Oyster Eggs, Reef Nutrition or DT's?

[reef_doug]

Which oyster eggs do you prefer between Reef Nutrition and DT's?

Prefer experiences from people that have tried both brands. Thanks!

[stanlalee]

I use Reef Nutrition because I prefer the price per ml but I have never tried DT's. Not paying $20 for 30ml of oyster eggs.

[rigleautomotive]

reef nutrition is better imo.it has ovary tissue and fluids so its more like a milk where as the DT is just eggs.The RN gives my corals a better feeding response.

[chingchai]

I prefer DT.
The result may be the same but DT is frozen(longer shelf life) and more expensive. LOL

[juicesay]

I use oyster eggs, works great.
I buy the frozen kind that comes in a blister pack.
10-12 bucks last you a good 2 months.
I think there is a total of 28 cubes, you can use one every other day.

[jhoff]

Reef nutrition oyster & roti feast for me.

[reef_doug]

Thanks, I think I'll give the RN Oyster Feast a shot.
I already like their phyto feast, it really adds life to the fauna on the live rock and pods.

Would there be a need for Roti Feast if I just use Oyster Feast and Phyto?

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by reef_doug

Would there be a need for Roti Feast if I just use Oyster Feast and Phyto?

For rotifiers I dont like roti-feast lol. I prefer frozen (hikari). I realize oysterfeast is preserved but its a milky, sea smelly tissue filled mixture that corals just instantly take to (squirt over any coral that exibits a visual feeding response it will respond quickly to oyster feast. funniest sh*t ever, when I use to target feed and squirt oysterfeast with a syringe the limpets would consistantly come out and squirt love juice in sequence with me target feeding lol). Roti-feast doesn't get anywhere near the same feeding response and I'm just not crazy about rotifiers in preserves when I can get a full pack of enriched frozen hiraki rotifiers for $5 that has more rotifiers, stores longer, gets better feeding response and doesn't require preserves. But if somebody could give me a reason that roti-feast is better I'm open and all ears. I dont really feed rotifiers exclusively for sps anyway. they can be consumed by many sps but are still on the large side for exclusive sps feeding.

[SAZAMA]

never used either... just went to the asian market and bought an oyster. blended it up and froze it. used as needed.

[drawman]

Had great success with DTs. Very good polyp extension when using it. Never tried the other.

[juicesay]

Originally Posted by SAZAMA

never used either... just went to the asian market and bought an oyster. blended it up and froze it. used as needed.

Wow, never heard that one before, is it safe to feed corals and fish?

That sounds cheaper, $1 for an oyster that can make 6 months supply.

[afernandez]

^^^^^

[samstersam]

Someone did a microscope analysis of Oyster feast and there was not ONE egg. Mostly ovarian tissue. The same person examined DT's oyster eggs and found whole intact eggs.

Its somewhere in reefcentral. Do a search

[seafarm]

Stanlalee - Frozen rotifers come from China and are freshwater rotifers so they don't naturally have the essential Omega-3 fatty acids that marine organisms need. The preservatives in all the Reef Nutrition products are nothing but vitamins such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C). You can verify this by looking on the side of the bottle - they are all listed there. Our 'preservatives' are actually good for your animals

Samstersam - I know there was a picture of something posted a while back. It didn’t come from our company so I can't verify quite what it was. Have you even eaten an oyster in the summer? You've probably noticed that they go from being firm and sweet in the winter to flacid and creamy in the summer. That's because they are getting ready to spawn so they convert much of their muscle tissue into reproductive tissue.

To produce Oyster Feast we use "spawny" oysters that are harvested at the end of summer and have ripe gonadal tissue and ovarian tissue - fully of eggs. The only way there could be no eggs in Oyster Feast would be if we filtered them out. And since we don't have any other products that use oyster eggs, that would be just plain silly

The only way to really know which of the various oyster egg products are going to work best in your system is to try them all, and stick with the product that works the best!

Putting an oyster in the blender and grinding it up will produce food for many of the larger mouth animals in your system, but it won't produce particles in the 1-100 micron range that many corals need. Oyster muscle tissue is long and stringy, even ground up. If you can purchase "spawny" oysters it should work, but stores typically don't sell those because nobody wants to eat them.

[rigleautomotive]

Originally Posted by seafarm

Stanlalee - Frozen rotifers come from China and are freshwater rotifers so they don't naturally have the essential Omega-3 fatty acids that marine organisms need. The preservatives in all the Reef Nutrition products are nothing but vitamins such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C). You can verify this by looking on the side of the bottle - they are all listed there. Our 'preservatives' are actually good for your animals

Samstersam - I know there was a picture of something posted a while back. It didn’t come from our company so I can't verify quite what it was. Have you even eaten an oyster in the summer? You've probably noticed that they go from being firm and sweet in the winter to flacid and creamy in the summer. That's because they are getting ready to spawn so they convert much of their muscle tissue into reproductive tissue.

