# Coral Supplements - Who's using what?



## darcyr

I have used fuel, polyp booster and prodibio reef booster. I honestly cant tell if they work or if i'm wasting money. I also use reef roids and arctic pods for feeding. What have you guys noticed works best?


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## Crayon

I use Fuel
Reef roids
Fauna Marin Sea fan powder
Reef Chili
Reef Nutrition Live Phyto
Some other powder food like reef roids that I can't remember
Fauna Marin Arctic pods liquid
Docs Eco eggs
Reef Nutrition ROE
Reef Nutrition oyster feast

Not all at once........I have a lot of NPS corals.
My fave is the Reef Roids and Reef Chili and live phyto. Those I wouldn't do without. And Fuel


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## Mikeylikes

Fuel
Reef Roids
Reef Chili
Zeo Amino Acid
Coral Snow


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## TBemba

Fuel
Reef roids
Two Little Fishies AcroPower Amino Acid Formula 

this is for the fish and LPS and inverts
Feeding frenzy food/frozen
NLS pellets
Mysis shrimp
silver sides


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## zoapaly

Zeovit AA + CV
Reef Chili 1/every 2 weeks before WC


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## Quartapound

Aquavitro Fuel
Reef Roids
TLF Marine Snow

Feeding
LRS Reef Frenzy Nano
Mysis shrimp
NLS pellets

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## darcyr

Wow looks like everyone is on the same page, I also use Docs Eco eggs and NLS for feeding. Ill have to try Reef Chili and get some more fuel. Glad to hear because I wasnt looking forward to spending the money on prodibio every month.


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## Nevek67

Mysis shrimp and stir the substrate a little once in awhile....
I feel like I should be doing more but I can't complain everything (the small amount I have) looks great


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## tom g

*supplements*

great thread darcy ...

ok hate to hijack thread ...

whats your guys schedule and feeding routine of the above products 
do u mix all togeather and spot feed or entire tank ....

I like to mix my reef chillie with my larrys food and spot feed


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## Nevek67

I feed Flake once a day/every other day for the fish
Mysis is for the goby (he gets babied and tube fed) once a day/every other day
and the rest of the Mysis I spot feed the duncans, hairy mushroom, paly's and Acans.

when I'm cleaning the glass I'll stir up the substrate a bit, my leather corals polyp extension and my mushrooms just seem to get so big after that, the acans feeding tentacles go out.


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## darcyr

I feed the fish 1-2 times a day when main lights are on with a tube so it doesn't all get blown in the intake immediately. I start with their least favourite and end with their most: NLS pellets, mysis, docs eco eggs, then lastly arctic pods. Sometimes I just feed NLS or mysis and switch the combination often. Tang gets nori sheet 2x per week. I exclusively feed corals in the evening 2x per week where I turn off the return pump and skimmer for 2 hrs. I start with Fuel or polyp booster then spot feed a slurry of reef roids, arctic pods and sometimes docs eggs. Does anyone use a dosing pump to feed corals every night?


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## goobafish

I keep the tank stocked with live zooplankton and feed both zoo and phyto every other day, with the skimmer off for an hour. That takes care of most of the fish feeding and keeps the corals growing.

Every other day I drop in a few Apex Combination pellets, or circulate some Reef Frenzy, Mysis, Calanous, Docs Eco Eggs, Cyclopeze or live Bloodworms.

Twice a week with all the flow off, I target feed the corals a mix of Reef Roids, Cyclopeeze and Reef Chili. Instead of tank water, I use live culture with zooplankton and phytoplankton. I heat and mix the solution for 10-20 minutes to ensure it is thick before feeding. I feed very liberally and let the corals eat for a while.

As for additives:

Paramaters:
ESV Two-part, calcium, magnesium and alkalinity
Iodine
Strontium and Molybdenum
No3P04x

Growth/Colour:
Coral-Vite (twice a week)
Fuel (twice a week)
Pohl's Xtra (daily)
Acropower (daily)
Coral Colours ABCD (Switching to Fauna Maurin Elements)
Phytoplankton + Live Rotifers (daily)


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## larrysy

For one year when I had my Evolve 8 nano tank, I just used Reef Roids once a week for my zoas. All of my zoas start from 1-2 heads and they are now colonies. I also use once drop of Lugol's iodine once a week. Nothing else.

For my dendrophyllia (which is NPS), I feed 1/2 cube of mysis (the cheap ones from Big Als) once a week and it survived for one year. I feed 3x a week now that it is in my 40 gallon breeder. 

Note that I have a "dirty" tank - no skimmer but I don't have any SPS.


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## Crayon

darcyr said:


> Does anyone use a dosing pump to feed corals every night?


We just picked up a small wine fridge to make an auto feeder with refrigerated food and a dosing pump. Will be setting that up over the holidays.

