Kent Microvert vs Kent Phytoplex

[ltj2489]

Hey everyone -

I am planning on starting to stock my tank with some corals in the near future and was wondering what additives I should get to feed them. My plans are to get:

- Open Brain Coral
- Bubble Coral
- Elegance coral
- Frogspawn
- Blue / green mushrooms
- Yellow polyps

What is the difference between these two Kent products? Is one or another better for feeding?

Thanks!

 

[Alastair]

I believe Microvert is primarily a yeast-based diet, although it does seem to contain some phytoplankton. Phytoplex, by contrast, is made exclusively of phytoplankton. Specifically, it includes nannochloropsis, isochrysis, and tetraselmis. Phytoplex is therefore the more natural diet for most filter-feeding organisms. However, with the corals you are looking at, you will probably have better luck target feeding the individual polyps with small pieces of meaty foods. Liquid invertebrate diets are made for filter-feeding organisms and consist of suspended particles ranging usually from around 3 to 30 microns. Thats pretty small for LPS corals (for comparison, a human hair is 50-70 microns thick). If that's all you have in there, most of it is just going to float around in the water and contribute to the nutrient load. Stuff like Microvert and Phytoplex are best for small-polyped corals (both soft and hard) and things like feather-duster worms, sponges, tunicates, and the like. Hope this helps.