Can corals be affected by eating / getting too much food ?

brandoniscool · 03/10/2014, 02:28 PM

Hi , My name is Virginia and I am in Brandon Rutherford's third grade class in Illinois and today I was working on the tank and when I was feeding the corals and then I started wondering if the corals would be affected by having to much food . Would they be affected ? Thanks so much for responding or even
viewing . Also , Sorry if I was wasting your time by posting this . Thanks again .

Sincerely ,

Virginia

thegrun · 03/10/2014, 03:15 PM

Virginia,
In the ocean corals usually would not have a problem with too much food being present since the currents would quickly wash it away. There are situation however where too much food can cause algae to rapidly multiply to a point where they actually consume most of the available oxygen in the water which will kill both fish and corals. These algae blooms are commonly caused "Red Tides" since the water takes on a reddish color from the algae. In our aquariums too much food can cause several different problems. Too much food could cause the bacteria to increase in numbers to the point where they too use too much oxygen. The unused food also decomposes quickly and can cause the algae that grows on rocks in your aquarium to quickly grow and cover the corals, killing them due to a lack of light.

Reef Frog · 03/10/2014, 03:46 PM

Hi Virginia. Great question. This has been discussed on Reef Central.

Some people who keep Non Photosynthetic Corals (corals that can not make their own food from sunlight and must eat stuff like shrimp to survive) have reported over-feeding their corals and think the food rotted inside, killing the polyp. This has been reported with sun corals & dendros, but is only a theory.

It's very rare and probably won't happen in your classroom aquarium. It is probable next to impossible with corals with lite tiny feeding polyps. But geeding your fish and corals way to much food can make the water so dirty that it can make some corals sick so you have to feed the right amount. What kind of corals are you feeding and how often?

03/10/2014, 02:28 PM	#1
brandoniscool Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Champaign IL Posts: 526	Can corals be affected by eating / getting too much food ? Hi , My name is Virginia and I am in Brandon Rutherford's third grade class in Illinois and today I was working on the tank and when I was feeding the corals and then I started wondering if the corals would be affected by having to much food . Would they be affected ? Thanks so much for responding or even viewing . Also , Sorry if I was wasting your time by posting this . Thanks again . Sincerely , Virginia __________________ Coral Reef Project Stratton Elementary rutherbr@champaignschools.org mrrutherfordisawesome.weebly.com/reef-system Current Tank Info: Mix Reef

03/10/2014, 03:15 PM	#2
thegrun Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Garden Grove, Ca Posts: 17,023	Virginia, In the ocean corals usually would not have a problem with too much food being present since the currents would quickly wash it away. There are situation however where too much food can cause algae to rapidly multiply to a point where they actually consume most of the available oxygen in the water which will kill both fish and corals. These algae blooms are commonly caused "Red Tides" since the water takes on a reddish color from the algae. In our aquariums too much food can cause several different problems. Too much food could cause the bacteria to increase in numbers to the point where they too use too much oxygen. The unused food also decomposes quickly and can cause the algae that grows on rocks in your aquarium to quickly grow and cover the corals, killing them due to a lack of light.

03/10/2014, 03:46 PM	#3
Reef Frog Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Maryland Posts: 3,121	Hi Virginia. Great question. This has been discussed on Reef Central. Some people who keep Non Photosynthetic Corals (corals that can not make their own food from sunlight and must eat stuff like shrimp to survive) have reported over-feeding their corals and think the food rotted inside, killing the polyp. This has been reported with sun corals & dendros, but is only a theory. It's very rare and probably won't happen in your classroom aquarium. It is probable next to impossible with corals with lite tiny feeding polyps. But geeding your fish and corals way to much food can make the water so dirty that it can make some corals sick so you have to feed the right amount. What kind of corals are you feeding and how often?