feeding time

[coralite]

I take it as a given that most corals should be fed in the evening when their polyps are most extended for best particle capture. I am still surprised to hear of sps keepers who feed small particulate foods like cyclopeeze whenever it is convenient for them, not their corals. Obviously it would be best to have a slow trickle of particulate food all throughout the day and night but so far this is not a practical thing to do.
I try to feed either shortly after the lights go off and shortly before they come on. My questions are two fold
1. What time of day do you typically feed your corals?
2. Analytically speaking, if we are doing only one feeding, should we feed our corals at night or in the morning? What is the interplay between heterotrophic and heterotrophic feeding, respiration and digestion ?

[shaggy]

A question ...

Perhaps certain foods would be more suitable to feed certain times?
Would CE vs. detritus-disturbance/bacteria-feeding vs. ___ be different?

Just wondering if/how that would fit in, to your opinion.

[coralite]

A question ...

Perhaps certain foods would be more suitable to feed certain times?
Would CE vs. detritus-disturbance/bacteria-feeding vs. ___ be different?

Just wondering if/how that would fit in, to your opinion.

it would matter if you are trying to feed photosynthetic corals but it probably doesnt matter if you're trying to feed a non-photosynthetic coral. Symbiotic corals have to breathe for the algae in their tissue at night whereas aposymbiotic corals have no reason to alter their polyp extension for anything but prey density and current, not light, but sometimes prey density can be related to light.

[mesocosm]

Greetings All !

... but sometimes prey density can be related to light.

Indeed ... in natural ecosystems there are other factors as well. Nutrient availability, pollutants, depth, season, latitude, lunar cycle, and competition can all influence the prey density in the water column.


HTH