what to feed ?

[perren]

i have a feather duster worm in my reef tank does it need to extra feeding i use sea water from the napier aquirium for my water changes does this contain plankton ? if i do need to feed can someone tell what food to use?

[Fmxmatt]

Doesn't require any specific feeding. Usually when you have them it indicates ur already feeding enough/too much. I find they spring up in my tank all the time if I do heavy feeding, and will die off if I use more restraint.

[tHEcONCH]

Unless you are talking about those big ones which are available to buy from time-to-time, in which case yes, feed it with meaty foods.

Here's a link burgled from that other site:

http://www.dtplankton.com/articles/filterfood.html

[perren]

YES I,AM TALKING ABOUT THE LARGE VARIETY SO HOW DO I GO ABOUT FEEDING THEM.

THANKS PERREN

[tHEcONCH]

Only the finest particles, phytoplankton and fine, very small, bacterial aggregates, make it to the bottom of the food groove. These particles are conveyed directly to the mouth where they are eaten. It is important to realize that the worm eats food based only on two things. First, the particles must have the correct density so that they will flow in the water currents in such a way as to impact the surface and stick there. Second, the particles must be the correct size to allow them sink to the bottom of the food groove. If they are too small, they likely will not have enough mass to even impact the mucus with enough force to stick. If they are too large, they are either simply rejected, or used to reinforce the tube. Only if their sizes are, as Goldilocks, said, “Just right,†will they be eaten.

The animal makes not overt choices in what it feeds upon. It neither tastes nor sees its food. However, it uses a sophisticated piece of organic machinery to catch and sort small particulate materials that are about the same size as an average piece of phytoplankton. In fact, the crown of a feather duster worm is well designed to be a phytoplankton trap. To thrive, these animals need plenty of phytoplankton in their water to feed upon, for that is all they normally feed on, and indeed, it is all they normally have as food.

Hmmm.. so I'd suggest turning the pumps off for half an hour and using a syringe or Turkey Baster to gently squirt something like ReefRoids (expensive, but a lifetime supply for your worm) into the duster.

You might also leave the pumps on but skimmer off and clean you glass with a magnetic cleaner which will introduce lots of fine bacteria etc into the water for it to catch. I get all sorts of critters coming out to play when I do that

[tHEcONCH]

You might also get away with crushing up flake or fish pellet food and wafting that over it

[reef]

Best to feed dried phyto food like reef roids and other dried coral foods,

Waste of time feeding live phyto plankton as it can pollute your tank as it can container fertiliser which is used to grow the plankton. good maybe to feed it every few months. phyto does not last long and you have to get fresh stock ever two weeks or so. You could grow your own but again takes lots of work to maintain.

I would feed it if it would improve my corals but after using it i noticed nothing except more nutrients in my tank so i stopped.

The dried food is more than enough to keep them alive.

Make sure the feather duster gets lots of current. Try stirring you sand up so it can feed from the particles, works well.

Feather duster wont eat flake food, too big.

[markoshark]

Make sure the feather duster gets lots of current. Try stirring you sand up so it can feed from the particles, works well.

Its a pain keeping my sandbed clean, but my LPSes love it, esp. the calaustrea

[reef]

I find if you stir the sand weekly it will stay clean, tank goes cloudy , but the next day the water looks crystal clear.

If you sand gets really dirty it means you have too may nutrients.

[OCEANDOSE]

Waste of time feeding live phyto plankton.

Ohh and theres the quote of the year from Dr Reef :roll:

I would feed it if it would improve my corals but after using it i noticed nothing except more nutrients in my tank so i stopped.

I take it this was your phyto you were trying to culture a while back, if you know what your doing you wont have any excess nutrients in the culture.

In saying that, if you hadn't noticed any positive changes within a couple weeks of dosing something else is very wrong. Your welcome to try some real phyto if you want

Perren, phytoplankton is the bottom of the oceans foodchain.

featherdusters and many other organisms rely on phyto for food, anything larger than a few microns will be discarded and not eaten. To date no-one has created a preserved/dried phyto product that is as benefical to a reef tank as live phyto. Using phyto will have your feather dusters population increase as well as many other small pod's ect micofauna, the list goes on.....

[Fmxmatt]

How bout we dont start a flame out of this topic aye?

[puttputt]

Hardly a flame out, 2 sides to every story. People are allowed to disagree, even with the demi god Reef!

I dose live phyto, people can come and look at my tank and make up there own minds.

Tube worms, clams, softies, gorgonians, and even the sps look better after a good dose. There has been no increase in nutrients, in fact nutrients are very low, and phyto helps this.

Would not continually dose it, but do dose monthly for about a week.

[candy]

We have just started to dose this aswell. So far seen small improvements in the tube worms and softy corals.

And if anything we are having less nutriance problems then before but this could be from a number of factors.

Each to their own I guess

[reef]

take it this was your phyto you were trying to culture a while back, if you know what your doing you wont have any excess nutrients in the culture

I have cultured phyto about 5 years ago to breed fish, not dose my tank.

I have dose the DT products and pure phyton from Niwa. Maybe they dont know what they are doing.

Phyto Plankton can be overdosed and even though it is alive can cause nutrient problems due to the fertilisers used to grow them and the some even have copper in them. All suplus Phyto not used has to go somewhere .

As yet i have not seen any far better benefical results for corals than the dried stuff.

I quess if we see photos of your tank the corals will be spectacular compared to a tank not using Plankton. Many SPS corals dont use it. would be interesting to see how leather corals use it as they use desolved organics.

Yes plankton is the foodchain for the oceans, however so is po4, ammonium, nitrate etc, we see what happens when they get high in a close system. the same is with plankton.

