Wet Foam vs. Dry Foam

[tankgirl]

Brucey, cool info! Let me think about this a bit. I don't much feed my corals, they only get the stuff in the tank, fish poop, algae, bacteria, etc., then once in a great while I give them phyto or golden pearls. But, I like to know about other methods!

[mojoreef]

Brucey, I am not sure if I am understanding you right, are you feeding 4 pints of phytoplankton to you tank every day. Also what is it that you are feeding in the tank.

thanks

Mike

[Brucey]

Mojo ..... no, 2 pints every day. It us used to feed all the filter feeders / Corals / Anenomoes / Sponges / Clams / etc etc. i thought this was pretty normal practice. The owner at my LFS is dead envious of how easy I seem to grow the stuff, his culture keeps crashing but I find it really easy. Perhaps that's why I've had such success with my so called difficult to keep Goniopora's and Ritteri Anenomoes ....??? Who knows, it's all experimentation
Brucey

[VINA DEL MAR]

In reality any kind of foam of any color(light or dark)removed by the skimmer is good as longer it's darker than the tank water.One cant never over skimms any reef tank.VINA.

[Brucey]

No, it depends. You can Def over skim a tank. The more you skim, the more partilces your removing from the water. Some of the members here don't even run a skimmer (which I don't agree with but hey we're all trying different things). If you have inverts / corals / anenomoes etc you can overskim the water and make it so "clean" that it leaves nothing for the filter feeders. However, if your running a FO system, I tend to agree with your comment
Brucey

[VINA DEL MAR]

Brucey I forgot to mention that my tank is 5 years old and there is plenty of food for any kind of filter feeders.I will also add that after running my skimmer with wet foam I'm not having any problems with hair algae or cyano and all my corals are doing fine.I do 10% of water change every two weeks and do add trace elements.Most of all reefers I know around my area are doing the same thing.I do believe "More is Better"when it comes to keep your reef free of the bad stuff.VINA.

[Brucey]

Fair cop Vina .... we all have different methods, and I agree, I run a fairly wet skim myself. I think was just trying to say, you could overskim your tank, For example, my skimmer is rated upto 800 gallons and my LFS has the same skimmer running a system of 1200 gallons .... My tank is only 180 Gallons so I have to be careful not to pull EVERYTHING out of the water. Infact, every 48 hours I turn my skimmer off for an evening, say 4-6 hours and heavily feed the filter feeders with Phyto, Rotifers, Marine snow etc. I don't want the skimmer pulling it out as quicly as I put it in. LOL .... that would be a waste of money
Brucey

[mojoreef]

Yea I kinda lean the way of Vina also, My tank is skimmed wet and like a big dog 24/7. I have a ton of sponges, dusters and so on also. I dont think any skimmer can strip the water to the point where it has no detritus/algae in it..although I wish..lol Brucey I do agree with you that thier are certian corals/duster/and so on that do need an ammount of phyto for sure, I was just surprised at the ammount of it you added to your tank.
I think one thing as hobbist we really really must do is to clearify what it is that we keep when we discribe our systems. It is not a matter of different methods for different folks. But is a matter of what we keep in our tanks. My tank for an example is designed to keep low nutrient critters, and corals that require higher nutrients would not fair as well. Its like we all use vehicals but some drive cars and need to use regular gas, some airlplanes and need av gas and so on, this truely should be the way we address of methods of keeping a reef when explaining, I think this is what confuses folks so much on which way to go.

MIke

[VINA DEL MAR]

Right on Brucey!Me too I always buy bigger and more than I really need.I don't know why is that?VINA

[Brucey]

Mojo .... good thoughts. Your not the only one who is surprised by the amount of Phyto I add .... I am too. I sued to add 2-3 capfulls a day when I was buying for the LFS .... but it was just getting so Dam expensive. Now I'm growing my own for free and I see no reason not to add as much as I can grow in a 24 hours period .... to be honest I could probably add more. I have seen a definate upturn in the polyp expansion on my braching and table acro's since the increase in available Phyto ... does this mean they are more healthy, well no it doesn't, neither does it mean they are happier ..... Look at what happens to turkeys at christmas when we fatten them up, but I must say the colours are more vibrant and I enjoy the thought of growing something for nothing.
Brucey

[mojoreef]

Brucey cultureing your own is definately the way to go, its not only cheap its a better product. On the acro's or any sps they dont touch Phytoplankton (not on thier menu), really what you are doing is feeding particular critters, mosts clams/acros/lps dont touch phyto. You are however feeding larvae, some dusters and som sponges (although sponges go both ways. Phytoplanton is almost pure organic phosphate and can actually hurt the growth (calcification) of hard corals, so i would try to limit your feeding to what you know is going to use it and then skim like no other to remove the left over as well as you can, that way you can avoid a build up over time, On a side note lets see a pic of your tank, I dont think I have seen it yet.

MIke

[Brucey]

Mojo ..... your a world of info .... OK, I love it when I learn something. How about the Rotifers. I have a rotifer tank that I feed Phyto to as well .... do The Arco's and other SPS eat the Phyto then. I'm really intersted in this now, so my Maxima Clam isn't eating the phyto either .... I may as well stop direct feeding him the stuff them. What about Anenomes, Leathers, Gonipora and other soft corals .... sorry for the questions mate, but all of a sudden something i believed was true is not.

My tank Pics are all in the gallery mate. I'd love your opinions but in the meantime I'll cut back on the Phyto or at least leave the skimmer running

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...er=166&thumb=1

[Brucey]

Sorry, i meant to say, do the SPS eat the Rotifers
Brucey

[mojoreef]

Very nice tank Brucey, it looks really healthy. SpS have been know to digest rotifers, but thier main source of food is of coarse thier Zoox algae and the carbs and sugars they produce. They however do suppliment thier intake (about 5 to 10 %) with natural food. It takes alot of energy for a SPS to capture food using nemacysts (little harpoons) and a sps's neamcyst are poorly developed. What they mostly do for supplimental is to farm. They produce a slime that they lay out from thier cicla (sp?) bacteria mostly, but possible rotis attack the slime to eat it and the coral then sucks it back in, capturing the critters that are still attached to it. LPS will be alot more likly to take in roti's for sure same with softies, although with softies alot of nutrient come in via transfering through tissue. On the clams. All clams require feeding of Phyto when they are young and haven not developed enought zoox in thier mantles to be able to sustain them. Usually when the hit the size of about 2 inches they have enough and thus dont require as much if any. Now in saying that some clams will always need feeding via phyto. Clams such as durasa's and gigas I believe, but maybe some one else could chime in on that. The easiest way to figure it out is that if a clam has a high requirement for light its doesnt require much supplimental food source, and if it requires less light then it requires more, that make sence, lol.
Brucey I am not saying that you are doing wrong my friend, at all. Your feeding of phyto could be feeding other critters that may eventually feed them. Its just that Phyto, is such a strong concentration of phosphates that you must keep an eye on water quality. If I was in your position tis is what I would do. Go ahead and feed the things that need the phyto, just cut back a bit and then make sure you skim well to not allow the stuff to die and rot in the tank. With the rotis I would broadcast feed in the dark periods of the tank (at night no lights). So concentrate more towards the roti's, far more better then the other way around.


MIke

[Curtswearing]

I CALL NO MORE GREAT DISCUSSIONS WHILE I'M AT WORK----AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

(j/k of course)