Coral feeding schedule

scott9119 · Jan 31, 2012

Does anyone have a good coral feeding guide. I think I'm over feeding a bit. Algae comes and goes. I can never really shake it. I have a 500 gallon mixed softies,LPS and some sps. I have a hard time keeping chalices right now. I feed with cyclopeze, algae paste and mysis shrimp. Any ideas on exactly how much to feed and how many days a week in this size of a tank?

Electrobes · Jan 31, 2012

Hi Scott - I wish it were this easy but unfortunately I've got a lot of questions before I can help you out. What are the main specs of the tank, especially the filtration?

Other questions include:

- How often are you feeding each and how much of each?

- When do you typically feed these foods?

- What other current livestock do you have (Like fish)?

- What kind of algae are we talking here.. HA?

scott9119 · Jan 31, 2012

Aquarium Gallons:
500 g
Aquarium Fish List:
10 year old Blonde Nasso Tang, 4 clown fish, 2 yellow tangs,1achilies tang,5 chromis, 1 mystery wrassee,1sailfin tang, 1 purple tang,1brown powder tang1 garbaldi damsel 1 neon dotty back
Coral List:
Mostly sps and softies and zoas.A few sps corals too
Aquarium Invert List:
Snails, reef lobster,conchs
Lighting Type:
4-400 watt MH LED stunner
Aquarium Type:
Reef Tank

How can I upload pics from my phone?

I feed in the evening both fish and corals. Lights are on. Algae is not to bad right. It's brown hair algae tho. I have two external aquatic Eco pumps. I'm running two skimmers a hurricone and a octopus. I have two sumps with four filter socks. 6 power heads . I hp aqua euro chiller. I feed fish everyday and corals every other. Sorry for the rambling ... Hope that helps u help me

Electrobes · Jan 31, 2012

The skimmers: Which Hurricone do you have (What rating is it for)? And what rating does the other octopus skimmer have?

The food: What foods are you feeding the fish, and what food are you feeding the corals?

The algae: Is it easy to pull off, kinda slimy? Or is it tough stuff?

Filter socks: How often are you changing those?

Water changes: How often and how much water are you changing in your tank?

Water flow: How much water turnover, more or less, do you have in the tank? 10x, 20x, more?

Other filtration: Are you running any carbon or GFO? How the water's color? If you look on one side of the tank to the other side... can you see clearly or is there a tint going on?

For uploading photos I use photobucket.com - If you have a video I use youtube.

scott9119 · Feb 1, 2012

Electrobes said:
The skimmers: Which Hurricone do you have (What rating is it for)? And what rating does the other octopus skimmer have?

The food: What foods are you feeding the fish, and what food are you feeding the corals?

The algae: Is it easy to pull off, kinda slimy? Or is it tough stuff?

Filter socks: How often are you changing those?

Water changes: How often and how much water are you changing in your tank?

Water flow: How much water turnover, more or less, do you have in the tank? 10x, 20x, more?

Other filtration: Are you running any carbon or GFO? How the water's color? If you look on one side of the tank to the other side... can you see clearly or is there a tint going on?

For uploading photos I use photobucket.com - If you have a video I use youtube.

Food for fish.. I make up a mix .. Shrimp,squid ,green algae dry, mysis shrimp,krill,algae paste,cyclopeze,vitamins,silver sides. Put it all in a blender and freeze. I make my own frozen cubes. So it a little bit of everything .

Algae. It's for the most part easy to pull off

Socks. They are changed out once a month

Water change.. Once a month 25%

Water flow.. I have 4 korilla power heads two bigger one that are rated 1500 gph. Center overflow with 4 returns . I actually have to mp 60 on the way. I'm super excited about those....

I'm running carbon ractor. Octopus brand...

The hurricone is the cat 2. As for the octopus is a older model really not sure.

Tank water is clear. You can see all the way through.

scott9119 · Feb 1, 2012

Here are some pics of my set up

Electrobes · Feb 1, 2012

Food for fish.. I make up a mix .. Shrimp,squid ,green algae dry, mysis shrimp,krill,algae paste,cyclopeze,vitamins,silver sides. Put it all in a blender and freeze. I make my own frozen cubes. So it a little bit of everything .

Algae. It's for the most part easy to pull off

Socks. They are changed out once a month

Water change.. Once a month 25%

Water flow.. I have 4 korilla power heads two bigger one that are rated 1500 gph. Center overflow with 4 returns . I actually have to mp 60 on the way. I'm super excited about those....

I'm running carbon ractor. Octopus brand...

The hurricone is the cat 2. As for the octopus is a older model really not sure.

Tank water is clear. You can see all the way through.

Food: I like the idea of a homemade recipe that includes all that you list, but maybe to start we'll reduce the frequency you feed, try cutting out about a 1/3 of the feedings. If you now feed 3 times a day, let's try 2 times a day.

Carbon reactor: How often are you changing the media out? Does the reactor ever get clogged? I often see it best to change out the media once every 3 weeks or so. What type of carbon are you using? Some carbons are much better than others when using reactors. I prefer this one: ROX 0.8 carbon at Bulk Reef Supply. It tumbles better and it less prone to clogging in my experience. As for GFO (Should you ever use it) I prefer the regular stuff over the high capacity as I don't believe it makes much of a difference.

Only thing I can suggest about the skimmers is maybe to check to see if they need a thorough cleaning, especially the pumps. Vinegar the heck out of both to get back your efficiency.

Waterchanges: Have you considered maybe doing 10% per month? In your case it may get tiresome and even expensive, so I don't blame you for sticking to your current method.

Socks I have been hearing this a lot, but this part is definitely up to you as I am not a sock user: These should be changed out about once a week. They apparently become nitrate factories quickly unless cleaned out often.

Waterflow: I think the MP60 is going to help out a lot, I honestly think you may be lacking a lil in the turnover department, but am not sure hoe much your two other Koralias are pushing, nor your returns. Have you cleaned out those pumps lately, to make sure you are getting all the water movement you paid for? You may notice a vast difference otherwise. After leaving them in a vinegar solution for a while you'll be shocked at the difference!

Algae: If it's fairly easy to pull off, that's usually a good thing.. it's weaker. I am guessing with this algae coming and going that there is "funk" in there trying to get out.. but maybe your tank is at the cusp of just barely not being able to get it out. Rocks are truly like sponges.. when the environment is heavy with "funk" they absorbed some of it, and when the environment isn't, they release back out into the water column. I think with the slight improvement doing the above, you'll see a more permanent change of less to no algae in about a month or two. Patience is key here, just keep up with the maintenance and you'll be golden.

scott9119 · Feb 1, 2012

Awesome thanks do much for the advise

Electrobes · Feb 1, 2012

No problem man, gimme a shout if you have other questions, I'll try my best.

Electrobes · Feb 1, 2012

Ack! I messed up... it's 10% water change per week not month!

scott9119 · Feb 2, 2012

How much more of benefit would that give me?

Electrobes · Feb 2, 2012

Honestly? I would say a great benefit. From my own experience it does much more than just help keep the tank cleaner, but it also replaces basic trace elements, etc. I do suggest doing it as thorough as possible:

1: Have the water mix for at least a day, more if possible.

2: Using a heater, keep the temp as close as tank temp as possible.

3: Before and maybe a day or so after the waterchange, test the salinity of the tank.