Reef Chili Supreme
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Zooplankto
n
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This type of zooplankton is well known for extremely
high levels of important
fatty acids (Omega 3). It can have as much as 40 times the Highly
Unsaturated Fatty
Acids (HUFA's) of Artemia nauplii (baby brine shrimp).
Tests have also shown this zooplankton to
have uniquely high levels of
beneficial antioxidants and Carotenoid pigments (astaxanthene
).
(400
to 500 microns)
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Spray-dried
Phytoplankton
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Phytoplankton is considered by most aquarists to be the
best all around
feed for aquatic filter feeders. Spray-dried phytoplankton has the benefit of
being preserved
at the height of its nutritional value so you always know you
are feeding your tank the very
best
.
(2-900
microns depending on how well it is mixed)
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Artemia
nauplii replacement diet
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For years it has successfully replaced live Artemia
nauplii all over the world.
The feed contains small pockets of air that keep it suspended in the water
column and help it
mimic live Artemia nauplii. Because of its size and
nutritional value it is simply prefect for
supplemental coral feeding
.
Contains Fish protein, whey, yeast and yeast
extracts, marine fish oil, phospholipids,
astaxanthin, vitamin and mineral premixes,
anti-oxidants
(1-50 mcirons and 50-100 microns)
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Freeze dried
Rotifers
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Rotifers are a wonderful zooplanktonic treat for your
corals. These rotifers
are naturally enriched by feeding on mic
roalgaes
like phytoplankton and
contain up to an incredible 60% protein. These are also freeze dried at the
peak of their nutritional value. The freeze dried rotifers completely remove the
tedious
task of maintaining the cultures.
(100-200 microns)
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Freeze dried
Copepods
|
Because of the high HUFA and fatty acid content,
copepods are one of the
best natural foods available for invertebrates. Aquaculture companies all
over the world use
them in vast quantit
ies.
Freeze dried at the peak of their
nutritional cycle they are able to maintain up to 57% protein.
(100-400
microns)
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Dried
Daphnia
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Also known as the water flea, daphnia is an excellent
coral food. The
crustacean naturally comes packed with incredibly healthy blue-green
algae. Blue green
algae are an incredible source of highly unsaturated fatty
acids (HUFA’s) like Arachidonic
Acid, Alpha-Linolenic Acid and Linoeic Acid.
(5 -750 microns)
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Spirulina
Powder
|
The benefits of blue green algae are incredible. This
type of algae is packed
full of vitamins, minerals, carotenoid pigments and amino acids, making it
very nutritious for
all the organisms in your tank
.
{50-100
microns).
I’ve never fed my corals before, what
benefits should
I expect to see by using Reef Chili ?
This will depend a lot on what type of corals you
keep and
the current parameters of your tank
,
including lighting,
CA/ALK levels,
nutrient level
s -
any one of these can be a
limiting
factor. As a general rule of thumb, corals utilize
nutrition from light and capturing pray (Reef
Chili) in three
steps. The first step is
for
metabolic function and tissue
repair,
then for growth and lastly for reproduction. For
varied reasons most species of coral will not
achieve the
reproductive stage in the average tank environment.
What does all this mean to
you? Simply put, if you are
providing inadequate lighting, Reef Chili will provide an
alternate
source of energy to maintain metabolic functions,
tissue repair and basic ove
r
all health. If you do provide
adequate
lighting, Reef Chili will provide additional energy
the coral can utilize for much desired growth.
Corals are also
unable to produce many nutrients like amino acids on their
own and need
to capture pr
e
y to acquire them. Reef Chili is
extremely
high in carotenoid and xanthophyll color pigments.
When the corals consume pr
e
y like Reef Chili with these
pigments
they’re able to utilize them to enhance their own
color. Your expectations shouldn’t
be to change the color
overnight but over time to enhance the color that is all ready
there.
We can’t forget everyone’s favorite, polyp extension! The
corals
will sense the availability of food and of coarse
,
extend their polyps to capture it. This
is particularly cool with
corals that we rarely see open like sun corals. Over time
many
people will find their corals polyps stay out more and
more and some will stay out all day long.
Finally,
it is incredible to watch the whole tank come alive as
every single creature in the tank runs
around attempting to
find some Reef Chili.
