robalv
Sun, 23rd May 2010, 11:09 AM
I found this article on Reef Central thought it would be helpful.... and no Karin I am not the author.....http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1843241
How to FEED your reef tank so that your corals will really GROW, instead of ho-hum...
With my fascination of reefs from watching tv, I have since been doing a ton of research (I knew I went to school for something!) on how to eventually have a nice reef tank. While I don't have the money to set it up yet, I do have the time to research how things actually work, and what will be needed for it. Lucky for me, a college buddy of mine was studying marine biology, and we have kept in touch ever since. He is now working with a group that is doing advanced research on coral reefs, and he was nice enough to give me some coral feeding info that they are putting together for hobbyists. He said I could post the info if I wanted, as it gets written. He also said they are trying to simplify it, to make it easier for us to understand (no complex numbers, references, researchers, etc.) So here is the first part... hopefully it will help you feed your corals, and mine too when I get some:
WHAT HAPPENS TO MOST CORALS: Reef aquariums are probably the most amazing thing you can have in your living room, and they really impress almost anybody, even if the tanks have only fake plastic corals. But reef tanks owners themselves are only impressed if they are successfully keeping real corals, which means of course, that the corals are not dying. Further, reef tank owners are even happier when their corals are actually growing and getting larger. The happiest moment for some hobbyists is when their corals are reproducing and showing up in new spots all over the aquarium where they never were before, just like corals do in the ocean.
In the real world of reef tanks, however, many corals die, or get covered with algae; they don't grow much (compared to the ocean), and hardly ever reproduce in remote spots in the aquarium (except for mushrooms, etc). If the corals grew like they did in the ocean, a three year old reef tank, started with only frags, would be packed to the glass and sticking out of the top from just the growth and reproduction of those original frags. Some hobbyists do know how to grow some corals, but they do so with lots of experience and equipment. No hobbyist, however, has been able to keep all coral types alive, much less keep them all growing and reproducing. So this info is designed to show you why this is, and maybe for the first time, to change it for the better.
CORALS NEED FOOD: If I were to tell you that I just bought a fish that lives on sunlight alone, and does not need food, you might be disappointed that someone lied to me at the fish store. But this is how many reef hobbyists think about their corals; they think that corals live on light alone, and that the corals do not need feeding. This is exactly the opposite of how it really works, and is the reason that their corals do not reproduce, grow, or even stay alive in some cases. In the ocean, there are no (zero) corals that live on sunlight alone. There are, however, corals that live on food alone, and which don't require sunlight. So, what exactly is this food that corals eat?
Corals eat PLANKTON. And the more plankton that is flowing in the water, the more that ALL the corals will grow. This is not the case with light: Corals need various amounts of light, but they will not grow more if the light increases past a certain point. With plankton, however, there really is no limit to the growth. Corals grow faster in the ocean when there is more plankton, and they grow slower when there is less. But most hobbyists have very little plankton in their tanks, if any at all, so sometimes the best they can hope for is that it's enough to keep the corals alive. Some hobbyists will mess around with the lighting, thinking it is the cause of slow growth, when actually it is just the lack of food.
WHAT PLANKTON IS: Plankton is the stuff that floats in the water. It's the stuff that looks like dust or dirt, or like little bits of trash. The bits can sometimes be so small you can't see them, or they can be as large as a pinhead. And they can be either alive or dead. The important part is, they FEED your corals. Yes, corals eat both the living AND the dead stuff that floats in the water. Here are some details on the types of plankton:
Zooplankton: These are little living animals, mostly little pods. Just remember "zoo", as in animals at the zoo. In the ocean, most of the zooplankton is copepods, which are as small as a grain of dust, or as big as the point of a pencil. Other zooplankton are rotifers and mysis. Ocean reefs are packed with zooplankton. Zooplankton is the major food of corals, and many small fish too (many baby fish eat only zooplankton).
Phytoplankton: Phyto mean "plant", and these tiny things are microscopic bits of plants that float around the top part of the ocean (about 300 feet deep, across 70 percent of the earth). They are actually algae, and they are the most important living things on the planet. They are 90 percent of all living life in the ocean (besides bacteria); they feed everything in the ocean, and they produce all the oxygen that you breath. Without phytoplankton, everything on earth would die (except maybe bacteria). Phytoplankton are so small that you cannot see even billions of them. Matter of fact, the crystal clear reefs that you think are "pure", are actually loaded with huge concentrations of phytoplankton in the water.
Detritus: Pronounced similar to "just-TRY-us". Detritus is stuff that used to be alive (zoo, phyto, fish waste, coral waste), but now is dead. Reefs have more detritus floating around than any other part of the ocean, so detritus is a major food for corals.
Bacteria: The number one life form on Earth, including in the ocean. Bacteria is very active on ocean reefs, and it feeds lots of corals, although not as much as zooplankton.
