Feed like a geek...Your reef will LOVE you for it!

[Nano sapiens]

I used to rinse religiously using a BBS net. However, since my system had pale corals at the time I started to just use the frozen food 'as is' to add a bit more nutrient load. In my case, the added micro particles and other products helped to create better coral coloration and growth. In fact, I've taken to grinding some of the dry flake food between my fingers in the tank every time I feed to create a very fine paste which has worked wonders for all the corals.

Here comes the 'caveat' that no two systems are alike. Not all tanks can take this kind of input, but since I vigorously remove detritus weekly from the SB and LR (and anywhere else) with the WC I have had no measurable nitrate or phosphate in nearly three years of testing (Salifert). Algae is also very minimal and I use this bio-indicator to warn me should the nutrients ever become excessive. There is a lot more to a healthy substrate than is generally realized or even completely understood, but that's another topic for another day.

 

[uniquecorals]

I have a 125 mixed reef. I feed every other day. Fish and some corals get a food mix that I made of shrimp, clams, mussels, cuddle fish, squid, mysis, cyclops, and reef chili. Once I finely chopped all ingredients I rinsed food then froze. They get a piece every other day. Corals get the same ingredients that were purified in a blender mixed with reef chili. Every other day. 10% water changes every week. My phosphates have always been around .36. Nitrates about 7. We had some red slime a little earlier, we got rid of it. Now some spots come and go. Tank is about 9 months old.

Nice and clean!

-Scott

 

[uniquecorals]

I used to rinse religiously using a BBS net. However, since my system had pale corals at the time I started to just use the frozen food 'as is' to add a bit more nutrient load. In my case, the added micro particles and other products helped to create better coral coloration and growth. In fact, I've taken to grinding some of the dry flake food between my fingers in the tank every time I feed to create a very fine paste which has worked wonders for all the corals.

Here comes the 'caveat' that no two systems are alike. Not all tanks can take this kind of input, but since I vigorously remove detritus weekly from the SB and LR (and anywhere else) with the WC I have had no measurable nitrate or phosphate in nearly three years of testing (Salifert). Algae is also very minimal and I use this bio-indicator to warn me should the nutrients ever become excessive. There is a lot more to a healthy substrate than is generally realized or even completely understood, but that's another topic for another day.

I agree with your caveat...Every system bhaves differently...and nutrient export mechanisms are different from tank to tank, which further affects their ability to process nitrogenous wastes...Part of the fun, though, right?

-Scott

 

[uniquecorals]

I thaw out a frozen cube, discard liquid, then feed it to my fish with a syringe over a 2-3 hour period each day.

Now, that's what I'm talking about!

-Scott

 

[Eienna]

I generally overfeed a bit, dropping some in throughout the day. Works for me. My dragonet can 'graze' at his leisure and my hermit crabs are growing like weeds!

 

[specvjeff]

I stick mainly to feeding my fish pellets. They get fed pellets daily. A couple of times a week I mix in some Mysis and cyclopeeze. I rinse both thoroughly with RODI water until the water is no longer cloudy.

Corals such as Fungias, Cycloceris, Acanthastrea, Caulastrea, etc get Fauna Marin Pellets twice a week. For the corals that require a smaller food, I feed them a zoaplankton mix from Tropic Marin once a week.

During any feeding I shut off the return pump. When I feed Cyclopeeze or the Fauna Marin, I leave the Vortechs on to distribute the food to the corals. I feed both very sparingly to avoid access organic waste. The Fauna Marin is hand fed directly to the corals that eat it.

So far this type of feeding has kept both nitrates, and phosphate at a very low level.

Jeff Saurwein
SDMAS President
SDReefs Moderator
Sent from my Galaxy s4 using Tapatalk

 

[blue.flyzz]

Now, that's what I'm talking about!

-Scott

Thanks Scott...will be building my new 125 gallon in a month or so, checked out your site, signed up for your newsletter, nice corals, hopefully we can do some business when I start stocking.....Sal

 

[uniquecorals]

I generally overfeed a bit, dropping some in throughout the day. Works for me. My dragonet can 'graze' at his leisure and my hermit crabs are growing like weeds!

I see what you mean by "over feeding" in this sense...I have tried the method of "pre-stocking" a reef with copepods, amphipods, plankton cultures, etc. and let in sit without firshes for a few months while these animals proliferated...Then I stocked with Pipefishes, Mandarins, etc. It taxed my patience, but I had a tank fully stocked with live foods right off the bat!

-Scott

 

[uniquecorals]

I stick mainly to feeding my fish pellets. They get fed pellets daily. A couple of times a week I mix in some Mysis and cyclopeeze. I rinse both thoroughly with RODI water until the water is no longer cloudy.

