What would/do you guys feed sps?

[Fishguy2727]

I have montipora, pocilipora, birdsnest, and what I think the guy called a 'green monster'. I have DT's but I wanted to know what else you guys would feed them. I have heard Brightwell Aquatics' phytoplankton mixes are really good. Has anyone used those? What do you think of them? What supplements would you use for them?

[Dave66]

Fishguy,
I culture my own Phytoplankton to feed to, among other things, clams and corals. I also have multiple refugia attached to my reef tanks, so the corals get a constant flow of suitable zooplankton as well, day and night.

Dave

[kaybee]

On a very infrequent basis (1-2 times monthly), cyclopeeze, rotifers or Reef-Roids for my green stylophora.

The hydnophora exesa I have has polyps large enough to take whole mysis shrimp, so I give it about 3-5 mysis shrimp per feeding (which is about every 10 days).

[xximanoobxx]

Hey, I'm just wondering if there's NLS for corals???
Sorry, Idk anything about nls....

[kaybee]

NLS specifically for corals, not that I'm aware of.

That's not to say that corals are unable to consume NLS. Some of my corals, particularly LPS corals, inadevertently will capture and consume the NLS pellets I feed my fish; though my stylophora sometimes captures NLS pellets (small fish formula, really tiny pellets); and though they're apparently too large to consume whole, the polyps of this SPS hold on to them with persistance.

[cocoa_pleco]

i have never seen NLS for corals. however, my toadstool sometimes catches hikari saltwater pellets and eats them

[xximanoobxx]

Whoa... Nice....
So NLS is good coral food??????
I'll take note of that...
xD

[kaybee]

When it comes to obtaining 'nourishment' from non-photosynthetic means, I've found many corals to be rather indiscriminant in what they will seize and consume. The corals which I have seen capture and consume NLS will also capture and consume fish 'waste'. Hard to say if NLS is 'good' for them, but they'll (attempt to) obtain what they need out of it.

[spudbuds]

I feed a coral food containing mostly rotifers and cyclops a few times a week. I feed phyto every other day for my clam and pod population. I don't believe SPS feed on the phyto directly, but on the pods that consume the phyto.

- Bill

[xximanoobxx]

I feed a coral food containing mostly rotifers and cyclops a few times a week. I feed phyto every other day for my clam and pod population. I don't believe SPS feed on the phyto directly, but on the pods that consume the phyto.

- Bill
so nls isn't good for corals?????

[kaybee]

I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to specifically target feed a coral NLS (excluding once, when I wanted to see if my non-photosynthetic tubastraea would accept it or not...it did by the way, but I place greater value on other types of foods meant for corals).

NLS is definately not esssential, and it probably wouldn't matter to the coral if it were NLS or some other type or brand of food. The coral would able to draw what they need out of it, but whether that equates to being 'good for them' is hard to say because one could cease feeding corals entirely and they'd still likely thrive (since many photosynthetic corals obtain the bulk of the nourishment values they require from light via symbiotic zooxanthellae and the trace elements they draw from the water).

Getting back on topic, most SPS corals, due to the small size of their polyps, would be unable in many instances to process a NLS pellet (though they may try and could probably seize and consume microfragments of the food).

I agree with Spuds that phyto feeds the pods which feed the corals (a decent example of a food chain at work).

[spudbuds]

I agree with Kaybee. I don't target feed my LPS with pellets and most SPS I'm aware of would likely not be able to consume much of them. I have seen some of my LPS grab a Formula One pellet as it floated by but I prefer to feed the LPS mysis and zooplankton (frozen rotifers and cyclops) and I don't target feed that very often.

- Bill

[Fishguy2727]

One of the testimonials on their website was from a guy who fed it to his tube anemone. I can't remember exactly what he said but it grew like a weed. Many corals are large enough to eat certain NLS foods. For stuff like SPS it would probably need to be crushed for most of them. It is worth a shot to see how your particular corals take to it and respond to it. If they do better, go ahead and keep feeding it. If they don't take to it then just stop.

As far as I know no one has done a truly scientific comparison of the two. Most stick with the tried and true methods of light and proper phytoplankton and other proven foods. The biggest difference would be that most of the preferred foods are just one thing or a mix of a few main ingredients (rotifers, daphnia, cyclops, phytoplanktons), whereas NLS also has all the added supplements that help make their main ingredients a complete and balanced diet. Obviously this is not absolutely required for corals as they have been living in captivity with varying degrees of thriving and are being propagated, but even with this in mind it is hard to say it would not be beneficial to also have these other ingredients in their diet.

[Fishguy2727]

Anyone used any of the Brightwell Aquatics Phytoplankton foods?

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Feeding SPS corals is not an essential activity as they can obtain all the nuytrition they need via photosynthesis, however they will greatly benefit from feedings. I personally feed my corals phytoplankton and zooplankton. Something important to not though, if you are not target feeding them but just doing a general dispersion in the water column, you should turn off your Protien skimmer for about half an hour while you do. Failure to turn off the skimmer will result in much of the food being skimmed off and not much benefit to the corals.

As for the NLS issue, my LPS corals take them all the time. My Frogspawn and Candy Canes especially seem to take them in frequently. Unfortunately my Foxface has become quite good at picking the NLS right out of the polyps on my Candy Canes. I can't say that I've seen any great benefit to it for the corals though.

