Best way to target feed corals --without waste?

sen5241b

Reef enthusiast
I've been using a turkey baster but most of the pellets, sushi roe or whatever roll out of the baster and miss the target. I'd say I get less than half the food on the coral.

What do you use to target feed corals without wasting any food on the sand and rock?
 
All I've ever figured out is the turkey baster too. I've tried a hose, like the ones attached to
the RO/DI units, but I didn't have any success with it.
 
I use a dropper slightly larger then the refractometer dropper. There isn't as much wasted food as when I used a turkey baster.
 
I use a babies medicine dropped. I also cover my coral with the cut off top of a 1 litre soda or water bottle. That way my fish can't steal the food from the coral.
 
I use a babies medicine dropped. I also cover my coral with the cut off top of a 1 litre soda or water bottle. That way my fish can't steal the food from the coral.


Question for ya regarding using a plastic bottle to cover the coral while feeding, what about corals on the rocks that a plastic bottle will not stay steady over? Do you manually hold the bottle in place?

Thx.
 
Question for ya regarding using a plastic bottle to cover the coral while feeding, what about corals on the rocks that a plastic bottle will not stay steady over? Do you manually hold the bottle in place?

Thx.
That or werdge it in with something. The main thing to remember is to turn the flow off for a few minutes while you do it. That way you have calm water as well.
 
No. The only ones that must be spot feed are the nonphotosynthetic ones, such as the sun corals. The large poly stony corals (LPS) can be spot feed and will grow faster if they are. The small polpy stony (SPS) corals and soft corals dont need to be spot feed at all, and some of the soft corals dont even have mouths to eat with
 
No, not all do. I spot feed my Palys, Acans, Blastos (though they are not mine), trumpets, duncans, frogs, chalices. You don't really need to spot feed, but it does help excellerate the growth and color of them.
 
No, not all do. I spot feed my Palys, Acans, Blastos (though they are not mine), trumpets, duncans, frogs, chalices. You don't really need to spot feed, but it does help excellerate the growth and color of them.


I mostly agree. I have seen trumpets wither and get sick when not fed. Feeding corals will make them grow --fast.

But yeah I'll try a smaller syringe or baster.
 
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are you turning off your flow when you spot feed or is the current going full bore? I have a feder tube i bought at my fish store that is like a baster but smaller specifically made for feeding corals
 
I have min waste, usually the fish get the leftovers and i dont even need to feed them

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I use a turkey baster, and just hold my finger over the end until I want it to squirt out with the flow off. I haven't personally tried this, but a local reefer uses a glass pipette with this thing that you twist, and it sucks water/food in, and absolutely nothing comes out...I'll try and find a pic/link to something similar.
 
+1 turkey baster. practice makes perfect. i squeeze the baster bubble as much as i can, suck in a little food, submerge in tank, suck in a lot of water and feed. sucking in the rest of the way separates the food so it isn't all concentrated in the baster. when the food is all gone the water that's left is cloudy and i use that to blow on my zoas and sps'
hth!
 
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