Reef Nutrition: How To Use (Liquid Feeds Edition)
We have been using the Reef Nutrition Range for some time now at AAC, and the Coral and Fish feeds that they offer are amongst our favourites to use in-store. That being said, I thought I would pass on some of our tips and provide some information on what we use, and how/when we use them.
Each product is fairly specific on the benefits it has to your reef aquarium, although many also cross ‘coral boundaries’ depending on what your trying to achieve. So, its important that we understand what we can expect from each type of food.
Let’s start with the basics; my top 5 preserved Reef Nutrition Liquid Foods!
PHYTO-FEAST
PHYTO-FEAST is a superior, concentrated mix of suspended and blended micro algae. It contains Pavlova, Isochrysis, Thalassloria weissflogii, Tetraselmis, Nannochloropsis, and Synechococcus. Having a tiny particle size of just 1-15 micron, this liquid feed is the first choice of many for young Tridacna clams, scallops, feather dusters, coco worms, tunicates and some soft corals.
However, I would suggest using this feed predominantly to keep the bottom of the food chain happy; enriching and feeding any zooplankton present in the water column or substrate of your reef aquarium or culturing facility.
Being so concentrated, how we tend to use this at AAC is by diluting it with tank water before adding to the aquarium.
We add 1 capful of PHYTO-FEAST per approximately 500ml of tank water in a jug or similar vessel. We then give it a stir and then broadcast-feed it into an area of high flow. You will be astonished at how the solution looks like a bottle of feed from other companies, despite the dilution you have applied. It just shows how concentrated it is!
That’s why a 6oz bottle, in terms of cost, may look considerably more than the competition. The truth is, you’re probably getting twice the product for your money compared to those other brands.
It is important to note that you don’t have to dilute it; you could just dose straight from the bottle into an area of high flow. We find, as with most of the range, that pre-dilution gives you the opportunity to broadcast-feed the product a lot better. If you can keep it cool enough, it may be an idea to hook it up to a Dosing Pump. That way you don’t ever miss a daily feed of this Number 1 starter Within the range.
One thing to bare in mind though. Don’t expect to see miracles on day 1; this feed is accumulative. The more regular its used, the more long-term benefits you will see. this is especially the case with those more secretive ‘micro beasts’, or those ‘too small to be sold’ cultured Tridacna Clams that are heavily dependent filter filters compared to their adult lives .
OYSTER-FEAST
OYSTER-FEAST is probably our most popular seller here at AAC. This product is a unique mix of oyster eggs and ovarian oyster tissue: the good bits! This is the richest and most nutritious part of the oyster, giving you a product of astonishing value for money and fantastic results.
It contains high levels of omega 3 fatty acids in full suspension, with a range of micron sizes, down to 1 micron.
How we tend to use this around AAC and in the Coral Farm, is as a ‘trigger’ feed. By ‘trigger’, we mean that once it has been broadcast-fed in a diluted solution (the same as I mentioned above with the PHYTO-FEAST), it will often encourage those LPS corals to start to open. This then exposes their sticky tentacles, giving you the opportunity to go back in with a direct target-feed to the coral using other RN products like ‘TDO Chromaboost’ or ‘R.O.E.’ Essentially, as Reef Nutrition states, its a ‘first course’ feed for corals.
However many corals will also take up this feed directly, as its present in the water column. Certain Acroporids and other SPS Corals will often show their feeding filaments almost instantly upon application.
Another massive benefit of this product is, again, how attractive it is to that ‘chain’ of Micro-Organisms. Particularly background levels of mysids, amphipods, isopods and copepods, which in turn of course provide enriched nutritional sources of food for your fish or other life forms. The dilution method I mentioned beforehand works best for us at AAC, as we have huge water volumes to consider. However, you are more than able to gently pipette the product (not too much!) over that favorite Sun Coral, Cynaria, Trachyphillia , Blastomussa, Acantophillia etc. ‘Washing’ the top shelf of those Acropora with a dilution of OYSTER-FEAST will plump up the coral tissue no end. Its extremely popular with those that are culturing coral.
R.O.E - REAL OCEANIC EGGS
Another really popular product at AAC, with both the store and its customers, is ‘R.O.E’. I first came across the benefits of this amazing product when broadcast-feeding into high flow, using our dilution method (5ml R.O.E to 500ml of tank water, then stirred) on our Display Aquariums at AAC.
Fish will (literally) leap out of the water for it as they become used to it, as it simulates that true-to-nature Plankton bloom of something very similar and recognizable to the fish in question.
Anthias and wrasse particularly love it, but all species will give it a go. Where I found it extremely useful in one situation was weaning some Red Sea Pearlscale Butterflyfish onto it, that were previously not feeding. So, I would consider putting this particular concentrated liquid feed into the ‘magic’ category. If your fish don’t grab it all, don’t worry. LPS, NPS corals, Anemones, Zoanthids etc. will all take advantage of this 700-1500 micron larger feed.
The eggs are harvested from nutrient rich, cold north Atlantic waters and flash-frozen on the boat, sealing all that goodness in. It contains omega 3 and 6 fatty acids and no Colouring agents are used. Reef Nutrition have also engineered this food to keep a long shelf life, providing its refrigerated like all the above products. In fact, its stated that it has the longest shelf life of any R.O.E product, so you have no need to worry if you don’t use it all up quickly.
We tend to use on our display system packed with fish, about 3 times weekly. If you’re running an NPS system, with larger gorgonian polyps for example, then I would tend to use R.O.E daily as part of your feeding regime: maybe pipette it as a target feed. Of course, be sure to adjust your feeding as necessary.
ROTI-FEAST
ROTI-FEAST is probably one of the lesser known concentrated products here in the UK from this fabulous firm.
This product is extremely useful as a standalone emergency feed should live Rotifers (Brachionus Plicatilis) be unavailable. Aside from that, I’d say this feed has a wide range of benefits that goes beyond many standard liquid feeds on the market for feeding both corals and fish.
A single super concentrated 6oz ROTI-FEAST contains millions of rotifers and their eggs, and due to the wide range in micron sizing (40-250) it can used a total feeding solution where smaller fish are present. For example Flame Scooter blennies, pipefish, and Chromis would all feed well on ROTI-FEAST. Its also particularly useful for the smaller polyped NPS corals, but I’ve found even photosynthetic gorgonians love to ‘chow down’ on this product (particularly when I make up a smaller diluted solution: 5ml product to 100ml tank water and pipette directly). Highly recommended.
TIGGER-FEAST
At first glance, I admit this product does look extremely expensive. That is, until you understand it.
I tend to broadcast feed once or twice a week with this amazing, concentrated ‘copepod sauce’ but you can of course dose daily should you wish to.
Density? That’s when you start to understand why this may cost a little more. There are literally thousands and thousands of these funny little preserved guys in the bottle, called ‘Tigger-Pods’ (Tigriopus Californicus) which have been previously enriched with PHYTO-FEAST. Thus giving you a ‘double whammy’ feed for your fish and corals. Even though these guys aren’t alive and have been ‘preserved’, there’s very little compromise on quality compared to the live feed version. And its way more affordable to use if you do the numbers.
Being a particle size of 250-1700 micron, there isn’t much it wont feed, and my Janns Flame Pipefish, Mandarins and Scooters particularly love it.
Again, it can be partially diluted and used as a great pipette-application feed for your hard corals and NPS corals. It’s stated that TIGGER-FEAST will also bring bags of colour to your animals, and with a shelf life of up to a year, you can really see where that value comes into play. A superior reef aquarium and culture feed.
Paul Hughes AAC MD
Should you have any questions on the range, please don’t hesitate to contact us.