Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Oh, yeah: forgot about that deadline (not.) SPS I can do for you, and me travel without a cooler? Unheard of. Will have to see what you got and what you're looking for. Still owe you for the bulb. Link to comment
Jahkaya Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 Crak; Ken; Ike: What dosage do you use for the GP's? Just got it in and no usage instructions. Tank is 20 H with about 10 SPS frags and a 3gal fuge. No skimmer as of yet. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 I don't use them at all anymore. going to give it a shot when I have time to do water changes and whatnot. Ken, I've got too much frozen mysis and too much cyclops-eeze. I'll frag off chunks that should last you for 6 months to a year. as for corals, well, I could tear off some anthelia but nothing else is worth fragging, or fraggable really. hey, I'll let you drink some old beer and eat some stale chips tho. I know you can't turn that down. Link to comment
kennerd Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 nice guy. keep yer anthelia (ok, caj's anthelia) and I really don't need any frags, believe me. 'cept maybe that encrusting acro your buddy's been dangling in front of you for so long. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted October 1, 2003 Share Posted October 1, 2003 he's still dangling it. that sounded real bad. Link to comment
Ike Posted October 14, 2003 Share Posted October 14, 2003 Hey Jah, I have no idea what size my Golden Pearls are. They were given to me from a large bulk bag. All I know is that I mix up literaly a pinhead worth of it with a turkey baster of tank water. It's more than enough to go around in my 15g. I squirt that in front of a powerhead maybe twice a week. I can't tell if it makes a difference, but it makes ME feel better. The only other thing I feed is Formula One. I have the frozen cubes. I take a piece of that to feed the fish, mix it with tank water & feed away. The fish actually eat right from the tip of the turkey baster now. When they have eaten all the large pieces I squirt the remaining juice onto my corals. Yellow polyps seem to go bananas for this. Ike Link to comment
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