noob coral question

[dragonfisher33]

noob here, don't judge. it will take me some time before getting my first coral, but i would love to know what are some of the hardiest corals out there? also, this question has been bugging me for a bit. do people target feed the corals, especially those with a lot of tentacles and mouths? how do you make sure the food you give them don't get filtered out if you have a filter instead of a sump?

 

[blert]

Zoas, Palys, Leathers, Shrooms, Rics: all pretty tolerant under good conditions.

When I feed my corals I turn off all my filters, pumps, skimmers, wavemakers, etc... for about ten or fifteen minutes. Then I turn back on just the wavemakers and wait another ten or fifteen minutes. Then I turn everything else back on. About an hour later I turkey baster the rocks so as little as possible remains stuck in the rocks.

 

[dragonfisher33]

Zoas, Palys, Leathers, Shrooms, Rics: all pretty tolerant under good conditions.

When I feed my corals I turn off all my filters, pumps, skimmers, wavemakers, etc... for about ten or fifteen minutes. Then I turn back on just the wavemakers and wait another ten or fifteen minutes. Then I turn everything else back on. About an hour later I turkey baster the rocks so as little as possible remains stuck in the rocks.

do you target feed for those with mouths?

 

[Mebbid]

They are photosynthetic so don't really need to be target fed. They will tend to grow faster with extra food though.

 

[dragonfisher33]

They are photosynthetic so don't really need to be target fed. They will tend to grow faster with extra food though.

really? i was under the impression that they need mysis shrimps as well as other nutrients such as planktons. i know that different corals have different requirements but my understanding was that most, if not all, need strong light with some sort of food.

 

[Garrett706]

noob here, don't judge. it will take me some time before getting my first coral, but i would love to know what are some of the hardiest corals out there? also, this question has been bugging me for a bit. do people target feed the corals, especially those with a lot of tentacles and mouths? how do you make sure the food you give them don't get filtered out if you have a filter instead of a sump?

I broadcast feed every other day and try to target feed once a week if I can ( whether it has a mouth or not IMO doesn't make that big of a difference), but I wouldn't worry to much feeding is the easy/fun part, its the water quality and lighting that is hard/expensive part.

 

[dragonfisher33]

I broadcast feed every other day and try to target feed once a week if I can ( whether it has a mouth or not IMO doesn't make that big of a difference), but I wouldn't worry to much feeding is the easy/fun part, its the water quality and lighting that is hard/expensive part.

sorry, noob here at work. what do you mean by "broadcast"?

 

[Garrett706]

Adding food to the water and letting it blow around basically, the corals will pick it up that way.

I use the brand reef nutrition which is a refrigerated food not frozen, I feed arctipods and roe to my fish but the corals also eat it as well, the one I bought just for my corals is called oyster feast.

When I target feed i switch it up between mysis shrimp and the arctipods

 

[Garrett706]

Also the time you feed is a big factor depending on the corals you get

 

[Mebbid]

Almost all of the corals will eat but the vast majority of their nutrition is acquired form the zooxanthelle that is living in them. A lot of people don't bother feeding their corals at all and they will take in whatever floating debris comes their way.

 

[Garrett706]

Almost all of the corals will eat but the vast majority of their nutrition is acquired form the zooxanthelle that is living in them. A lot of people don't bother feeding their corals at all and they will take in whatever floating debris comes their way.

That may be true but if you're like me and had a reef tank with no fish then you wouldn't be feeding your fish and there would be no "debris for them to grab".

I've brightened and grown my corals substantially by adding certain trace elements and feeding them properly.