Cali Kid Corals

Roti-Feast

dzhuo

dzhuo

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I have a few SPS that looks pale and the general conclusion I got from the guys in RC is that my tank is too clean and that I need to feed heavier. I have since got myself a bottle of Roti-Feast and have been feeding daily for a couple of weeks now. I have not notice any significant difference from the overall apparent of my tank or the corals yet but I checked the instruction on the bottle again and it seems like I am feeding a lot less that it's recommended. The recommended dosage is 2.5 teaspoons per 100G of water. My tank is roughly 150g + 40g and I am only properly feeding 1/5 of the recommended. I did however notice my phosphate has rose from 0.00 to 0.02 (Hana Checker) during the feeding. Should I continue to feed more even though I haven't notice any difference yet? Maybe 2 weeks are too short to draw conclusion? What are people's experience and thoughts on Roti-Feast?
 
Cool. I will continue to feed on a nightly basis. I will try increase the dosage a little bit too but I am a little concern about the phosphate raise. Nothing definite that the raise is from the Roti-Feast but this is the only change that could have explain the raise. Since my corals have not been affected by the phosphate one way or the other, I think it's safe to continue feeding. Have you gets notice a raise in phosphate after using this product? When (roughly) should I expect a change?
 
Thx Dave! I will try to add more fish this weekend and continue to feed Roti-Feast. Hopefully phosphate doesn't continue to go up.
 
The phosphate should handle itself if you keep feeding on a regular scheduled. I'm thinking it's just a mini cycle due to your tank being so sterile before.
 
Or hopefully a testing error since I notice there is still a tiny amount of power even after 3 minutes count down from the Hanna Checker.
 
Take what you read in that forum with a grain of salt, heck in any forum for that matter. There are several people that know what they are talking about in there but plenty more that have no friggin clue but to repeat bad information they have read before. Be suspicious if people give a quick easy "dump it in" answer without probing questions.

Here are some of my questions for you:

1) how long has your tank been running?
2) what do you use to supplement KH, Ca and MG (i.e. dosing pumps, Ca reactor)?
3) how often do you do a water change?
4) Are you running GFO?
5) How many fish do you have?
6) any recent changes to lighting (bulbs recently changed etc)

Probably will think of more in a little bit
 
When checking for phosphate after feeding, did you by chance use water from the surface?
Various floating oils and things could easily throw off the measurement.

Another question:
Any details on polyp extension? Changes after feeding?
 
Hi Bryan,
Most of the questions you asked is on the thread in RC but I will answer them here again to save everyone time.

1. About 6 months.
2. Using BRS dosing pump with BRS 2-parts.
3. Every 2 weeks. 20G on a 170G (total).
4. Running GFO and ROX .8 all the time aggressively. Changing every 2 weeks per water change.
5. 10 fish and they are:

- 1 Pseudanthias bartlettorum (aka Bartlett's Anthias).
- 8 Chrysiptera parasema (aka Yellowtail Damselfish).
- 1 Valenciennea puellaris (aka Diamond Watchman Goby).

6. No recent change to lighting. Always running 2 250W Radium with BlueWave. 6 hours a day.

Let me know if you think of anything else and params are in the RC thread and my full system profile:

1. ATB 840.
2. BRS reactor with GFO + ROX .8 24x7 (fairly aggressively changing every 2 to 3 weeks).
3. Filter socks but only 2 days at most after water change.
4. Eheim 1260 return.
5. ATO with RKL. Kalk dripping.
6. SpectraPure RO/DI with silica buster resin.
7. SeaChem Reef Salt and recently switched to IO.
8. Fuge with a little bit of macro growing with 3 hours of photo period.
9. 2 Tunze 6105 and 1 6055 for flow.

Last night's param:

1. Alk: 7.8 (Salifter)
2. Cal: 425 (Salifer)
3. Mag: 1350 (Salifer)
4. pH: 8.16 (RKL pH probe)
5. Temp: 79F (RKL Temp probe)
6. Phosphate: 0.01 (Hana Checker)
 
Roti feast is a great primary food source for Acroporas and most other corals, the particle size is right in the range of what an Acro can consume completely and it is a nutrient packed feed.

AFA lack of PE and pale colors a number of things can come into play.

It's not just a coral, it is an animal with plant cells residing in it. In order for the coral to have a stable healthy zooxanthellae population the coral needs to produce enough sugar to host a healthy population. If the coral is lacking in available nutrients then bleaching can occur even in moderate lighting, I've experienced it myself. Take plants for example, if you place a plant in soil that is lacking in nitrogen, phosphate, iron or other food sources, it becomes pale, grows slow and will not acclimate to higher light levels. It is a similar situation with corals, the flip side being browned out corals that have a very dense zooxanthellae population due to too many nutrients.
 
Ok so first thing I will say is if you think your nutrients are too low, you shouldn't be running GFO. For that matter, not sure that it even makes much sense on a tank as young as yours.

running to a meeting will chime in a bit more later.
 
