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Psalm104:24-25

Need Feeding and Coral Input

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Psalm104:24-25
, 08-20-2011 at 12:48 AM (4083 Views)
One of these days I'm going to go all out and post pictures and videos of my tank, but today is not that day I have a few random questions to ask and would appreciate any accurate input. Unfortunately, some of these questions are rather long-winded, but as we all know, it's fun to talk about saltwater tanks and going off on random tangents is really just part of the hobby when you truly love it. As for the questions pertaining to the title of this post, here they are:

1) How much should I feed my freakin fish? Excuse the rashness, but I'm kind of frustrated as to how much food is the right amount. I've read conflicting statements on various websites and I've also heard many different methods. Maybe there is no definite rule or answer, but I at least wanted to throw it out there and ask. For background info, 3 months ago I upgraded from a 75 gallon to a 175 gallon bow front. Like I said, pictures and what not are coming later, but just to get an idea of the livestock....

Corals : big and small, SPS frags, softies, LPS, zoanthids, mushrooms.
Inverts: Rose bubble anemone, coral banded shrimp, peppermint shrimp, cleaner shrimp, snails, conch, crabs, serpent sea star
11 Fish: Sailfin tang (biggest fish-about 5 or 6 inches), Yellow Eye Kole Tang, 2 Green Chromis, 2 False Percula Clownfish, Coral Beauty, Cleaner Wrasse, Longnose Butterflyfish, Longnose Hawkfish, Six Line Wrasse

Back to the question. How much should I feed on a day-to-day basis? I'm fond of the cubes. I'm sure some of y'all have heard of the brand names. Emerald Entree, Angel and Butterfly, Marine Cuisine, Omega, Spirulina and Mysis Shrimp. Right now I'm feeding 2 cubes twice a day. A veggie clip or clam every day. I suppose it's working well, but I am going off for college and have to "hand-off" the tank to my mother. I want to do as little water changes as possible since I won't be around, and they're also kind of a pain. I've heard the whole spiel about "you can't overfeed your fish, but you can overfeed your tank". I understand the concept, but if anyone has any expertise about what to feed 11 fish I'd be grateful. I don't want skinny starving fish, but I also don't want a ton of nitrates since i won't be doing many water changes and I don't have a reliable way to test for nitrates other than those basic testing kits. I've heard of people on the internet going 6 months without a water change but I also know of people who do water changes every week. My LFS suggested 2 cubes a day instead of 4 and a veggie clip every other day instead of every day. What do y'all think? And what about DT's?

2) When is reef addicts gonna get it's very own app for iPad?

3) What's a good looking "tree" coral that doesn't sprout little frags all over the place? I have some pulsing xenia, which I like, but I'm looking for another "tree-looking" type coral that basically just grows bigger like a toadstool mushroom. A long time ago I had a kenya tree, and all it did was make tiny little kenya trees ALL over the place. You get the point, that's not what I'm looking for. Maybe there isn't an answer to this question, idk. Answers along with pictures would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading and for any help. I figured if there was any place to ask random unrelated questions, it would be on this site. Sorry, I know this post is a lot of reading without any pictures.

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Tags: coral, feeding
Categories
‎ Random Thoughts , ‎ Feeding , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. Blown76mav's Avatar
    I'm sure your gonna get a lot of different answers on here as well, I think we need a little more info on the tank itself before we can give ya a somewhat close answer. How big of a skimmer do you have? Clean-up crew? Do the fish eat all four cube or is there a lot left over floating around in the water column? What are you getting for readings on your test kits? (you are testing aren't you?)

    My thought are if ya feed heavy, then you need to skim heavy. I personally skim heavy, and do a 3 gallon a day water change. Started this 90 days ago and the corals all look better, Nitrates are at 0, P04 is 0 as well. I feed heavy with my own homemade food.
  2. Myhahockeykid's Avatar
    For the coral, go with sinularia. I personally love the neon green version, but it can be a bit tricky to find. Here's a picture off the web of it

    It doesnt drop branches like kenya tree
  3. matt_longview's Avatar
    Double the sinularia suggestion. I was going to suggest the same thing. As far as feeding goes, it depends on your tank. If never trust any advise given on that subject until someone knows your equipment and system very well.

    If you are running a small hob skimmer you obviously would have to feed less than if you are running a huge skimmer and bio pellets...
  4. melev's Avatar
    A colt coral is another pretty coral that doesn't drop babies. I had one that grew massive in my 29g. Sinularias and acroporas are a bad mix.

    For feeding, two cubes a day is plenty. If you like to feed twice daily, make it one cube per session so the fish get to eat more often instead of only once a day (5 minutes out of 1440 is kind of rude, to me anyway).

    Half a sheet of nori every other day will keep the tangs happy, and your other fish will eat any bits of nori that floats off. Don't worry about the inverts or anemones. They don't need it.

    A monthly water change would be wise. 25% monthly is best.

    Apps?! It's one of those "I'd love to...", but I need someone that wants to do it. I don't know how personally, nor do I have the time.
  5. Psalm104:24-25's Avatar
    Thanks for the responses.

    @Blown-My skimmer is a big in sump reef octopus which I like. With college student funding I have the cheapest testing kit at my LFS. (API I think, which doesn't even test phosphates) All parameters are seem good, but that's going off of a color chart :/ Got about 40-50 scarlet reef and blue leg crabs. 1 fighting conch. 1 serpent sea star. About 40-50 snails (big turbos, Nassarius, cerith, astrea). I do skim heavy, but I cannot do a water change every day since I am a few states away at college and I can't ask that of my mother.

    @hockey kid, @matt- love the Sinularia suggestion if I can find one that looks like the picture. My choices are limited where I live right now.

    @melev-why are sinularias and acroporas a bad mix? I did like that colt coral in your 29g. A monthly water change doesn't seem too bad. I knew 4 years ago when I got into the hobby I'd have to do them to have a good lookin tank, but to be honest, it's my least favorite thing to do since I don't have a top-off system or a good saltwater mixing station. I'll take ur advice and go with 2 cubes and veggie clip every other day. It doesn't seem like much but I've heard their stomachs are only about as big as their eye so....we'll see. I was half-serious about the app question. Just throwing that out there. If anybody could make it happen, I think that'd be you.
  6. melev's Avatar
    Sinularia (at least specific to that species) are toxic to SPS and some Acropora sp. may die while others refuse to grow. It's a big no-no in a reef tank. Even without direct contact, the chemical warfare (alleopathy) in the water is enough to affect another coral elsewhere.

    I have a few App ideas actually, but was thinking for the iPhone instead of the iPad. But ideas don't program themselves.
  7. matt_longview's Avatar
    Is there a coral compatibility list flaring around anywhere?
  8. melev's Avatar
    Not that I'm specifically aware of. There are general rules, but this one particular species mentioned above is definitely one to think about before adding it to an SPS system.

    I know one guy that loved his Sinularia so he put it in the sump's return section so he could enjoy it. Still losing corals, he didn't realize for a while that the sinularia's 'flavor' was being pumped directly into his reef 24 hours a day. Whoops.
  9. a whiff of grapeshot's Avatar
    When it comes to feeding, what I do for my 40 gal. is I only feed one quarter of a cube a day. I think its better to feed them less without overfeeding the tank (unless you want nuisance algae). Less is better than too much.
    As for the Kenya trees, they work well in my tank though I have to prune it back a lot.