So, here I am on yet another plane, returning to LA after another major show…In this instance, Reef-a-Palooza in Orlando. A really cool show with a good vibe; the usual blend of friends, business, and of course, coral.
Oh yeah- it's about coral!
One of the cool thing about our industry is the close friendship we form with fellow vendors, many of whom are in the same sector as us- coral propagation. And, when I talk to enough of my colleagues, it’s obvious that we all have similar concerns, practices, and philosophies about keeping corals. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever attended a show or spoke with another industry colleague where I haven’t learned something new.
Cool.
One of the topics that comes up fairly often with both industry colleagues and customers is the feeding of our corals. It’s interesting to me that this has been a subject of much discussion for the better part of the decade. It’s been long agreed that corals need food- and lots of it. And there are a couple of schools of thought as to how they should receive their nutrition, each with solid points.
One school suggests that you should feed your corals directly, with targeted (or not so targeted, as the case may be) feeding of foods (live, frozen, dried) of the proper particle size, on a regular basis. Within this camp, about the only disagreement is about which foods are best for which corals, and when/how to deliver them.
Yum, zooplankton!
I’d say that a fair amount of reefers who feed their corals directly will feed them during “lights out”, which is truly the appropriate time, IMHO, because that’s when most corals will deploy feeder tentacles, and be most receptive to food. Sure, corals can adapt to being fed during daylight hours (after all, the feeding schedule needs to take into account the reefer’s ability to deliver the food to his/her corals), but the reality is that nighttime feeding is what corals have adapted to over eons of evolution.
How to administer feedings is another subject open to debate. Most reefers will simply disperse coral feeds “manually” by squirting them with a baster into the water column, or perhaps with more directed target feeding. Certain “LPS” corals, like Scolymia, Acanthastrea, Lobophyllia, Symphyllia, Trachyphyllia, etc. tend to be easy to target feed, whereas species like Acropora and other so-called “SPS” corals tend to be more easy to feed indirectly.
The vast majority of corals are remarkably adept at pulling food particles from the water column, making “broadcast” feeding strategies far easier and less time-consuming for busy reefers who have a life outside of their tank (Hmm…does ANYONE have a life outside of their tank? Hang around with people from my crowd and you’ll ponder that, trust me.)
The other school of coral feeding maintains that it’s more efficient and beneficial for you to “feed” your corals indirectly through dissolved organics (ie; fish poop). In other words, keep a large population of fishes, feed the heck out of ‘em, and let them do the work for you. It’s hard to argue with this strategy, as many corals efficiently utilize organic compounds from their surrounding water column. In particular, nitrate and phosphate are vital to the health of corals.
"We do tend to get hungry now and again..."
If you’ve been in the hobby for a long time (and I know a bunch of you have…Todd, Paul B., etc.) you remember the notion of reefs being “nutrient poor deserts”, with pristine conditions. For the first decades of the modern reef hobby, it was really sort of taboo to have any detectible nitrate or phosphate in this water, as it was (not entirely incorrectly, I might add) credited with being a source of fuel for nuisance algae blooms and other water-quality issues, and health challenges for reef systems. It was like a real shameful thing to admit that you had anything but “zero” (on a hobby grade test kit) nitrate or phosphate in your system. Anything else and you were branded as a reefer of dubious capability. My, how things have changed!
While there is nothing wrong with keeping a fairly tight control on these parameters, like many things in reefing, its equally important not to get obsessive about them. A personal case in point, to which I have referred to before in this forum, is the earlier experiences that we had with our coral raceways at UC. When we first started, we were obsessed with keeping water quality as high as possible, and obsessed over “undetectible” limits of nitrate and phosphate (I guess I should add a caveat- we still are, but we have a better understanding about what “water quality” really means as respects to coral farming). And you know what? Our corals didn’t look as good as they could. The colors were off…they were hungry. Sure, there are dozens of other factors in play, like alkalinity, trace elements, etc., etc., but these “big two” are important, IMHO.
It was only when we gained more firsthand experience and did more research that we realized that our corals looked a lot better with some nitrate and phosphate present. In fact, it was a fundamental awakening and shift in our approach to coral husbandry. Fast forward a few years, and we’re playing with the Triton “method”, and the importance of these compounds for coral health is even more in play: When you’re providing the optimum matrix and amount of major and trace elements for corals, they grow…and when they grow, they need…food! And they go through dissolved organic compounds in the water column rather quickly when you have thousands of them.