EDIT: I don't personally use any of the food products from Brightwells but I've heard a lot of good things about it. I have however heard of a great many people switching over to the Aquavitro line of products. They seem to absolutely love them as they have had a great response from their corals.

[TowBoater]

Feeding NLS benefits corals no more than any other food you feed them. I feed my LPS cyclop-ezee, zooplex, and some frozen.

[xximanoobxx]

I would feed my corals some NLS when I set up a nano reef...
xD

[cocoa_pleco]

i just dose phytoplankton and thats it. my lunar wrasse is a aggressive eater and sprays it allover so he feeds most of my corals

[TowBoater]

do it but there are far better foods to feed them.

[Fishguy2727]

Kuli:
How long did you feed your corals NLS?
What corals?
Which NLS?

[TowBoater]

Hey fish guy..

How long have you fed your corals cyclop-ezee?

NLS is meant for fish, not corals.

[Fishguy2727]

I have fed them cyclop-eeze and DT's since I have had them.

I would like to respectfully and politely ask that at least in threads that I start that you respectfully keep your personal opinions (including objections to NLS) to factual statements and try not to allow your personal feelings to get through.

"Feeding NLS benefits corals no more than any other food you feed them."

If you have not even tried it I think this should have been worded differently. For example: 'I have seen absolutely no evidence for NLS being beneficial at all to any corals, so I stick with the tried, true, and proven methods used to get them to thrive. These include...' and then share the methods you use and recommend. The statement you made sounded lilke an absolutely true and unquestionable fact, which it is not. Until someone does a very formal and very scientific comparison between NLS and the classical coral foods, people should simply try what they think will be best and be willing to change their methods as needed. If someone tries NLS on their corals and their corals seem to do better or as good with it, then they can keep doing it and keep us posted. If they do worse then they should switch and share that experience with the rest of us.

I am really not trying to start anything, I would just like posts to be about the facts and not about our personal preferences.

[TowBoater]

Ok well I am sorry I have not spent the money to just try NLS so they can be beneficial while others on here have tried it and seen no difference. I will leave you alone seeing as I can not type things to your liking. Sorry for giving my opinion.

[Fishguy2727]

Please share your opinion and experience with us. I think you know that is not what I meant. I explained why I did not feel your post was completely appropriate and even gave an example of how it could have been different without stepping on toes. I have tried to do the same for others here, I am asking others to do the same for me. All I am asking is that you (and anyone else) try and stick to the facts and try to leave personal feelings out of it so that information and not preference is spread.

[kaybee]

...Many corals are large enough to eat certain NLS foods...It is worth a shot to see how your particular corals take to it and respond to it. If they do better, go ahead and keep feeding it. If they don't take to it then just stop. As far as I know no one has done a truly scientific comparison of the two...

Fishguy, I'm willing to put NLS to the test, because I also believe it is worth a shot (and I have the corals and food available).

I believe I've got a good 'test coral' to run the trial on: a 3-branched caulastrea (right branch has two fused-polyps/2 mouths, the center branch has 1.75-fused polyp/1 mouth, and the left branch has two fused-polyps/2 mouths). The heads of the left and right branches are similarly-sized:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a259/y2kenny19/Saltwater/caulastreabranch.jpg

I'll run a year-long trial (01 sep 08- 31 aug 09):

- feeding the left 2-headed branch one mysis per head per week,
- and the right 2-headed one 3mm NLS Large Fish Formula pellet per head per week.
- I won't feed the center branch at all; it will only be provided light.

After 12 months of doing this I'll compare skeletal growth and polyp size, as well as do a 'head count', to determine if there's any significant difference between a) mysis shrimp, b) photosynthesis-only, and c) NLS only. I'll maintain a feeding record.

The branched-calaustrea is a single 'piece' so light exposure and depth beneath the lights (T5HOs) will be identical. Being in the same tank, nutrition and growth provided by trace elements, carbonates and calcium will also be identical.

Factors which may or may not effect the end result include:

1) the potential for any of the polyps to capture 'stuff' that I have not specifically fed them, such as 'pods, nocturnal live mysid shrimp and fish cr*p; food released by other corals that water flow brings to the 'test corals'. This will provide an unknown quantity of nourishment, but I figure over a year's time each branch will more or less have obtained the same quantity of this miscellaneous 'food'.

2) there is a 1mm thick/1cm long band of 'connecting tissue' between the left branch and center branch, potentially enabling the center ('light only') branch to obtain nourishment via 'dissemination'. Unknown how much nourishment will be transferred to the center branch. This may (or may not) give a slight edge to the NLS-fed branch. I expect the left and center branches to eventually separate as skeletal growth pushes the polyps apart. When I first got the coral, all three were connected via tissue, and the skeleton wasn't developed enough for the piece to even be considered 'branched'.

3) is one 3mm NLS pellet nutrionally-equivalent to a 1.5cm-2cm mysis shrimp, or vice-versa? Time will tell, I suppose. I haven't yet figured out what to do if I should feed additional heads additional portions or just provide 2 mysis or 2 pellets per respective branch regardless of the quantity of polyps which may form prior to the conclusion of the 12 months.

It will understandably be limited non-scientific trial because I am only testing one particular coral as opposed to several corals of the same species or even multiple species, as well as testing in one tank as opposed to in several tanks. So I guess the end result will be how NLS does in my tank with the particular coral I have chosen, rather than how NLS does universally.

If there are any input or suggestions let me know. The next 'scheduled feeding' is on or about 05 sep 08.