To produce Oyster Feast we use "spawny" oysters that are harvested at the end of summer and have ripe gonadal tissue and ovarian tissue - fully of eggs. The only way there could be no eggs in Oyster Feast would be if we filtered them out. And since we don't have any other products that use oyster eggs, that would be just plain silly

The only way to really know which of the various oyster egg products are going to work best in your system is to try them all, and stick with the product that works the best!

Putting an oyster in the blender and grinding it up will produce food for many of the larger mouth animals in your system, but it won't produce particles in the 1-100 micron range that many corals need. Oyster muscle tissue is long and stringy, even ground up. If you can purchase "spawny" oysters it should work, but stores typically don't sell those because nobody wants to eat them.

Awesome,glad you chimed in.Your product is 100% better then DT IMO.For one I get very little feeding response from my sps with DT.The Oyster feast turns them on to the 10th power.Not to mention the difference in price.I would need to buy quarts of DT to feed my reefs.The RN is much more economical and you get alot more useable product,whether it is ovarian tissue or the actual egg it is what my corals crave and once you start regular feeding with OF you will never go back.

Also the live phyto you offer now is a product i really love along with the OF.The phyto really fattens my LPS and palys up and they appear to have more color when I feed phyto.Several times i discontinued regular feeding of phyto and after a few weeks i notice a difference in PE and color in LPS and palys.I am sold on these products and kudos to a great company.TY

[BuckeyeTodd]

what is the best way to feed the roti feast and the oyster feast? Mix with food when feeding? Lights on or off? Target or pour near powerhead?

[rigleautomotive]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeTodd

what is the best way to feed the roti feast and the oyster feast? Mix with food when feeding? Lights on or off? Target or pour near powerhead?

I dump a bit in the sump in front of the return pump intake and it clouds the tank and disperses nicely but yea in a high flow area will work fine.I also target feed a few LPS with it a couple times a week to help them survive in my SPS tank and this is a huge benefit especially after lights out.A squirt with a syringe or turkey baster is a plus.PE on sps is noticeably better when I stick to dosing a couple times a week.If I quit for a couple weeks I see a decline in PE and color in most corals but most noticeably in the LPS (acans,chalices etc)


Every tank is different and I assume my tank is fairly low nutrient so it really helps.I must say to people with weak skimmers or small or infrequent water changers to use this stuff sparingly or you can easily over do it.It is very rich and concentrated.I personally skim heavy and do larger weekly water changes so I can feed a bit stronger then some with no issues and great results.

[James404]

I have been feeding my oyster feast mostly at night time poured directly in the flow of one of my vortechs. The feeding response I get is HUGE. I have done this during lights on as well and gotten just as good a response.

On a side note, is it just me or does this stuff have a lot of phosphates? My tank is fishless at the moment and oyster feast is the only food going in. Changing GFO twice a week with 10-15% water changes and still get elevated levels...

[snipersps]

Reef Nutrition is the Best.....

[Noypi]

Reef Nutrition works best for my reef

[bobbychullo]

Originally Posted by James404

I have been feeding my oyster feast mostly at night time poured directly in the flow of one of my vortechs. The feeding response I get is HUGE. I have done this during lights on as well and gotten just as good a response.

On a side note, is it just me or does this stuff have a lot of phosphates? My tank is fishless at the moment and oyster feast is the only food going in. Changing GFO twice a week with 10-15% water changes and still get elevated levels...

imo, any type of feeding introduces nutrients to your tank. if i am not mistaken, all nutrient-rich food contains phosphates and nitrates. rigleautomotive said it pretty well...

Originally Posted by rigleautomotive

Every tank is different and I assume my tank is fairly low nutrient so it really helps.I must say to people with weak skimmers or small or infrequent water changers to use this stuff sparingly or you can easily over do it.It is very rich and concentrated.I personally skim heavy and do larger weekly water changes so I can feed a bit stronger then some with no issues and great results.

OH, and i use reef nutrition, i have never tried DT's. too expensive and hard to get otherwise i would. i either have to get it shipped overnight, which doubles the price or have to drive 25 miles to even find a place that MAY have it. I use live phytofeast and oysterfeast and they have worked great for me. i've slowly been increasing the amount i feed and my corals are growing like crazy. i also throw in some frozen oyster eggs (blister pack) by H2O Life brand once a week.

[Moser]

Originally Posted by samstersam

Someone did a microscope analysis of Oyster feast and there was not ONE egg. Mostly ovarian tissue. The same person examined DT's oyster eggs and found whole intact eggs.

Its somewhere in reefcentral. Do a search

What does ovarian tissue look like under a microscope???.

Mo

[purge43]

Ive tryed just about all of them with strict feeding schedules and never saw a difference from when I fed and didnt. I stopped feeding about 3 months ago and theres no difference. Same growth rate, pe and color.

[bobbychullo]

Originally Posted by purge43

Ive tryed just about all of them with strict feeding schedules and never saw a difference from when I fed and didnt. I stopped feeding about 3 months ago and theres no difference. Same growth rate, pe and color.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php

[GreshamH]

Originally Posted by bobbychullo

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php

http://www.coralscience.org/main/art...ow-corals-feed

Another quality article on the subject. Don't let the title fool you, it's more then how they feed.