melodicone

ok so heres a list of what im trying to feed in my 34 gallon tank:
small montipora
small purple tree
12 ricordea
medium yellow polyp colony
medium zoanthid colony
giant feather duster

every other day i target feed 5 ml of food. rotating, zoo plankton, phytoplankton, and filterfeeder food (kent's microvert). is that sufficient? or should i increase it? i JUST added the tree and yellow polyps.

au01st

If anything you're feeding too much. Unless you have non-photosynthetic corals, they don't NEED to be fed. How are you feeding the fish in the tank? The leftover fish food may be enough for the corals to get what they want as well.

The corals you have listed are photosynthetic and depend on the zooanthelle for food (the stuff that makes the corals have color).

melodicone

i know that they get a good amount of their energy from light, but from what ive read, a few of them also need to be well fed because they need both. Just like my anemone that is photosynthetic but also gets meat chunks ever so often. My nitrate and phosphate levels are nonexistent so i dont think im overfeeding, but i guess as long as the corals maintain their pretty colors then they are doing fine?

au01st

The only corals that NEED to be fed are the non photosynthetic corals. The fact that they are photosynthetic means they can and do get energy from light. Just because they can eat, doesn't mean they need it. The sun coral, for example, needs to be fed to survive.

I'm not saying there aren't benefits to feeding, like faster growth, but just make sure you aren't polluting the water which would have the negative effects.

What kit are you using to test the nitrates and phosphates?

melodicone

im using red sea, are there test kits that are better than others out there? even if the corals dont need it, i still have to feel the giant feather duster, so maybe i'll just stick to target feeding it, most of the food flies into the tank anyways