Is it possible to overfeed coral?

[Gdbyrd]

I know it's debated whether or not it's really needed to feed most corals, but I've been doing it about once a week, spreading a cube over my two lps and they seem to be a lot fuller because of it.

But I was wondering, can you feed them too often? Or feed them too much at a time?

I also have some polyps and it's a real pain to drop a mysis in each little fly trap. Is there anything that works better for feeding corals like that as well as zoas? What about softies? I have some oyster feed that I drop a couple ml's in every couple days.

Also, since I started using my turkey baster to do this, I've also been blowing a pretty good amount of water over all my corals to clear little bits of sand and stuff. Everything usually closes up for a little while but reopens later. Any reason I shouldn't be doing this? Sometimes I get little sandstorms and sutff gets blown all over.

 

[Picasso]

I can give you my experience but I don't know if it is right or not so hopefully someone else will chime in.

I feed my softies almost every day mostly by accident. I target feed my seahorses frozen mysis and little bits tend to drop on my 'shrooms. They are getting really huge now and I am not worried about overfeeding because I figure they don't have to eat everything that falls their way, right?

Every few days I use my scraper and move the water above my corals to get the gunk out. They don't seem to be affected negatively by this. Yesterday I got too close to my hairy 'shroom, Jo Jo and she spit out a big wad of purple strings so it seems like she doesn't like it so much. I'll keep doing it but with a little more care not to get too close.

As far as dropping mysis into your polyps, I've seen some people make a feeding device using an empty 2 liter soda bottle. You cut off the big end and when it's feeding time you set the big end over the polyps and slip the food into the little mouth of the bottle. It helps keep the food suspended over the polyps until they have time to eat it. I've got a really long thing that looks like a huge eyedropper that I target feed my horses with so it's not a big deal to target feed my polyps.

My coals really like this stuff: : : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : : My zoos really love Kent's Coral Vite and Coral Accel.

Hope this helps?

Catherine

 

[daugherty]

i feed my trumpet and acan 1-2 times a week. ans i think that is more than enough but if you feed them too much they will grow fast and for lps fast growing is not good the polyps will grow faster than their skeleton and will collapse on them selves

 

[dcantucson]

I feed my corals on an average of once a week.
The main thing is that you don't want to pollute your water by over feeding.

 

[NorthantsBoy]

I feed mine abut twice weekly
I use a frozen cubed Rotifer which i disolve in the tank
I also use a liquid feed called Gamma Nutra Plus which contains Copepods, Microalgae and Rotifers - I use a small syringe and gently sway this in the tank so as to evenly disperse - make sure you turn all filters, powerheads etc off for at least an hour or all will be lost particularly in the skimmer
My mushrooms love Brine shrimp and open their mouths almost as soon as I start putting them in - Note if you have fish or shrimp feed them first or they will just steal them off the corals

 

[Melosu58]

I do not feed my corals. They get all they need from the lighting and water column. BTW it is very possible to overfeed and foul up water quality.

 

[Melosu58]

https://www.livingreefs.com/spot-feeding-t22611.html

Over at this thread I have some pics that show you really dont need to target feed. You can but not needed.