I've noticed that my SPS frags all have much better polyp extension after lights out. Based on this, I was wondering if it would be better to do any feeding for these corals during the night time? I have been trying different corals foods, and just thought that if they seem to be hunting with polyps more at night that maybe it would make better sense to feed them at night. I'm even thinking of getting an automatic feeder and setting it up to drop a bit of powdered coral food (Zoaplan, Phytoplan, dried cyclopeeze, or other food of this type) into the area my return pump is at night, so that it would be mixed up and pushed up into the tank.

Has anyone tried night feeding versus day feeding? Does anyone feed their SPS or other small polyped corals at all?

I've gotta say, I almost never feed corals during the day. I'll do a mixture of phyto-plex, home grown nanocloropsis, the coral food mix from premier (contains all sorts of goodies, and is frozen in phyto, not water), rotifers, cyclopeze, masago, and tobiko. I do that about every night, and I'll put enough in to cloud the entire tank. And not only the corals go nuts and puff up, but some of your fish and inverts will join in the feeding frenzy. I've always found it best to feed about 2 hrs. after lights out.

I may have to adjust my lights a bit, as my last actinics go out at 11:30 at night, and it's pretty late to wait up until 1:30 to feed everything. Which is why I may try a mixture of dry food if possible for the nights I'm not here or willing to wait up with an automatic feeder over my sump chamber with the return pump.

well just remember that the dry stuff floats, and can make one hell of a mess

Yeah, that's what I'm trying to come up with an answer to, either a little chamber with a powerhead that will help mix it up, or some other way to keep it from floating into a mess in the sump. I'll probably play around a bit and see what I can come up with. If I could find some liquid food that didn't need to be refrigerated I could use an Aqualifter pump I have to just dose in a little on a timer. The Aqualifter doesn't pump very fast, so a few minutes on an electronic timer would be just about right. And this would be cheaper to try, since I already have an Aqualifter that I'm not using.

Anyone know of a good liquid coral food that I could use? Something that isn't going to go bad if it's not refrigerated. I'd probably put it in a container with a small powerhead to stir it up before the aqualifter kicks in, so it wouldn't settle out too badly. After listening to Ron Shimek talk about corals really being adapted to thrive on a continuous supply of low quality food, I'm tempted to try it with some of the marine snow, and other of this type of food and then have it dose it in every few hours all night long. Wonder if any of the bottled Brightwell Aquatics food I saw the other day at Premier would work? Didn't read on the bottle if it needed to be refrigerated after opening. And I probably wouldn't put more than 3 or 4 days worth in the doser at once, since I don't want to risk it going crazy and dumping too much in the tank, or it going bad while sitting there.

hey lee, pm sent.

Richard,

This might be a dumb question, but I'll ask anyway . . . is the Masago / Tobiko you feed the tank the same as the stuff they serve at Sushi restaurants? Where do you buy it?

Also, how do you make Nanocloropsis?

Your coral is spoiled :)

Kimberly

Since Richard is too busy playing at the OK Aquarium right now, I'll answer for him.

Masago/Tobiko:
I'm not a sushi fan, so couldn't even begin to tell you if the roe is the same as you might get at a restaurant. However, it's readily available at places like Nam Hai Market at 21st and Garnett. I've fed this stuff many times and am amazed at how how previously sleeping fish are instantly darting around the tank trying to snag as many eggs as they can. The coral polyp extension is unbelievable, too.

Nanochloropsis:
I think this was started from a culture he brought home from the Aquarium. We cultivate our own culture and usually have a couple gallons bubbling all the time. Right now, the fridge is full of the stuff, so be ready for it at Saturday's meeting. We've also cultivated nonochloris with great success. Once, we even started a culture of DT's. Nice stuff, but we had a culture crash and just never repeated it. I think we're planning on having a phyto culturing meeting here at our house sometime this year. It's just about stupid-simple, so even I can do it.

what he said...