Corals such as Fungias, Cycloceris, Acanthastrea, Caulastrea, etc get Fauna Marin Pellets twice a week. For the corals that require a smaller food, I feed them a zoaplankton mix from Tropic Marin once a week.

During any feeding I shut off the return pump. When I feed Cyclopeeze or the Fauna Marin, I leave the Vortechs on so distribute the food to the corals. I feed both very sparingly to avoid access organic waste. The Fauna Marin is hand fed directly to the corals that eat it.

So far this type of feeding has kept both nitrates, and phosphate at a very low level.

Jeff Saurwein
SDMAS President
SDReefs Moderator
Sent from my Galaxy s4 using Tapatalk

That sounds just perfect...again, I think foods like Fauna Marin, which are "clean", will help your water quality fare far better than foods that are filled with packing juices, gels, etc, that are absorbed into the water column without being consumed.

-Scott

 

[uniquecorals]

Thanks Scott...will be building my new 125 gallon in a month or so, checked out your site, signed up for your newsletter, nice corals, hopefully we can do some business when I start stocking.....Sal

Happy to help you out with that project! We have a few corals...:mod:

-Scott

 

[Eienna]

I see what you mean by "over feeding" in this sense...I have tried the method of "pre-stocking" a reef with copepods, amphipods, plankton cultures, etc. and let in sit without firshes for a few months while these animals proliferated...Then I stocked with Pipefishes, Mandarins, etc. It taxed my patience, but I had a tank fully stocked with live foods right off the bat!

-Scott

I do have to keep an eye on my params, but even with the heavy feeding I've been able to keep nitrate at 0 and that's without a skimmer!!

 

[bigfoot86]

I feed pellets just about every day but only once each day. Sometimes I'll skip a day here or there and then once every week to week and a half Ill feed mysis to the fish and coral with a turkey baster and turn off the flow in my tank. Little bit easier to distribute the food that way without a lot of waste.

 

[pickupman66]

Nice article. Ill admit it, im a LAZY reefer. I normally pull out a baster worth of water and in a bowl of that, I thaw the frozen. then it is usually poured back onto the tank. Since reading the article I have been using an old net to strain the thawed food before i toss it in to the tank.

as for frozen, I normally feed Rods food and PEMysis. Occasionaly some other frozen cubes but not normally. I tried feeding Roggers food but really cant stand the way it stick together. my fish prefer the dispersion of the loose foods.

 

[uniquecorals]

I feed pellets just about every day but only once each day. Sometimes I'll skip a day here or there and then once every week to week and a half Ill feed mysis to the fish and coral with a turkey baster and turn off the flow in my tank. Little bit easier to distribute the food that way without a lot of waste.

It's funny, but I was never a pellet food user, until Chris Turnier from Sustainable Aquatics convinced me to try their "Hatchery Diet" a while back...and fish chow down on the stuff. I can't help but think that pellets may decompose slower than packing juices and micro-pieces of frozen foods...just a gut feeling here, so it is more more forgiving, IMO.

-Scott

 

[Eienna]

My reef fish love New Life Spectrum Small Fish formula pellets. Even the m. dragonet likes it.

 

[Gillman]

Interesting post. I wonder if I would see improvements. I toss in 3 frozen cubes a day. Feed a million pellets and flake. My Chevron tang is a pig.

Things seem fine though.

 

[feh]

I've already thawed my frozen foods before using them and dumping out the water from the container. Thawed food is easier to break up and feed a smaller amount than trying to cut up a frozen cube. Corals I generally target feed anyway to ensure they get food. Nothing really new here for me, but good info.

 

[Ike]

This is the third or fourth thread this week I have read about rinsing food. The other articles had a link to a write up about frozen foods not having enough phosphate to worry about. Interesting debate.

The side of the debate that doesn't rinse has a little math to back up the claims as well I used to own a frozen fish food company and have studied fish nutrition quite a bit. I've also had a reef aquarium for nearly 30 years since I was the age of 10. I don't bother rinsing frozen food, nor would I ever suggest someone else spend the time or energy worrying about it. This is another leftover from old practices in the hobby that had little basis in science. The other one is people that have some fear of phosphates in food or think they need to feed food low or devoid of phosphorous. Show me someone who has figured out how to do that, and I'll show you some unhealthy fish.

 

[pickupman66]

So no rinsing, but do strain once thawed?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Eienna]

So no rinsing, but do strain once thawed?

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Kind of depends, I think. If you have filter feeders or even goniopora, I would say don't strain. Just IMO.