HOW FAST DO CORALS GROW IN THE OCEAN: Fast-growing branching corals, like staghorn acropora, can grow 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) per year in length. Here is a sample report:
How to FEED your reef tank so that your corals will really GROW, instead of ho-hum...
With my fascination of reefs from watching tv, I have since been doing a ton of research (I knew I went to school for something!) on how to eventually have a nice reef tank. While I don't have the money to set it up yet, I do have the time to research how things actually work, and what will be needed for it. Lucky for me, a college buddy of mine was studying marine biology, and we have kept in touch ever since. He is now working with a group that is doing advanced research on coral reefs, and he was nice enough to give me some coral feeding info that they are putting together for hobbyists. He said I could post the info if I wanted, as it gets written. He also said they are trying to simplify it, to make it easier for us to understand (no complex numbers, references, researchers, etc.) So here is the first part... hopefully it will help you feed your corals, and mine too when I get some:
WHAT HAPPENS TO MOST CORALS: Reef aquariums are probably the most amazing thing you can have in your living room, and they really impress almost anybody, even if the tanks have only fake plastic corals. But reef tanks owners themselves are only impressed if they are successfully keeping real corals, which means of course, that the corals are not dying. Further, reef tank owners are even happier when their corals are actually growing and getting larger. The happiest moment for some hobbyists is when their corals are reproducing and showing up in new spots all over the aquarium where they never were before, just like corals do in the ocean.
In the real world of reef tanks, however, many corals die, or get covered with algae; they don't grow much (compared to the ocean), and hardly ever reproduce in remote spots in the aquarium (except for mushrooms, etc). If the corals grew like they did in the ocean, a three year old reef tank, started with only frags, would be packed to the glass and sticking out of the top from just the growth and reproduction of those original frags. Some hobbyists do know how to grow some corals, but they do so with lots of experience and equipment. No hobbyist, however, has been able to keep all coral types alive, much less keep them all growing and reproducing. So this info is designed to show you why this is, and maybe for the first time, to change it for the better.
CORALS NEED FOOD: If I were to tell you that I just bought a fish that lives on sunlight alone, and does not need food, you might be disappointed that someone lied to me at the fish store. But this is how many reef hobbyists think about their corals; they think that corals live on light alone, and that the corals do not need feeding. This is exactly the opposite of how it really works, and is the reason that their corals do not reproduce, grow, or even stay alive in some cases. In the ocean, there are no (zero) corals that live on sunlight alone. There are, however, corals that live on food alone, and which don't require sunlight. So, what exactly is this food that corals eat?
Corals eat PLANKTON. And the more plankton that is flowing in the water, the more that ALL the corals will grow. This is not the case with light: Corals need various amounts of light, but they will not grow more if the light increases past a certain point. With plankton, however, there really is no limit to the growth. Corals grow faster in the ocean when there is more plankton, and they grow slower when there is less. But most hobbyists have very little plankton in their tanks, if any at all, so sometimes the best they can hope for is that it's enough to keep the corals alive. Some hobbyists will mess around with the lighting, thinking it is the cause of slow growth, when actually it is just the lack of food.
WHAT PLANKTON IS: Plankton is the stuff that floats in the water. It's the stuff that looks like dust or dirt, or like little bits of trash. The bits can sometimes be so small you can't see them, or they can be as large as a pinhead. And they can be either alive or dead. The important part is, they FEED your corals. Yes, corals eat both the living AND the dead stuff that floats in the water. Here are some details on the types of plankton:
Zooplankton: These are little living animals, mostly little pods. Just remember "zoo", as in animals at the zoo. In the ocean, most of the zooplankton is copepods, which are as small as a grain of dust, or as big as the point of a pencil. Other zooplankton are rotifers and mysis. Ocean reefs are packed with zooplankton. Zooplankton is the major food of corals, and many small fish too (many baby fish eat only zooplankton).
Phytoplankton: Phyto mean "plant", and these tiny things are microscopic bits of plants that float around the top part of the ocean (about 300 feet deep, across 70 percent of the earth). They are actually algae, and they are the most important living things on the planet. They are 90 percent of all living life in the ocean (besides bacteria); they feed everything in the ocean, and they produce all the oxygen that you breath. Without phytoplankton, everything on earth would die (except maybe bacteria). Phytoplankton are so small that you cannot see even billions of them. Matter of fact, the crystal clear reefs that you think are "pure", are actually loaded with huge concentrations of phytoplankton in the water.
Detritus: Pronounced similar to "just-TRY-us". Detritus is stuff that used to be alive (zoo, phyto, fish waste, coral waste), but now is dead. Reefs have more detritus floating around than any other part of the ocean, so detritus is a major food for corals.
Bacteria: The number one life form on Earth, including in the ocean. Bacteria is very active on ocean reefs, and it feeds lots of corals, although not as much as zooplankton.
HOW FAST DO CORALS GROW IN THE OCEAN: Fast-growing branching corals, like staghorn acropora, can grow 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) per year in length. Here is a sample report: