How often should corals be fed?

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Fishless cycle

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My friend has a 19 litre fluval spec tank and has a number of corals. She has had the tank for a month and is a newbie. It's been difficult to find information on corals and how to care for them etc. how and what to feed them etc. Does anyone have any suggestions or links to good sites about how and when to feed them.

She has a torch coral and has no idea what the others are but was told by the lfs that they will be low maintenance. I'm not so sure I trust lfs advice!

Any advice would be really appreciated :)
 
Dont go with advice from LFS.

Firstly on corals there are many many different types and species to consider and the different types require different care. For instant soft corals and mushrooms can be kept under T5 lamps very well however SPS/LPS and Inverts need a stronger light such as Metal Halide or LED's.

There's plenty of sites that have information on corals. The annoying part is spending time researching. I stick my head in a book on marine life (or many books) and that tends to help also.

Finally corals get their 'food' from light. Just like plants they use photosynthesis. There is no need to supplement with coral foods if your lighting is good enough.
 
Like the other poster said, corals are classified as photosynthetic. They have a symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae. Most don't require feeding, but feeding LPS coral (like the torch) twice a week will make it grow faster. Mysis shrimp and other meaty foods works. NPS coral (non-photosynthetic) need to be fed phytoplankton, etc. since they are filter feeders are rely on that food. Liveaquaria.com is a great site for quick stats on fish and corals (like what flow, lighting needs etc of coral)
 
I have had my corals for 14+ yrs and have never target fed them. They get all they need from the lighting and water column. I have soft, LPS and a few moderate light SPS corals.
 
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