Do you feed your corals? Pirate Reef Corals unveil their secret sauce

[@chrisribble]

Sps looking good a/f. Nice tank 👌

[@MiXReef75]

Great video!!

[@Reefscom]

Thanks!

[@InappropriateReefer]

Picked up some nice tips from this video, thank you!

[@Reefscom]

You are very welcome bud!

[@golbs7542]

i pick up appropriate tips on what not to do from your videos... 🤣 jokes, love ur vids too

[@Reefscom]

@@golbs7542 😆 🤣 😂

[@aarondus]

Great tips and tricks. Time to buy some oyster feast and give it a go. Thank you both!

[@jsauce666]

Great job Rei! Your corals look great. And great advice.

[@adamkwek5888]

Great video ... keep it up !

[@markleong6004]

Very insightful, learnt something new again! Please do another video with Reinaldo on how he achieves those long polyp extensions with his SPS corals!

[@Reefscom]

Will do. Maybe i can do youtube live with Reinaldo and have you guys ask all the questions live. What do you guys think about that?

[@markleong6004]

@@Reefscom that will be great! It can't get any better than that! :)

[@mignottfamilyja9842]

@@Reefscom still waiting for this to happen !

[@petesreef1891]

Stunning corals and great vid 👍

[@Reefscom]

Thanks Pete! Thanks for watching.

[@LightSearch]

There's an important factor worth mentioning beyond coral load: fish load. What's the impact of these foods when a tank has a high fish load? I noticed his tanks have a high coral load and a low fish load.

[@Reefscom]

Hi! My opinion is that regardless how many fish you have, it's imperative to know your system and what it can handle. Then feed accordingly, slowly. That's why it was mentioned multiple times to test and keep testing. To make sure that you are on top of the possible nutrient changes that may occur. Also, fish poop does not have equivalent amount of protein, aminos, lipids and other nutritional value as these foods can provide.

[@LightSearch]

@@Reefscom How do we assess coral health? By color, growth rate, polyp extension? If that's so, then there's loads of tanks with healthy corals without feeding them. The digestive system of a fish is very inefficient and the fish poop is nutrient rich. Then there's also bacteria available to feed the corals. There's a marketing pressure to feed corals, that it's essential to feed them specifically to keep them healthy and with good colors. While it's beneficial for some tanks, it can do more harm than good in many others. My tank has low nitrates (and I feed the fish 6 times per day) and I was faced with a choice: to feed the corals or to reduce filtration. I removed the filter socks and got the skimmer on a timer.

[@Reefscom]

@@LightSearch there many ways to determine and variables to coral health and I'm not saying that this is the only and absolute way to keep reef. Im just answering your questions above and giving my opinion. Like you mentioned, there are many people who achieved success without feeding however, it's proven via science that corals that are fed will grow faster, achieve certain things faster then the corals that are not fed. Evidence is shown time after time by all the aquaculture coral farms around the world who feed heavily as well as all of conservation land nurseries such as mote, florida aquarium's center of conservation, reef institute and frost science museum to name a few who feed heavily enhance growth and the vinbrance of corals so that they get to the sexual maturity in order to get them to spawn. I'm curious though, how did you figure that fish poop was nutrient rich? Besides, some freshwater species, I haven't really seen any reports of this. (I will admit that I haven't looked deep in this lol) You are right, when your nutrient is so low, steps that you have taken is the way that i would have taken as well. Thank you very much for this conversation. I'm always having fun discussing these things. As with many people, I'm very fascinated and passionate towards these animals.

[@LightSearch]

@@Reefscom I take "reef aquariums science" with a pinch of salt, or rather a bucketload of salt. I apply the same prudence when hearing advise from coral farms directed at hobbiests: a coral farm is different from a home aquarium. Reef tanks are one of those anti scientific subjects. If you follow a career in scientific research, you choose a niche and dig deep into it. To know what's best for a reef tank requires that you do the opposite: connect dots from different subjects. That's the same problem with climate change for example, it's the best example of an anti scientific subject. Another is what happened with insects. Entomologists really dropped the ball big time when they didn't notice what was happening with the insect populations all over the world. It was a group of hobbiests in Germany that gathered 27 years of data showing a drop of 76% in the mass of flying insects in nature reserves. I know of a researcher of coral nutrition that says that he is terrible at keeping reef tanks :) But he's very good at breeding saltwater fish also. Sure, corals that receive better nutrition than fish poop will be more healthy, it's easy to prove. But a reef tank is so much more than just corals. When things are fine, there's an absurdly complex balance between chemistry, the animals that we see, the visible and invisible biome, light, etc. Feeding corals is one of those things that can easily mess with the biome of a tank and throw the system off balance. I lost count of the amount of people that ask me for help because they have their nutrients off balance and are afraid to stop feeding the corals to correct the issue. This happens usually because they are using a collection of products promoted by company X that includes a bunch of stuff to feed the corals.

[@Reefscom]

@@LightSearch I think you are kinda agreeing with me there but we are going around in circles. Maybe it's way I'm wording things because english is my second language. I apologize for that. I did mention that "it's imperative to know your system and what it can handle. Then feed accordingly, slowly." and that you have to consistently test in the video as well as on my comment. If you think that coral farms are different enough from home aquariums to apply what they do, although, I think the basics of keeping corals is same regardless what setting, then you should at least heed the scientists and curators from aforementioned nurseries and museums where they grow fragmented or grow from eggs. They have been making breakthroughs in last few years and this is part of their regimen which shows that it clearly works. Like I also mentioned before, everyone's system is different. There are million ways to achieve beautiful and successful reef systems and this is just one way that is presented by Pirates Reef on how he runs his system as we have gotten many of requests on it. "Feeding corals is one of those things that can easily mess with the biome of a tank and throw the system off balance. " I agree completely! That's why I would like to say one more time that if any one wants to try any type of food, do it slow, keep testing and see if it benefits your tank in any way. If it's not to your liking, there are other options! Happy reefing! I gotta go back to my family for labor day festivities. I hope you have a wonderful day as well. :)

[@edbleka8139]

Great video, it was very helpful thanks!!!