"I can totally help feed your corals...no problem!"
We actually have the weird thoroughly contemporary “problem” of trying to keep phosphate and nitrate in our system at levels that are conducive to coral health and growth. We struggle to keep up with the demand for these compounds! We employ both direct AND indirect feedings strategies. We feed copepods, fish eggs, and other plankton feeds to our corals. We feed mysis and other feeds to our fishes. And, our raceways have a LOT of fishes in them (including a little “gang” of rather mean, nippy Damsels in one of them, much to the chagrin of my employees), which we feed heavily. Fishes like Tangs perform the dual role of algae eaters and high-output “poopers”, which our corals no doubt appreciate.
We shoot for a “sweet spot” of phosphate at around .08ppm, and nitrate- well, we shoot for whatever we can get…5 ppm would be cool. Enough to keep corals happy and nuisance algae in check. A not-so-delicate dance with some rather tight target parameters. Again, these are obviously not the only factors that influence coral color, health, and growth, but they are major players.
In the end, it's all about what works best for the corals...
It’s an ironic sort of paradigm shift that we now aspire for the presence of the very compounds we used to loathe! We understand better the importance of balance in all things, and the necessity of these substances for the health of our animals. That being said, I have to stifle that urge to chuckle at the irony when I hear reefers that contact me about significant coral problems proudly rattle off that they have “zero nitrate” and phosphate in their systems. I mean, in context of the “postmodern” reef keeping thought, it is just a tad funny.
With so many wonderful foods on the market today for both corals and fishes, it’s not a problem to provide optimum nutrition to our animals. In fact, it’s easier now than at any point in hobby history. And, with access to great information and communication with fellow hobbyists, there has never been a better time to contribute to the ever-loving body of knowledge on the topic.
So, are you a direct or indirect feeder of your corals? OR, like us, are you both? What are your thoughts on feeding of you corals, and how has this influenced your hubby practices and decisions…Do tell!
As always, keep the ideas flowing, share your discoveries, triumphs, and catastrophes…
And stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
Oh yeah- it's about coral!
One of the cool thing about our industry is the close friendship we form with fellow vendors, many of whom are in the same sector as us- coral propagation. And, when I talk to enough of my colleagues, it’s obvious that we all have similar concerns, practices, and philosophies about keeping corals. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever attended a show or spoke with another industry colleague where I haven’t learned something new.
Cool.
One of the topics that comes up fairly often with both industry colleagues and customers is the feeding of our corals. It’s interesting to me that this has been a subject of much discussion for the better part of the decade. It’s been long agreed that corals need food- and lots of it. And there are a couple of schools of thought as to how they should receive their nutrition, each with solid points.
One school suggests that you should feed your corals directly, with targeted (or not so targeted, as the case may be) feeding of foods (live, frozen, dried) of the proper particle size, on a regular basis. Within this camp, about the only disagreement is about which foods are best for which corals, and when/how to deliver them.
Yum, zooplankton!
I’d say that a fair amount of reefers who feed their corals directly will feed them during “lights out”, which is truly the appropriate time, IMHO, because that’s when most corals will deploy feeder tentacles, and be most receptive to food. Sure, corals can adapt to being fed during daylight hours (after all, the feeding schedule needs to take into account the reefer’s ability to deliver the food to his/her corals), but the reality is that nighttime feeding is what corals have adapted to over eons of evolution.
How to administer feedings is another subject open to debate. Most reefers will simply disperse coral feeds “manually” by squirting them with a baster into the water column, or perhaps with more directed target feeding. Certain “LPS” corals, like Scolymia, Acanthastrea, Lobophyllia, Symphyllia, Trachyphyllia, etc. tend to be easy to target feed, whereas species like Acropora and other so-called “SPS” corals tend to be more easy to feed indirectly.
The vast majority of corals are remarkably adept at pulling food particles from the water column, making “broadcast” feeding strategies far easier and less time-consuming for busy reefers who have a life outside of their tank (Hmm…does ANYONE have a life outside of their tank? Hang around with people from my crowd and you’ll ponder that, trust me.)
