Feeding Soft Corals

[MarkW19]

I've got a 10G nano which has been up and running for 5 weeks now, and I'm intending on adding a few small soft corals soon (leather, xenia, polyps, etc.).

Would my corals benefit from a weekly feed of DT's Live Marine Phytoplankton?

Having a small tank, I obviously don't want the corals to grow quickly, as space is extremely limited! I just want to make that they're healthy.

Thanks,

Mark

[Innovator]

As long as you pay strict attention to dosing as not to foul your water, there can be benefits to additions of phytoplankton. Many soft corals can benefit from phytoplankton whereas most stony corals will not.

[MarkW19]

Cool. Well, I'm under the impression that most soft corals don't REQUIRE feedings, but can benefit from it. So, I'll just feed a little bit once a week, keeping my filter/powerheads on to circulate it around the tank.

I just want them to be healthy and open up etc., rather than to encourage growth (considering the size of my tank!).

[MT79]

FWIW the few softies I have seem to be happier since I started using DT's fairly regularly. I use the minimal recommended amount only about 1-2 times a week max. to avoid water quality issues. More than that and algae blooms start to pop up in my tank. Good luck w/ your new reef.

[Innovator]

It is a common misnomer that most corals only require light to be healthy (autotrophic); however, corals depend on partial to full nutrient consumption (heterotrophic) and rely upon both feeding methods to sustain their needs.

[MarkW19]

Thanks for the help guys, I'll feed a bit once a week then and see how it goes!