[@Reefscom]

You are very welcome! Thank you for watching it!

[@coldfreeze4425]

Nice advice! Thanks man

[@Reefscom]

You are very welcome! Thank you for watching!

[@perezmarcos1]

Reynaldo what lights and light schedule do you use?

[@Reefscom]

hi! sorry for the late reply! I was on the road to cover a show and never got a chance to reply to this. He uses modified version of AB+.

[@BraddaMarlon]

Man the sps in this man's tank is amazing. What are his parameters and does he well corals

[@jluusaltwateraquarium8320]

Thanks for sharing fantastic video sir..... I have questions about lost color how can I get back color...

[@Reefscom]

You are very welcome! Good water quality is the main thing here. Be sure to keep pristine water and coral will bounce back nicely for the most part.

[@jluusaltwateraquarium8320]

Thanks you sir..... I change my water every 2 weeks 10 gallons... By way check out my KZbin channel saltwater aquarium see what else I need.... 👍👍👍👍👍👍🍻🍻🍻🍻

[@patterdalezipsuzilil]

I use reef energy ab+ ..reef pulse and dose aquaforest np pro and probiotic s

[@Utubereefer]

This guy is on the right track

[@chrish6659]

This may seem like a small detail, could you mention what you use to feed the food? It looks like a smaller turkey master type device? Thx!

[@Reefscom]

He bought a small applicator from amazon. I will try to find a link for you.

[@sunnygoold9449]

So awesome - I like to turn my return off and have my wavemakers come back on first - but not for an hour... I only run my skimmer at night anyhow - some good tips in here... I habe heard good things about oyster feast - may see ifI can find it in Europe

[@Reefscom]

Im glad that you found the video helpful Sunny! Hope you find some as well! Which reminds me, i need some too lol.

[@sunnygoold9449]

@@Reefscom I think I remember from listening to Chad from RN on RNN that there's a lot of aminos in the Oyster Feast - my guess is aminos in a particle is better (and the size range helps that). I think auna Marin Min S would be the closest thing to it if I can't get it but I'd like to get their phyto concentrate and their pellets anyhow. Another thing about Aminos I learned on RNN from the Dr at Credible Coral labs - as I understodd he found you need enough aminos in the water for the corals to start feeding. I try to dose aminos before I feed other foods if possible. Yeah it's super helpful! I have never seen another reefer with such great colors and PE - so knowing what he's doing is super helpful to keep me on the right path ;) Thanks mate. Gotta go back and watch the first vid with him soon (I think it was on chemistry).

[@Reefscom]

@@sunnygoold9449 you are very welcome bud. More are coming so stay tuned. ;)

[@marcelrodriguez2067]

I actually had issues keeping my phosphates and nitrates up to the point where i just ditched thw filter socks. I dont even have a refugium and nutrients are staying a bit more stable now. I still gotta dose phosphates but not that much.

[@alyaawaheed9238]

Hi .I’m just I watched your video and I liked it’s nice corals . I have 75 g aquarium it was smaller 38 g and just now I’m changed the size in one week ago and my corals very wake and not grow so what can I do right now ???

[@brianfinch2597]

Corals are looking on point #tier1reefing

[@melereef6294]

Great content! What salt was he using?

[@jimjestude7454]

Awesome video, I’m amazed when I have ordered from pirates reef at the colors. Does he feed at night or day? Broadcast or always target? Polyp extension has something I have been struggling with

[@Reefscom]

Hi! He feeds at night and does both broadcast and target feed.

[@i2ik]

Thanks for the tips! Do you always feed around the same time? Is there a schedule? Daily, every few days, weekly? Any specific tools works better? Does you fish/shrimp try to steal the food for your corals?

[@PRFishGirl]

Love coral frenzy

[@P4P5]

I started with ReefRoids yesterday

[@halstonhilburn]

Woah?? His tank runs 77.2 and drops to 75 degrees according to his apex? Is this correct?

[@Reefscom]

1 to 2 degree fluctuations are common in usual aquariums.

[@halstonhilburn]

I agree. But I’ve never seen temps that low? I thought 78-79 was what you should maintain and with as close to a 1 degree swing per day. Is there any reasoning behind temps that low? 75 degrees seems cold. Doesn’t that effect metabolism/growth?

[@Reefscom]

@@halstonhilburn there are many that keeps their tank at 76 degrees. Really, there isn't any no problem at all. This guy grows acros like nobody's business.

[@halstonhilburn]

He is clearly a Acro coloring wizard haha. I’ve found the best success comes by copying the best haha. Temp was the only parameter I thought was out of norms. Maybe that’s the secret!! Anyways thanks for getting back with me, was just curious.

[@Reefscom]

@@halstonhilburn no problem at all! Always love interacting, sharing ideas and tips.

[@karankhanna6820]

Too short !! We need a 30 mins version of this.. :)

[@Reefscom]

You are trying to kill me lol.

[@someone6reefs]

Tank an't nice dont take there advice i like that 👍🏽👍🏽

[@guapodidier2099]

Secret sauce?. , My sauce can creates babies. B*$! Please!!