Am i feeding too much???

[paxton.rock]

I have:
1 long nose butterfly- 4”
1 powder blue tang- 4”
2 clownfish- 1.5”
2 cardinal fish- 1.5”
1 melanurus wrasse- 4”

I was feeding 1/2 cube brine morning AND night everyday.

I switched to 1/4 cube brine morning and night.

What leaves me wondering if I feed too much, my nitrates hover at 50ppm even with weekly water changes. And if I don’t swap out my phosphate absorber every 4 days, they like to creep up too.

 

[LAReefer4Life]

What size aquarium and do you have plenty of surface area for beneficial bacteria populations? 1 cube daily is definitely not overfeeding IMO. I feel multiple times per day with no issues well exceeding 3 cubes per day, but I have plenty of live rock in Display and additional marine pure blocks in my sump and water volume is 265 gallons.

 

[paxton.rock]

What size aquarium and do you have plenty of surface area for beneficial bacteria populations? 1 cube daily is definitely not overfeeding IMO. I feel multiple times per day with no issues well exceeding 3 cubes per day, but I have plenty of live rock in Display and additional marine pure blocks in my sump and water volume is 265 gallons.

75 gallon. But I am running canister filter

 

[lubeck]

I would agree you’re not over feeding. How quick are they eating the 1/4 cube. It sounds like there are other issues if your nutrients are that high. what type/size canister filter are you running.

 

[JC1977]

I would say you’re not feeding enough if anything. Also try some mysis for your bigger fish there’s not much to the brine shrimp.

 

[CasperOe]

Canister filters can be real bad at 'breading' nitrates if not cleaned often enough. Have a look at cleaning out your filter and your sponges in it :)

I had a similar issue before changing to a sump-style setup.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

half a cube a day for 7 fish is very little IMO. I don't agree with feeding less as a means to control nitrate and phosphate. As mentioned above, the canister filter is probably the culprit that is keeping your nutrients high.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I have:
1 long nose butterfly- 4”
1 powder blue tang- 4”
2 clownfish- 1.5”
2 cardinal fish- 1.5”
1 melanurus wrasse- 4”

I was feeding 1/2 cube brine morning AND night everyday.

I switched to 1/4 cube brine morning and night.

What leaves me wondering if I feed too much, my nitrates hover at 50ppm even with weekly water changes. And if I don’t swap out my phosphate absorber every 4 days, they like to creep up too.

I feed 4 cubes a day to my 75 gal as well as pellets on a timer. Similar fish load although I have 3 anthias.

You're not overfeeding.

I think you need to beef up the biological filtration. You could try carbon dosing with vinegar to build up the nitrate eating bacterial colonies. GFO in a reactor is the best way to manage excess phosphate, although phosguard in the canister should help a lot.