Feather feathers will do fine with dried foods coral foods and stirring the sand, seems better than buying a new phyto culture every few weeks as it has a limited life unless you got lots of time to feed it and keep it pure.

[OCEANDOSE]

Sorry to hijack this thread by the way

Fact is that Phyto Plankton can be overdosed and even though it is alive can cause nutrient problems due to the fertilisers used to grow them and the some even have copper in them..

Yes you can overdose everything, but we are talking about feeding your tank, not puring gallons and gallons of plankton in every day(which is what it would take).

And yes again the fertilisers do contain copper(the good ones anyway), copper is present in the ocean at 0.0009 PPM, your instant salt mix also has copper in it wether it has been added or is an impurity, its there!!

proof already shows that in a closed system you dont need it other than a treat as many SPS corals dont use it. would be interesting to see how leather corals use it as they use desolved organics.

Yes the majority of corals get by and some do well, but there is a difference between getting by and flourishing. Why do you think it is that goniopera's and gorgonians dont last all that long?. As far as leathers and sponges go, they are filter feeders and will take what evers on offer....being phyto, bacteria or DOC's, which is why they thrieve and often outgrow most tanks.....think about it, apart from a healthy Tonga leather most are a pink/brown dull color.....try feeding phyto and see what happens when there is some nutritional value in the food.

As far as SPS goes, it isn't yet proved that they use phyto, but yet when they are cut open, phyto is found in there stomach's. As i said a few weeks back, the polyp ext you get on all SPS once phyto has been added to the tank is outstanding.......why is this?????

Yes plankton is the foodchain for the oceans, however so is po4, ammonium, nitrate etc, we see what happens when they get high in a close system. the same is with plankton.

PO4, ammonia and nitrate are nutrients that phytoplankton uses to start the foodchain, these nutrients dont get too high in nature because there is plankton to control this!!

However you are right, phyto isn't needed by the majority of corals, but its the difference between baked beans and a 3 course roast dinner!!

[tangtastic]

Been dosing 500ml per day into two 750 litre tanks (would dose more if I had more) for at least a month.

NO negative effects to date unless you call improved coral growth and a massive increase in micro fauna a bad thing. Even noticed a decrease in cyno .

If you can get/grow phytoplankton then it would be the best first choice food for feather dusters. If not then go with a quality food that is suitable for feeding them.

[reef]

Yes the majority of corals get by and some do well, but there is a difference between getting by and flourishing. Why do you think it is that goniopera's and gorgonians dont last all that long?.

my gonioperas have been going for 3 years without phyto.

I dont know what florishing corals is? Must be something wrong with my tank.

Pitty you just started keeping marines oceandose, as i covered a few years ago that goniopores need iron. That is why dosing reef solution helps keeps them alive.

As i said a few weeks back, the polyp ext you get on all SPS once phyto has been added to the tank is outstanding.......why is this?????

That is because they are being bombarded with small particles, you get the same thing when add any other foods or stir the sand.

Something you observe once you keep marines for many years.

However you are right, phyto isn't needed by the majority of corals, but its the difference between baked beans and a 3 course roast dinner!!

Well show us you tank to see how my baked beans corals look better than your roast dinner corals?

[reef]

Yes the majority of corals get by and some do well, but there is a difference between getting by and flourishing

Photos of baked bean tank and none flourishing corals

[Julie]

Reef what brand are your baked beans, watties?, budget?, as I would be more than happy to buy the same brand as your "baked beans". Do you also fill the co2 bottle with the baked bean gasses.

[wasp]

Please not the baked beans gasses!

Lot's of hot air already! :lol:

[reef]

Reef what brand are your baked beans, watties?, budget?,

From China

oh and some information.

THE USE OF PHYTOPLANKTON - I am sure like many of you, when I first started out, the store shoved a bottle of phytoplankton at me and said I would need it to feed my corals. Of course years later, I find out that corals do not actualy consume phytoplankton, they may inadvertantly capture it, but will soon reject it.

Despite their rapid response to elevated nutrients, phytoplankton are not particularly important primary producers, by themselves, in terms of efficiency. The reason they are so important on a regional or global scale is simply by virtue of the fact that the upper 200m of oceanic waters is filled with phytoplankton and covers over 70% of the earth's surface

Psuedo-phytoplankton" is probably available in tanks in significant amounts when substrate associated algae are put into circulation by strong water flow or during tank glass scraping

In fact, Fabricius (unpublished data) found that an inability to feed on zooplankton was widespread amongst zooxanthellate soft coral genera on the Great Barrier Reef (i.e. three species of Sarcophyton, two species of Sinularia, Cladiella sp., Nephthea sp. and Paralemnalia sp.). The role that zooplankton play in the nutrition of photosynthetic octocorals is, as yet, unclear but new information is showing that they contribute only a small portion to the nutritional budget of many octocorals (Fabricius et al., 1995a and b).

[wasp]

In fact, Fabricius (unpublished data) found that an inability to feed on zooplankton was widespread amongst zooxanthellate soft coral genera on the Great Barrier Reef

Was that zooplankton, or phytoplankton in particular?

[reef]

It was zooplankton in this case, however

Interestingly, research indicates that the scleractinian corals rejected algae and other plant material. Research indicated that even if plant material was ingested it was not digested and regurgitated. This has interesting implications for the hobbyists since it could lead to the conclusion that "green water" or phytoplankton may not be a suitable food for hermatypic scleractinian corals.

[markoshark]

Do you think there are any short term benefits to dosing phyto, ie, feeding of pods?

[reef]

Sure their will be some indirect benefits to these corals from the increase in other microfauna resulting from the feeding of the phytoplankton.

Like anything in marine keeping, Balance.

I use a variety of coral foods and dont overdo it.

We have closed ecosystems so too much of a good thing can be bad.