Hi Adam,

I was curious about your thoughts on the addition of a "probiotic" to the mixture, some sort of lactobacillus I guess. I know of at least one new commercially prepared food that adds this, but their quoted benefit is that the food becomes less polluting. I'm more interested in feeding corals (who are heavy bacteria feeders) and repopulating the intestinal flora of tangs and such...


Any thoughts?

Neil

Hey Neil,
Tough question. I'm not in favor of adding it. Why? Because I don't know what it will do.
I think... for some reason... that the mix of foods put in will do the trick. Our tanks, all of them, yours mine and everywhere in Tulsa, are very high in nutrients when compared to the reefs. Our tanks are by no means clean. There is plenty of foods for bacteria and therefore (I believe) enough bacterial food for corals. It would be unimaginable to me to think of a captive home tank that is low in nutrients.

Side note- I think you'd be better to add more live zooplankton to your tank if you have the desire to more diretly feed your corals.

Adam