Zoo, Phyto, or Snow? Which food feeds corals the best?

bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Well i have a variety of genuses of corals. Soft,lps,sps, and corralinomorphs(which some will say are inverts and i think they are personally). I've been using kents phytoplankton but recently was reading through Bornemans, Aquarium Corals and read the section on the three types of micro foods from the title.
I've noticed that i don't have to feed anything in my tank directly, meaning the brain, the euphylias i have(hammers), and the caulastrea(candycane). At the same time Borneman says that these same corals are carnivorous and would do well on Zooplankton and Marine Snow rather than phytoplankton. I have quite a few sps and he also said they would benefit better from zoo and snow rather than phyto.
With that said i've noticed that once my kenya tree coral rooted itself it expands greatly. I've even fragged it 2 weeks ago and it seems to already have grown that part back.... I'm sure it benefits the most from the phyto i add as well as the gsp too? I have some xenia too which feeds on????
As far as sps i have porites, seriatopora, an acro, montipora digitata and capricornus. I have noticed they expand very well when the lights come on, the acro not so much. I've noticed he opens the most at night with much larger tentacles on his tips.
And what tank wouldn't be complete without some shrooms.
Well to my question i guess. Im running out of my first bottle of phyto and will need to buy one of the three in the near future. I was considering buying one of each and just mixing them together into a micro mush to feed 3 times a week to the water column. Is that best? Is what Borneman says in the book acurate or just a vauge generalizations he makes? What time would be best? I've always done day time but would adding the stuff to the water at night change things? I guess this one is for all you 1k+ club people who have been doing this for a while. Me being a newcomer to said club :)
 
sammystingray

sammystingray

Active Member
Especially with zooplankton, there's more to it....particle size depends on each creatures prefered zoo size......anyways, Kents phyto is dead shelf stuff, your better off just cleaning the glass IMO...try DTs instead...it is live phyto you keep in the fridge, and I suggest smaller bottles because more frequent buying will probably give you more live phyto...they do expire. I feed zoo of various particle size and phyto....that's the way to go IMO. Zooplankton of a certain size might be loved by one coral, but another coral that eats zoo might not be able to even eat that size particle.....a cpepod might be loved by one, but too large for another. Don't forget the things on the rocks you didn't even buy need food to live as well.....definately go with a variety so EVERYTHING can eat, but be careful not to overfeed. Just my thoughts.
 
sammystingray

sammystingray

Active Member
Also, IMO, have to have a good understanding of what you tank is producing itself to decide what needs to be added..tanks produce zooplankton and phytoplankton on their own....you should study your tank and decide what the tank itself is adding.....much better to have the tank produce the stuff itself.....couldn't be fresher.:) New tanks with corals usually will need more external foods than old tanks producing more of their own.
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Phytoplex is dead. I understand that. I worry about using DT's due to the fact that it is live and that my tanks are relatively small. I could never use a full bottle within the lifeframe of the DT's. I never thought of actually feeding the little things in my tank. I always assumed they could find their own food sources within the rock in each tank. My 12 now being a year old produces lots of pods. I found so many of them in my filter pad last time i changed it.
My 20, 7 months, on the other hand does not produce so many yet but there are "other" tiny organisms in there that i haven't bothered to try and look up what they are yet. They look like tiny tadpoles maybe a millimeter in size or smaler....
Im sure waste put off by the other corals is used as food. I've seen my brain expell zooxanthalae before and when he does my fish hang out by his mouth for a bit waiting for the expulsions....
Ill have to take what you said into consideration Sammy, i didn't look at things like that.
BTW i will agree with you about the phyto and wiping the glass part. I always get a film of green diatoms on the front of my glass when i put phyto in the tank.
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Sammy do you recommend a zoo or marine snow brand? I have never shopped for one before. I was thinking microvert by kent...
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Phyto farm? You mean a tank that cultures exclusively phyto plankton? Like a refugium for micro algae? Hmmm. Sounds like a challenge. If i understand it you need to have cold water? Among other things. Try farming brine. Much easier....
 
krishj39

krishj39

Active Member
Before you guys go out and start phyto farms, make sure you read the info posted at DT's website. It says it is very hard to keep a pure culture of phytoplankton and that most people end up culturing microalgae instead that is suspended in the water. However, since it looks like phyto, they keep culturing it, not knowing all they are doing is adding algae to their tank. Also, it says they are now using a mix of three kinds of phyto which are not compatible for starting a phytotank. I don't know why, but he says you can't use DT's any more to even try to start a phytotank since the three varieties of plankton compete with each other. Anyway, give it a read.
 
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