Suggestions on coral foods

[Mike&Pam]

I currently supply my 90 gal reef with kent's microvert, coral-vite, tech I, and strontium. All are kent products. I only have 4 corals. A rose brain, red tree sponge (not sure about proper name), nephthea (brocholli coral), and another hard coral that is a flourescent green. The nephthea and this green coral (pic below) are the two that don't seem to be doing so well. Therefore, I was considering getting either some coral vital, marine snow, or DT's live phytoplankton (which I just read on this board is what people had the most success with). The nephthea opens up, but the stems are drooping over. It does not stand straight up the way it used to. Also, this other green coral has only been in there for a week but has significantly lost it's bright flourescent color. It still looks ok but certainly not as good as when I bought it. By the way, does anyone know the name of this coral (picture below)? It has totally slipped my mind. My alk tests a little low right now but I am in the process of raising it. Calc is about 450. The alk was at only 1.7? Basically, my questions are:

Which of the foods I mentioned above should I try? One or the other, both, or neither?

Do you happen to know what this coral is called and where it's placement should be?

Thanks everyone.

Pic taken when first put in.

 

[2poor2reef]

I can't tell as the pic is too small for my poor eyesight. You don't mention what lighting you have and that is a key component. Different corals feed differently and many will not take phyto directly. I would try to identify your corals specifically using a reference book like Borneman's new book. He gives guidlelines for captive care for each species. I would also address you alk problem immediately as I know of no corals that will thrive with an alk at 1.7.

 

[Mike&Pam]

Sorry. Hopefully this comes out bigger. I'm new at posting pictures. The reason my alk was so low is for a long time I was testing it with a seachem brand test that said it was 3.5. Then, I had it tested at my lfs with a red sea test and it tested at 1.7. But some of my corals are doing fine. Perhaps they will do even better once alk is taken care of. I test all of my other parameters with red sea test kits do I tend to trust them a little more. My lighting is 2 96wt power compacts in a 90 gal.
Thanks again.

Mike

 

[Mike&Pam]

Wow. I didn't mean for it to come out that big! Sorry!

 

[fishfarmer]

I'd start working on getting your alk up. My tank was having a low alk problem all summer. Most of my corals were thriving except two Sinularia species. A few water changes shortly corrected the problem. Now I'm adding Seachem reef builder in addition to kalk. The sinularias started opening up once I got my alk over 2.6 meq/L. BTW do you test for Magnesium? Low Mg will make maintaining Ca/alk difficult.

 

[danmhippo]

I think the first thing is to get your water chemistry right before you even consider adding micro-foods into the tank to feed corals. Some corals does not take additional food. For the nephthea, I would suggest you position it to receive moderate current. I too have quite a few of them and there was one that was in the corner with less flow and always droops down. After repositioning, it stands up right.

I do not have personal experiences with Kent's micro-vert thus cannot comment on it. My corals are mostly softies, polyps, sponges, and gorgonians that appreciates regular rotifer feeding. I buy rotifer replacement products from Brine-Shrimp Direct, Golden Pearl, and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. I re-hydrate the two in diluted Taihetion Blend before feeding to my corals. I tried to stay away from liquid foods that can sit indefinetly on shelves. I would have no way of telling if the food is freshly made or if it has been on the shelf for eons, let alone knowing if the usefulness of the food still remains, if there is any left.

 

[Mouse]

mmmmm Montipora Pie, ...

Erm.. but if you meant "for" the reef i would use Marine Snow.

BTW i have heard bad things about Coral Vital affecting P.H. and alk, so i stopped using mine. I would also give reef DNA and Live Rock and Sand booster a go, their Marc Weiss. Dont know how you guys feel about his products but i gave them a go and there not too bad, huge ammounts of little red feather worms appeared on rocks and lots of other sponges and stuff.

[ October 15, 2001: Message edited by: Mouse ]

 

[Mike&Pam]

Thanks for the input. Basically, all I need to know is what people feed their corals. Therefore, I can see if I'm missing anything that I should be doing.

 

[EmilyB]

I am currently feeding Golden Pearls. There are MANY sizes, some of my younger fish take the larger sizes, it is high protein, and I am seeing some nice results. I am also using their Selco and Nannochloropsis (sp) algae paste.

Check out brineshrimpdirect.com and see what you think.

This is experimental for me at this stage, everything else (bottled) seems to be a tank pollutant more than anything else. This (GP) is more geared to raising fry, etc.

 

[davelin315]

I really don't feed my corals (although I do have a bottle of DTs phytoplankton that I've used about 3 or 4 times since I bought it 3 months ago). I supplement and add kalk, but that's about it. I'm sure they get food when things breed in my tank and when I feed the fish, but I don't do any target feeding of them.

As far as what kind of coral that is, it looks to be hydnophora, although it's hard to make out on the screen. Can you take a close up and a picture from the side? IME, it's fairly sensitive, and needs high light. Most sps corals also need good water flow. I'm not certain about these factors, but from what I remember, that's what I was told. I have never been successful with them, so I'm not the best to ask.

 

[Mike&Pam]

Is it a posibility that since we cannot find this coral anywhere that it is a dead coral...and hence the bright green coloration? Just a thought.

 

[naesco]

I use Kent Marine Phytoplex. I notice that the coral really open up when they are fed.
Buy a small bottle and make sure that you keep it in your refridgerator after you open it.

 

[dougc]

That looks like a hydnophora to me, too. I have had good luck with them, but cannot definitively say why. I also have a green nephthea which has done nicely in my tank. I do not use any supplements regularly enough to attribute my success to them. For the record, I have sporadically used Marine Snow and the ESV spray-dried phytoplankton, but I suspect that the only beneficiaries are the hordes of feather dusters and sponges in the tank. The hydnophoras I have like lots of light but are not as light-hungry as some others. Both the nephthea and hyndophoras are in brisk currents. The only other unusual thing about my tank is that I don't use a skimmer. This may provide benefits for the corals but, again, I can't say for sure.

 

[davelin315]

Not sure what you mean by a dead coral, are you talking artificial? Since your picture is a bit blurry and you can't really make out the flesh and the structure of the coral, go to a couple of the sites selling corals and look up the hynophora pictures and see if it's the same.

 

[mgk65]

I would suggest you purchase Eric Borneman's book Aquarium Corals

He has many pages detailing the feeding of various corals.

Having said that, Coral-Vite, Tech I, strontium, Coral Vital, and Marine Snow ARE NOT FOOD! In fact, Marine Snow was tested to be 99.9% WATER.

These are all elements and minerals that have not proven to benefit our corals. In fact, we may have harmful excesses of these elements in our aquariums.

Kent's microvert and ESV phyto are dead phytoplankton products. DR's Live Phyto is alive (check the smell for freshness!).

There are only a few organisms that use phytoplankton as a food source - sponges, gorgonians, and clams.

Most everything else desires a protein based diet including colts, nepthea, brains and hydnophora. A good source for food is www.brineshrimpdirect.com

Hope this clears some things up.

mgk

 

[cubera]

Hydnophora rigida....keep a safe distance from all living matter including scorpions, rattle snakes, allegators, etc. as it will kill anything it comes in contact with

These corals like meat like mushed up scallops, shrimp, fish, crab, etc. I put a tupperware pitcher with a hole drilled in the top of it where the turkey baster tip fits. Put the plastic container over the coral, plug in the turkey baster, squirt in some thawed/diluted mush and remove cover after 15-20 minutes. Four feedings a week is plenty. Watch Nitrates...