[sihaya]

Ok, so I've been getting a little heat from some "sps" keepers who don't like that I seem to be suggesting that "sps" corals need to be intentially fed. Well, I do think they they need to be fed, but I also understand the controversy. So, I changed the "feeding" notes for the "sps" corals to say this....

These corals have small polyps and poor prey capture ability. They consume foods of very small particle size (such as oyster eggs and possibly baby brine shrimp). In a well fed tank with a variety of food, additional feeding might not be necessary.

So, what do you guys think? Does this seem fair?

Thanks

(And I can't believe I misspelled "input" in the title... can that be fixed? )

[Poseidon]

Sara I like your original better. I was actually going to mention this part though, "have small polyps and poor prey capture ability". I believe that for the prey SPS are targeting they are very effective. If you are a tiny little oyster egg, or other micro organism floating on the current, all of these little mouths protuding into your path probably look pretty menacing...



Granted SPS are not going to feast on larger copepods or amphipods like Blastomussa or dendrophyllia do, but I am quite sure they capture a fair amount of prey.

Oh, can you tell that I am in the camp of believing SPS need to be fed? I have tried it both ways, and the growth and color of my tank is at least 10X what it was prior to feeding!

[sihaya]

Dude, I totally agree and I feed my tanks like crazy... but I guess I'm trying to be a little bipartisan here. And there are a lot of people who don't feed their sps anything more than what they feed the tank as a whole.

Remember, the care sheets are intended to be used by stores, so they need to be relatively well-rounded and nonpartisan. At the same time, I'm not going to say something that's out-right wrong just to avoid controversary. But I am trying to be "fair" to different perspectives/experiences. You see what I'm saying?

[zhenya]

I feed my tanks as well but you have to understand that it is a constant struggle to keep water pristine as well as keeping nutrients available for the corals. Actively capturing prey, or directly absorbing it via tissues, corals will get their nitrogen fix,so for the aquarist that had to battle algal infestations it means that feeding less is optimal solution.

Mike, not all of those polyps are there to capture food...

[sihaya]

Yep... thanks Gene.

I'm also getting a lot of suggestions that I change my lighting scale to reflect PAR values. Wow, I have no idea how to go about that one. Anyone want to take a stab at that?

[Poseidon]

Yup, I got it! I understand what you are intending, and I can see why you have to be "oatmeal", everyone understands it.

Not to create more work, but how about a tiered approach? Seachem uses that principle for there dosage, have you ever read their Ca additive instruction sheet?

As for creating PAR values, that is where Sanjay comes in, I say! Have you contacted him, and asked if you can link to his database, or better yet incorporate his plotting table into your lighting section. Of course you would have to give him all kinds of mad props to pull that off!

You can also rate lighting by intensity as you see it, as long as you state something like "ASIRA rates lighting instensity as:

1) NO (Normal output)
2) VHO / PC
3) T5
4) Halide....

Etc... Etc...

Just throwing something out there for you.

[sihaya]

I have tried contacting Sanjay... no luck. I think he's probably too busy. But I'm honestly not sure if I can rely entirely on his data. He only tests one bulb on each of the set ups and it's just generally kind of limited. Don't get me wrong, he did a lot of great work, I just think I'd need something more. Then again, what he has is still a heck of a lot more than what I currently have. I'm talking to Tim Hayes about it and I think he'll definitely be able to help me.

My trouble is also trying to gauge what a *newbie* is going to be able to grasp... it's really quite a challange.

[zhenya]

Just in case, if questions about feeding sps corals comes up again, you can use this images to illustrate feeding response from sps corals when tank is fed....

[sihaya]

wow! cool photos!!

[Poseidon]

Yay! Gene, those are AWESOME! I was going to do that when I came home from work today, but I am still not feeling up to it... Darn cold won't GO AWAY!