# reef tank feeding



## fishguy101 (Mar 20, 2011)

hi i was just wondering what do i feed a reef tank and how do i feed a reef tank because i was thinking of setting up a 55 gallon reef tank.:-D


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## small fry (Oct 14, 2010)

Welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping!:-D

That depends completely on what kind of coral you have.

There are many great saltwater experts on this forum that can help you. If you have a list of coral you are prepared to buy the equipment to take care of, then use the names if you can. If you _don't _have a list of coral you like/can afford to take care of, you can start another thread and our saltwater reef experts (which certainly does not include me) can help you with everything you need to know from live rock, to lighting, to corals, to coral aggression, to calcium dosing, and minerals, to fish and coral compatability, etc.

Don't give up (as long as you can afford it)! The information you may learn may be alot to take in at once, but if you stay at it, you will have a beautiful reef tank in afew months (sometimes it is better to setup the saltwater tank first, get to know how to take care of it, then look into coral. It may be a good idea to wait 6-12 months after the saltwater tank is established before you add coral. This depends on the coral, the setup, and personal preference, so it may not take that long).

The key is patients.


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## kerryhomes (Apr 21, 2011)

According to my opinion relatively few rigorous gut analyses of coral species have been done. Stony corals are almost exclusively carnivores, despite some evidence that a few have been noted to either take up or ingest phytoplankton (notably Acropolis and Goniometer). However, these may have been later ejected as a pellet or not utilised. To my knowledge, no one has done radioactive tracer studies to label phytoplankton for incorporation into counteraction biomass.


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