In terms of feeding schedule, I mix up a baby food jar of 3/4 tank water with various frozen, liquid or dry foods that I will feed for the day every morning. This container of mixed foods sits beside the tank for the day, and using a squeeze plastic syringe, I general broadcast feed the small tank about once every three hours or so. At the end of the day, all extra food gets dumped into big tank which usually isn't that much that's left over.


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## TBemba

lately,

I mix them all together in a measuring cup. just a tiny dash of everything and stir. Chuck of Reef frenzy size of a nickel. I have a small tank.

then turkey bast areas over a 6 hour period. dump the remaining in just about lights out time.

I only feed every other day or maybe every third day. if i do the third day schedule i feed the few fish NLS pellets Clowns. 

I am really believing less is more, meaning the tank really doesn'r need much to thrive. I have yet to hear of a fish starving to death in a tank.


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## Sunstar

Could someone perhaps explain to me what the benefits of the big brand coral foods are? I am hesitant at the price tags and I want to know why are they so good


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## Crayon

It's like anything else that comes with more quality control. And depends on what you are trying to accomplish as well. If it's a few hardy fish and coral, nbd. If it starts getting into rare or hard to keep species with particular feeding requirements, either fish or coral, then it's about giving them a chance to thrive. 

Sometimes it is trial and error to see what the coral or fish might want to eat. And a lot of research. I had read that Reef Roids was particularly good for gonioporas so tried it and have had good success. Same with Reef Chili. The ingredient lists are very interesting. One brand of food has yeast in it, which didn't make sense. Then I talked to someone who was raising fry, and he had to use Brewers yeast to feed the fry as it is a 2u size food and his rotifer culture had crashed the day before his fry were born. So to a certain degree I am more likely to trust the science behind the more expensive foods.


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## TBemba

Crayon is very knowledgeable. Unless your reef is large and you have a lot of corals most of the high end food last a pretty long time. In a way it helps you conserve and feed better portion sizes.

Example reef roids will last me a year easy maybe even two. the other stuff as well. example the inner cup of the lid (size of a thimble will do something like 20-30 gallons and I would not really add that more than once a week.

I usually feed the additives soon after the weekly water change then if I feel the need to feed heavy I do it the day before the next water change. 

So I'll do 1/4 wc every Sunday. then Monday add the additives or Sunday. then I feed Wednesday usually no additives just reef frenzy and reef roids. then again on Friday maybe nori and pellets and then wc on Sunday and repeat.


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## Crayon

TBemba said:


> Crayon is very knowledgeable. Unless your reef is large and you have a lot of corals most of the high end food last a pretty long time. In a way it helps you conserve and feed better portion sizes.


TY for the compliment. I try. There are a LOT of people on this forum who have a LOT of very good knowledge which is beyond my range of information. I can add my 2 cents sometimes, but it does not mean it is the only option. So much of this hobby is still unfolding.

So ask the questions. Some people have different thoughts, experiences or results.

Food for corals is like food for any pet. Use the best food you can afford.


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## wtac

Crayon, if the refrigerated foods to dose are in a suspension, ie phyto or rotifers, look into making a DIY stir plate to keep the solution homogenized


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## Crayon

wtac said:


> Crayon, if the refrigerated foods to dose are in a suspension, ie phyto or rotifers, look into making a DIY stir plate to keep the solution homogenized


Oh yeah! This is happening. We had been looking at the commercial stirrers, but I think this is much more appropriate. Thanks wtac for the book mark!


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## wtac

Robust commercial stirrers are a few hundred $$$ apiece as you have probably found out .

I pretty much DIY'd the same thing in my thesis project dosing collected industrial/municipal effluent and a cultured solution of _Mycobacteria_ to masculinize mosquitofish...MWAHAHAHA!!!


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## Sunstar

you guys are generally very knowlegeable which is why I ask questions here. 

I am thinking of purchasing Tea Tins (that has a seal lid) for my fish and coral foods. 

I am considering making a culture setup. I love tinkering.


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## million$view

I'm currently using the Nyos Aquatic Coral Care and Trace Elements
german made and laboratory grade products 

Very happy with their products with instant outstanding results


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## Rookie2013

Crayon said:


> TY for the compliment. I try. There are a LOT of people on this forum who have a LOT of very good knowledge which is beyond my range of information. I can add my 2 cents sometimes, but it does not mean it is the only option. So much of this hobby is still unfolding.
> 
> So ask the questions. Some people have different thoughts, experiences or results.
> 
> Food for corals is like food for any pet. Use the best food you can afford.


How about if you have SPS in your system. I love the immense knowledge and info I find here. I have always been reluctant of feeding heavy because of wanting to keep sps corals and hence my question. hope you don't mind.


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