The other school of coral feeding maintains that it’s more efficient and beneficial for you to “feed” your corals indirectly through dissolved organics (ie; fish poop). In other words, keep a large population of fishes, feed the heck out of ‘em, and let them do the work for you. It’s hard to argue with this strategy, as many corals efficiently utilize organic compounds from their surrounding water column. In particular, nitrate and phosphate are vital to the health of corals.
"We do tend to get hungry now and again..."
If you’ve been in the hobby for a long time (and I know a bunch of you have…Todd, Paul B., etc.) you remember the notion of reefs being “nutrient poor deserts”, with pristine conditions. For the first decades of the modern reef hobby, it was really sort of taboo to have any detectible nitrate or phosphate in this water, as it was (not entirely incorrectly, I might add) credited with being a source of fuel for nuisance algae blooms and other water-quality issues, and health challenges for reef systems. It was like a real shameful thing to admit that you had anything but “zero” (on a hobby grade test kit) nitrate or phosphate in your system. Anything else and you were branded as a reefer of dubious capability. My, how things have changed!
While there is nothing wrong with keeping a fairly tight control on these parameters, like many things in reefing, its equally important not to get obsessive about them. A personal case in point, to which I have referred to before in this forum, is the earlier experiences that we had with our coral raceways at UC. When we first started, we were obsessed with keeping water quality as high as possible, and obsessed over “undetectible” limits of nitrate and phosphate (I guess I should add a caveat- we still are, but we have a better understanding about what “water quality” really means as respects to coral farming). And you know what? Our corals didn’t look as good as they could. The colors were off…they were hungry. Sure, there are dozens of other factors in play, like alkalinity, trace elements, etc., etc., but these “big two” are important, IMHO.
It was only when we gained more firsthand experience and did more research that we realized that our corals looked a lot better with some nitrate and phosphate present. In fact, it was a fundamental awakening and shift in our approach to coral husbandry. Fast forward a few years, and we’re playing with the Triton “method”, and the importance of these compounds for coral health is even more in play: When you’re providing the optimum matrix and amount of major and trace elements for corals, they grow…and when they grow, they need…food! And they go through dissolved organic compounds in the water column rather quickly when you have thousands of them.
"I can totally help feed your corals...no problem!"
We actually have the weird thoroughly contemporary “problem” of trying to keep phosphate and nitrate in our system at levels that are conducive to coral health and growth. We struggle to keep up with the demand for these compounds! We employ both direct AND indirect feedings strategies. We feed copepods, fish eggs, and other plankton feeds to our corals. We feed mysis and other feeds to our fishes. And, our raceways have a LOT of fishes in them (including a little “gang” of rather mean, nippy Damsels in one of them, much to the chagrin of my employees), which we feed heavily. Fishes like Tangs perform the dual role of algae eaters and high-output “poopers”, which our corals no doubt appreciate.
We shoot for a “sweet spot” of phosphate at around .08ppm, and nitrate- well, we shoot for whatever we can get…5 ppm would be cool. Enough to keep corals happy and nuisance algae in check. A not-so-delicate dance with some rather tight target parameters. Again, these are obviously not the only factors that influence coral color, health, and growth, but they are major players.
In the end, it's all about what works best for the corals...
It’s an ironic sort of paradigm shift that we now aspire for the presence of the very compounds we used to loathe! We understand better the importance of balance in all things, and the necessity of these substances for the health of our animals. That being said, I have to stifle that urge to chuckle at the irony when I hear reefers that contact me about significant coral problems proudly rattle off that they have “zero nitrate” and phosphate in their systems. I mean, in context of the “postmodern” reef keeping thought, it is just a tad funny.
With so many wonderful foods on the market today for both corals and fishes, it’s not a problem to provide optimum nutrition to our animals. In fact, it’s easier now than at any point in hobby history. And, with access to great information and communication with fellow hobbyists, there has never been a better time to contribute to the ever-loving body of knowledge on the topic.
So, are you a direct or indirect feeder of your corals? OR, like us, are you both? What are your thoughts on feeding of you corals, and how has this influenced your hubby practices and decisions…Do tell!
As always, keep the ideas flowing, share your discoveries, triumphs, and catastrophes…
And stay wet.
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
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Every single day.
