Feeding/ Dosing For Corals

[italipinos8]

My tank is going to be all lps/ soft corals. At the moment i have candy canes, pulsing xenia, and a duncan. Green star polyps coming in a few days. I know a golden rule is do not dose if you dont test for it. Today i was at my lfs and i asked a lady what she does to make her soft corals grow faster and she started naming stuff and told me to get a bottle of zooplankton.

I got zooplanktos-s and she said spot feed or just add about a mm a week (since my tank is small). She said this will make my xenia and gsp grow like crazy. I havent added any of it to the tank yet.

Im wondering what else i can feed corals to help them grow faster. I dont have testing kits of calcium, alk, or anything like that :shock:

What do you dose/ feed your corals with?

 

[PRC]

I use phytoplankton and zooplankton....But I've heard great things about Coral Frenzy....but haven't tried it.

 

[italipinos8]

Do i have to test for anything before i start using it?

 

[little_fish]

No, but keep an eye on 'trates or algae growth - that will tell you if your are doing too much.

You are dosing tiny creatures that live in the ocean that the SPS normally feed on, there is no way to test for how much you have in your tank.

 

[Ulta]

phytoplankton and zooplankton are mostly for SPS growth or other filter feeders. Xenia might benefit from it but with soft corals still their best source of growth will just come from strong lights and good water conditions.

phytoplankton and zooplankton will muck up your water, this is tested in the bacteria cycle and will show up as nitrates (if there is excess) OR excess algae growth.

Keeping healthy Alk/Calc levels are also important for best coral growth.

 

[Bifferwine]

As far as I know, xenia and GSP don't eat plankton out of the water column... They are primarily photosynthetic and get what they need from the light. If you are dosing plankton, watch your nitrates and algae growth.

 

[italipinos8]

One more question:) can you feed your corals too much??? Specifically a duncan and candy cane? Also I think my Duncan is getting ready to split. They do split right?

 

[BL1]

Candy canes will split, duncans will just grow new heads.

 

[d2mini]

I have yet to target feed any corals. I feed the tank rods food which feeds somewhat, and then i also add Sponge Power nightly, and a few days a week I add either ESV`s Spray-Dried Marine Phytoplankton or Coral Frenzy.

 

[yvr]

I am a huge advocate of feeding corals in my tanks. I target feed my LPS corals thawed and rinsed frozen mysis in the evenings a couple times per week. I feed the rest of my tank 2-3 times per week alternating with mysis, frozen cyclops, Tropic Marin Reef Snow, Pro-Coral Phyton and TM Pro-Coral Zooton.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

For me it really depends on the corals. I spot feed the acans, micromussas, duncans, favias and dendro's 1x per week. I do dose phytoplankton 1x per month along with coral frenzy for the SPS and anything else that eats the stuff. Other than that and regular frozen food for the fish, I don't do anything special.