Saltwater & Reef

Steve silbernagel · 07-12-2012, 10:30 PM

What and how do I feed my zoas's. I also got star polyps(I think that's what their called correct me if I'm wrong)

crister13 · 07-12-2012, 10:47 PM

You don't need to feed corals.

Steve silbernagel · 07-12-2012, 11:07 PM

So just a bunch of light

Thartsockpg · 07-12-2012, 11:12 PM

Will the greater amount of light affect growth rates?

Steve silbernagel · 07-12-2012, 11:18 PM

A friend of mine told me not to worry about feeding them bc there like plants, they like lots of light. True or false bc I've also heard there things u can directly feed them to speed up there growth?

00youknowit00 · 07-12-2012, 11:20 PM

Feeding will help, they'll grow/propagate faster and have better colors. Only thing about zoas is they don't always show that they are feeding, sometimes they will, but not always.

Its not necessary, but it does help.

Steve silbernagel · 07-12-2012, 11:44 PM

I got frozen brine shrimp for my other tank. Could I chop it up real good and directly feed them that?

00youknowit00 · 07-13-2012, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve silbernagel

I got frozen brine shrimp for my other tank. Could I chop it up real good and directly feed them that?

I've heard of people doing that, i've also heard of people using the cloudy water you get when you thaw them. If you're looking to buy food, I'd recommend Coral Frenzy. It goes a long way and my corals react really well to it.

Steve silbernagel · 07-13-2012, 12:18 AM

Ok thx I'm gonna look into that

Schism · 07-13-2012, 12:28 AM

Dont forget feeding corals adds to the bioload and nitrates will accumulate faster, along with phosphates. Overfeeding applies to the tank not just the fish.

Steve silbernagel · 07-13-2012, 12:33 AM

Ya I kinda thought that could be a problem, it's obvisily manageable

00youknowit00 · 07-13-2012, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schism

Dont forget feeding corals adds to the bioload and nitrates will accumulate faster, along with phosphates. Overfeeding applies to the tank not just the fish.

+1 Absolutely right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve silbernagel

Ya I kinda thought that could be a problem, it's obvisily manageable

If you only feed like 2x a week and make sure not to go crazy with it, you should be fine.

I haven't noticed and ill effects, but I run a carbon/gfo reactor, so that takes care of my phosphates, and my nitrates are always 5<.

JustinKBreen · 07-13-2012, 02:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schism

Dont forget feeding corals adds to the bioload and nitrates will accumulate faster, along with phosphates. Overfeeding applies to the tank not just the fish.

Tell me about it, I feed my coals phytofeast once every week or two. I accidents spilled too much in when trying to spot feed with a turkey baster, couple days later and I had a little cyano. Feeding also helps things like hair algae and nuisance sponges to grow :-|

Steve silbernagel · 07-15-2012, 03:21 PM

So I crushed up a little piece of frozen brine shrimp in some sw last night. Spot feed them with a medicine dropper. Not sure if they ate any of it.

Rgillund · 07-16-2012, 02:22 AM

Corals won't eat phytofeast. Phyto will feed the micro fauna in your tank (things like pods and worms etc) which those in turn will feed your corals from propagating eating and defecating and living/dieing . Corals are more meat eaters and phyto is for vegetarians is the easiest way to explain it.
Also most, not all but most zoas and palys won't eat things like mysis. This food is way to large for most of them and it won't trigger a feeding response. I have had best luck feeding Zs and Ps a powder by Fauna Marin Zoanthid and Acan powder. It is pretty amazing stuff and I have been using several of their products for a while now with really good results. Here is a link to the specific food. I have been feeding my chalices the LPS pellets with amazing results as well. My sps goes nuts when the zoa/acan powder hit the water as well, but I haven't tried the sps specific food yet.
Fauna Marin Ultra Zoa 100ml*::*Coral foods*::*Fauna Foods*::*Fauna Marin*::*Cherry Corals
Reef Koi sells a trial size of the stuff for like 8$ if you want to get a small one to try out it won't kill the old back account.

Jlsardina · 07-16-2012, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rgillund

Corals won't eat phytofeast. Phyto will feed the micro fauna in your tank (things like pods and worms etc) which those in turn will feed your corals from propagating eating and defecating and living/dieing . Corals are more meat eaters and phyto is for vegetarians is the easiest way to explain it.
Also most, not all but most zoas and palys won't eat things like mysis. This food is way to large for most of them and it won't trigger a feeding response. I have had best luck feeding Zs and Ps a powder by Fauna Marin Zoanthid and Acan powder. It is pretty amazing stuff and I have been using several of their products for a while now with really good results. Here is a link to the specific food. I have been feeding my chalices the LPS pellets with amazing results as well. My sps goes nuts when the zoa/acan powder hit the water as well, but I haven't tried the sps specific food yet.
Fauna Marin Ultra Zoa 100ml :: Coral foods :: Fauna Foods :: Fauna Marin :: Cherry Corals
Reef Koi sells a trial size of the stuff for like 8$ if you want to get a small one to try out it won't kill the old back account.

+1. Just remember whatever food you choose to feed according polyp and mouth size. Humans can shove a whole cupcake in our mouth- doesn't mean we can chew it comfortably. You could probably get away with feeding saltwater mysid to things like zoas (because they are smaller) whereas you could feed piscine mysid to things such as hammers, torches, whisker Duncan's, etc (2-3x in size of the earlier mentioned). A good food choice is also cyclopeeze. It comes frozen in cubes, bars, or as a dried powder form. Either works well and will be digested by fish as well (some have even fed this to pipefish as a primary diet).