I have heard that live phytoplankton cultures
are
better than freeze dried, is this true ?
Short answer is if you know that the live
phytoplankton is
fresh and has not sat at room temperature for more than a
few hours at
any point in the shipping process, then live is
most certainly better. The problem with live
phytoplankton is
that unless you go through all the trouble to make your own
cultures and
harvest the phytoplankton yourself, it may be
nutritionally empty. It only takes a matter of hours
at room
temperature for phytoplankton to become next to useless as
they have used up all
their nutrition. You can simply never
know how long a shipper or supplier allowed your
product to
be exposed to these temperatures. The freeze dried
Phytoplankton is killed and
freeze dried at the “peak of its
nutritional value” insuring the quality of the
product.
Cost also becomes a factor. You can spend over $60 a
month buying live
phytoplankton, where Reef Chili will only
cost a few dollars a month. Even if it was possible to
be
100% assured that your live phytoplankton still has
nutritional value, is it worth
paying up to
20 times
as much?
Keep in mind that only a small
percentage of your tanks
inhabitan
ts
are able to utilize the small micron range of
phytoplankton. You will have to purchase many other
expensive products if you want to
provide nutrition for all
your tank
'
s filter feeders.
I was told that my corals don’t need
additional food
and they will survive off the nutrition they get from
the lighting, is
this true?
I think the key word in that question is the word
“survive”. It
is true that a large number of corals will “survive” off
light
alone. There is a big difference between surviving and
thriving. This is the
analogy
that
I like to use, imagine how a
house plant
does with sunlight and water alone.
I
t will
survive, grow slowly and maybe
flower occasionally. Now
take the same plant and add some of the fertilizer/nutrients it
”needs”
and watch the same plant
'
s growth take off and
grow larger
flowers than you have ever seen. The absence
of the fertilizer/nutrients was the limiting factor
in the plant
'
s
growth and overall health. Many corals
respond to the
additional nutrition in a similar fashion with increased growth,
others
respond in with just a general overall health boost
which helps them fight off parasites and
disease. Corals are
simply unable to produce things like amino acids from light
and their
only source for them is capturing pr
e
y (Reef Chili)
or other expensive
supplements. Many captive corals also
don’t produce carotenoid and xanthophyll pigments in
the
quantities that most aquarists desire
.
Feeding products like
Reef Chili, which
are rich in these pigments, is an excellent
way to enhance already present colors.
Frankly,
there is a big difference between a coral that is
alive and a healthy coral.
This topic is
a bit to
o
vast to be fully discussed here . If you
are interested in reading more about how corals feed I
highly recommend the book
"
The Reef Aquarium Volume
Three
"
by J. Charles Delbeek and Julian Sprung . This
books contains an excellent section on the topic.
What is the shelf life of Reef Chili ?
Reef Chili will stay fresh for 3-4 months at room
temperature. Reef Chili will stay fresh in the fridge for 9-12
months depending on how
humid and cold your fridge is.
For maximum freshness always make sure to keep the cap
on
tight.
Will my fish eat Reef Chili ?
Your fish will not only eat the small partials
they will go mad
for them. I have found the addition of Reef Chili to be of
enormous help
training some fish to eat prepared foods.
Reef Chili seems to trigger a feeding response fish
can’t
resist. Larger fish are of course too big to eat these small
partials but it
triggers the same feeding frenzy. Everything
simply wakes up, corals open , snails and crabs come
out of
every crack, star fish start roaming around
, etc.
I always
have to feed Reef Chili to the
tank when company comes
over so they can watch the insanity : )
The suggested feeding amount doesn’t seem
like
very much, can I use more ?
For people who are inexperienced in feeding
corals it is
easy to over use products like this
.
It's very similar to how
everyone new to
the hobby tends to over feed their fish. For
this reason
,
my recommended serving size is rather low. I
highly suggest you start there and over several months work
your way up as you watch how
your tank reacts to the new
feedings. Basically my recommended serving size is based
off
a lightly stocked tank that may already be over fed with
fish food. If you know you don’t
feed your fish very much and
you have a ton corals in your tank you may feel comfortable
using
more but I still suggest starting slow and working up.
Keep in mind it wont hurt anything to go
slow. Just like any
other food, you will know you are feeding too much if you develop excess algae.