Yes or no to feeding corals.

[Mike_J]

As someone eluded to earlier, it really depends on the coral type you keep. NPS coral for instance absolutely need regular feeding otherwise they wither away and die a slow unnecessary death.

 

[Sharvey103]

I target feed select corals that benefit from it. Otherwise the rest catch the cloud from feeding the fish.

 

[Justin Nguyen]

I feed my coral twice a week. First time i feed reef rodis with poly booster. Second time feed with oyster feast. 1 month feed with phytoplankton and red sea reef engnery i need test nitrate and phosphate evry 3 weeks.

 

[lou dog420]

I feed my corals twice daily, every time I feed my fish. They get a mixture of phyto, zoo, and copepods all mixed together in a soup with what ever fish food im feeding that day. Broadcast in the tank to make a nice blizzard! ! Oh yea, about 15 minutes before I feed I give them a good shot of aminos to get them in the mood!! Lol

 

[Dancingmad]

I turn the wave makers up, increase flow/exposure, and cut the return off to keep my skimmer from pulling all those sweet, sweet, nutrients during snack time. Let it run 10-15m. Wide variety of particle size (bacterial to meaty things) because I don't have a high dollar camera (or time) to see what exactly my corals are eating and retaining. Shotgun method + this technique works for me.

There is a difference between "surviving" and "thriving". If you're having success, and critters are truly thriving, rock on(small L/SPS joke. Don't worry - I'm not going on tour). Everyone's homemade eco system, rig, and livestock is different. My suggestions is to test out foods, broadcast feeding, target feed, classical music/heavy metal, prayer dance, etc. Monitor everything when you're doing it - take pictures or make note of changes in coloration/growth/etc and figure out what works for your homemade ecosystem. A secondary suggestion would be to avoid over-tinkerage. Too much tinkering at once when you've reached some degree of stability and you wont know what works. Slow and steady, one manipulated variable :D

 

[Susan Bates]

I feed reef roids 1 x week but i do struggle with nitrates

 

[tigastt]

I target feed all of mine with LRS reef frenzy. I really see growth

 

[Roy 9121]

This. I never target feed any of the corals. Besides the fish feeding I occasionally add some Coral Frenzy, Phytoplankton, or fish roe an hour after lights out once or twice a week

I was wondering why you feed your coral after lights iut?

 

[Roy 9121]

I just feed my fish and add phytoplankton a few times a week. I don't target feed anything. Guess maybe i should, but everything seems to be happy and growing.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I just feed my fish and add phytoplankton a few times a week. I don't target feed anything. Guess maybe i should, but everything seems to be happy and growing.

This seems like a good reason NOT to do anything different...if it ain't broke, don't fix it. ;)

 

[AquaLogic]

I'm wondering what other reefers are doing for feeding their corals. I've recently read a few articles where some, " Mr. Saltwater Tank" for example, are against it because he does not want to add any nutrients into the tank.

It’s not a great idea to add excess nutrients to your tank if you don’t have to. In my opinion coral feeding is a fad that won’t go away. No one is spot feeding coral in the ocean.

 

[BristleWormHater]

I feed mine, I've noticed faster growth when I do.

 

[afboundguy]

Super old thread from 2017 but I always feed my corals. I feed lots of phyto, overfeed on frozen food so corals get lots and also spot feed LPS and some NPS (like dendros and Sun corals).

I love feeding tank frozen BBS and cyclops as polyp extension goes crazy as it looks like it's snowing inside the tank!