Feeding soft corals

[Daniel Fishy]

Hey just looking for some good advice on feeding soft corals? Button polyps and red shrooms. Any type of brand that you had good success with or what to stay away from thanks. What should I be looking for in calcium, mag, or any other water testing or not a big concern for simpler corals?

 

[JuanArti]

Those are strong corals that can withstand most water parameters. You should, have your Alk lowest 9 highest 11, 450 calcium should be straight and I'm. It really sure on mag. Hopefully your LFS does water tests. Go there and they should really help you out. Good luck! ?

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Thank you very much! What's a good phytoplankton food for them? I'm going there tomorrow just don't want to walk out with a bunch of stuff I don't need!

 

[JuanArti]

They'll probably test your levels and tell you what you need to boost your levels. If they tell you to buy anything such as Calcium or Alk boosters get them in powder form. It's a little. More tedious but I believe it works better. I don't really know about Phytoplankton my friend gave me his old bottle cuz he took down his tank.

 

[sanderson417]

I think many would tell you not to buy any food from your LFS for the corals you have. In regards to dosing your water, I have found that those supplements just mess up your water chemistry. A small weekly partial water change will provide your water with all the supplements your tank water needs. I find this to work better and it's much less expensive. Funny my LFS keeps commenting on how great my water parameters have gotten. It's because I stopped listening to them and followed the advice I have gotten on this site. This site is amazing. Good luck

 

[Sniperhank]

Soft corals are simple and hardy. Having a proper regiment of 10% water changes weekly and lighting is all you need. Dosing your tank can/will screw up your water chemisty and lead to larger issues. As for feeding, I have tried. All I have ever gotten out of it is bad algae blooms and cyano.

 

[Schism]

Soft corals are simple and hardy. Having a proper regiment of 10% water changes weekly and lighting is all you need. Dosing your tank can/will screw up your water chemisty and lead to larger issues. As for feeding, I have tried. All I have ever gotten out of it is bad algae blooms and cyano.

+1

Most coral feeding just leads to nutrient problems.

Also you dont need to be dosing anything meaning no calcium/alk. Water changes will replace the small amount taken up.

 

[Gregcoyote]

The softies in general don't need feeding. Most depend on their algae and free floating bits in the tank. I have never intentionally fed mine and they grow like weeds.
Water quality, flow and lighting are what you have to work with and once those issues are all stable, the softies will grow like mad.

 

[melosu58]

Thank you very much! What's a good phytoplankton food for them? I'm going there tomorrow just don't want to walk out with a bunch of stuff I don't need!

You dont even need that. All they need is good lighting and what they get from the water column.

 

[Bige]

You dont even need that. All they need is good lighting and what they get from the water column.

What he said ^. Photosynthetic critters are photosynthetic.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Thanks everyone truly helpful

 

[dlsrks]

I know corals dont need any dosing but if you want to feed them, get BRS Chili Reef Food. They go crazy over it and they doubled in size in a short amount of time. I have a Xenia that I almost lost when my nitrates were high. It is growing now and very healthy. But I only dose them one or two times a week.