Hi Mark,
I normally check phosphate during weekend before feeding and I take the reading from the surface and mid water. Someone asked Randy when would be a good time to check for phosphate (like before or after feeding or before or after lights out, etc) and Randy said none of those will actually matter because the way phosphate and how our test kits work, there is not a direct correlation when phosphate will be higher or lower during any of these events. Basically it's a false assumption that phosphate will be higher immediately after feeding. Bottom line: Don't worry about time of day for phosphate according to Randy.

As for polyp extension... I am actually not sure. I normally feed 1 hour after lights out (there is a study that most corals fully extend their feeding tentacles after 70 minutes of darkness in their natural habitat) and went to bed. So I have no idea if there is any feeding respond. So far, I have not notice any significant difference one way or the other aside from the fact that my Hana Check now register anything but 0.00. The frag that I am most concern about is the blue milli. It shows intensive blue and lose almost all it's brown. The skeleton also seems to out grow the skin and the frag is basically "dry out". I know this is not a good description but that's about as accurate as I can say it. It's not STN or RTN; at least it doesn't look like it. It just doesn't extend its polyp (we know milli is suppose to be hairy) and the skin dries up.
 
seminolecpa said:
Ok so first thing I will say is if you think your nutrients are too low, you shouldn't be running GFO.
Click to expand...

Yes I have consider removing the GFO. Another thing I am considering is shut down one of my 250W to see if less light will make a difference. Or I would just continue to feed and maybe 2 weeks are in fact to short to draw a conclusion. Btw, I am picking up 9 small fish from Chris this weekend so this will roughly double my fish population and feed more. I will sure to report back if this makes a difference.

One thing I forget to mention is my ATB seems to be doing a bit better after the increased feeding. It's producing a bit more skimmate but still nowhere near anything I have seen what this skimmer is capable of.
 
tuberider said:
Roti feast is a great primary food source for Acroporas and most other corals, the particle size is right in the range of what an Acro can consume completely and it is a nutrient packed feed.
Click to expand...

Good to know. I will continue use it.

tuberider said:
AFA lack of PE and pale colors a number of things can come into play.

It's not just a coral, it is an animal with plant cells residing in it. In order for the coral to have a stable healthy zooxanthellae population the coral needs to produce enough sugar to host a healthy population. If the coral is lacking in available nutrients then bleaching can occur even in moderate lighting, I've experienced it myself. Take plants for example, if you place a plant in soil that is lacking in nitrogen, phosphate, iron or other food sources, it becomes pale, grows slow and will not acclimate to higher light levels. It is a similar situation with corals, the flip side being browned out corals that have a very dense zooxanthellae population due to too many nutrients.
Click to expand...

So you are suspect this is a classic example of too much light and not enough nutrient?
 
I don't think it is too much light by any means. Looking at the position of your SPS in your tank (nearly on the bottom) and your light cycle (6 hours with 250w MH's) you should be fine. All of you water params look good. My initial and totally spectulative suspicion is that it either has to do with the newness of the tank (6 months isn't that long for acros) or perhaps a nutrient issue (further supported by your test results and the shrinking size of your cheato ball) or a combination of the two.

That said. My suggestion would be to lay off the GFO for a while and see what happens with the corals. The suggestions I was reading on the RC thread of heavy feeding and additives seem like they are trying to help you solve a problem that the GFO is likely causing.

How long have you been running the GFO and how much are you using?
 
seminolecpa said:
How long have you been running the GFO and how much are you using?
Click to expand...

I start using ROX .8 and GFO fairly early when the tank started up. I use them because Victor suspect my ATB isn't producing skimmate because there are chemical in my tank. Since then I have always used them. I am not sure how much I use since I don't take any measurement. But I have a single BRS reactor and roughly 1/3 is used in carbon and another 1/3 is used in GFO.

I am not sure if there is a link to my ATB skimmer problem thread but in roughly 5 months of using this skimmer, it hasn't produce much skimmate at all. I would guess that most people with an average skimmer would have more skimmate in a week than mine in 5 months. It's THAT bad. Btw, the carbon didn't make a thing to skimmate production and it's still more or less the same (just maybe a little better recently). Sad.
 
Little update. As suggested, I went out and bought 9 more fish (total is up to 17 fish now); all small chromis. I took a quick shot before lights out and you can see a few of them:

IMG_20110306_161311.jpg


I also took another round of test:

alk: 7.8 (Salifer)
cal: 430 (Salifer)
phosphate: 0.00 (Hana Checker)

alk seems to be slowly raising so I adjusted the dosing pump a little bit.

I have continue to feed Roti-Feast on a nightly basis but I am only feeding roughly 1/5 of the recommended dosage. Update on the milli frag is that it's more or less the same; no PE; good color but skin looks dry up and can STN anytime.

I will continue to feed (now that I have more fish) and report back in a few weeks or if the milli frag dies. :(
 
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