Am I overfeeding?

[Scope]

Hey all,

my tank is 500 liters and after almost 7 months, I'm done stocking it. I've been battling high nutrients recently and I'm thinking that the reason could be overfeeding. I obviously want to keep my fish healthy, but having looked at my fat foxface and plump tangs, I feel like I might've been overdoing it.

I've been giving them a pinch of Prime Reef flakes, a pinch or 2 of pellets later in the day, a cube of frozen food blend (formula 2, spirulina formula, or brine shrimp plus), and about 3-4 cubes of mysis/krill/enriched brine shrimp/marine mix etc. trying to make it as varied as possible. Also a 1/4 sheet of nori twice a week. Important info is that I always rinse frozen food in RODI and soak it in vitamins.

The stocking list is as follows:

• Hippo tang
• Tomini tang
• Kole tang
• Gem tang
• Foxface
• 2x clowns
• Banggai cardinal
• Yellow and cleaner wrasses
• Bicolor blenny
• Yellow Watchman goby
• Blue-green chromis
• Baby emperor angelfish (rehoming it soon after it transitions to adult colors)
• Longnose butterfly

How much should I actually feed these guys? Should I double down on nori and feed it every day but reduce frozen food? By how much should I reduce my feeding? It's not like the food goes uneaten either; it's gone in about a minute every single time.

 

[mcarroll]

my tank is 500 liters and after almost 7 months, I'm done stocking it. I've been battling high nutrients recently and I'm thinking that the reason could be overfeeding. I obviously want to keep my fish healthy, but having looked at my fat foxface and plump tangs, I feel like I might've been overdoing it.

What is most important is that you aren't wasting food in the tank. The quantity matters, but if it's being eaten things should be fine in most cases.

I've been giving them a pinch of Prime Reef flakes, a pinch or 2 of pellets later in the day, a cube of frozen food blend (formula 2, spirulina formula, or brine shrimp plus), and about 3-4 cubes of mysis/krill/enriched brine shrimp/marine mix etc. trying to make it as varied as possible.

Seems like your fish are spoiled, but I don't think you're overdoing it.

Make sure you aren't putting more food in the tank than they can eat within a minute or so. No food should be making it down to the rocks, sand bed and filter.

Also a 1/4 sheet of nori twice a week. Important info is that I always rinse frozen food in RODI and soak it in vitamins.

This seems counterproductive.....washing away nutrients so you can add more nutrients.

IMO, given the variety of foods, you can avoid that whole rigamarole. Just feed the froze thawed....soak the flakes and pellets in the juices if you want to supplement the dry food. Otherwise just feed the food how it comes.

The stocking list is as follows:

Does seem like the tank is VERY densely stocked – particularly for how young the tank is.

How much should I actually feed these guys? Should I double down on nori and feed it every day but reduce frozen food? By how much should I reduce my feeding? It's not like the food goes uneaten either; it's gone in about a minute every single time.

Just make sure there is no waste.

Is this a fish-only tank or reef tank with corals?

 

[Cael Gallery]

Does seem like the tank is VERY densely stocked – particularly for how young the tank is.

It's densely stocked for sure but the tank age doesn't really matter beyond a certain point, 7 months is fine

 

[slingfox]

What methods of nutrient export do you have?

 

[Viking_Reefing]

No, not at all. Sounds like a decent feeding regime. Personally I would bump up the
Nori feedings.
Basically no one is over feeding, most fish are designed to constantly feed throughout the day. Just have a look at how fat fish generally are in the wild.

The issue is not enough export imo.

 

[Scope]

Is this a fish-only tank or reef tank with corals?

Eventually I'm hoping to turn it into an SPS tank with acros, just waiting for things to settle and stabilize. It's almost barren rn and looks like a FOWLR

What methods of nutrient export do you have?

The issue is not enough export imo.

So I'm running an Octo Regal 200 int skimmer and pulling almost a full cup every week. There's also a GFO reactor and a fleece roller. On top of that I'm carbon dosing.

 

[mcarroll]

Eventually I'm hoping to turn it into an SPS tank with acros, just waiting for things to settle and stabilize. It's almost barren rn and looks like a FOWLR


So I'm running an Octo Regal 200 int skimmer and pulling almost a full cup every week. There's also a GFO reactor and a fleece roller. On top of that I'm carbon dosing.

Sure would be tempting for me to replace all that jazz (reactors, rollers, C-dosing) with some corals....but patience is a virtue. Good luck!

 

[Scope]

Sure would be tempting for me to replace all that jazz (reactors, rollers, C-dosing) with some corals....but patience is a virtue. Good luck!

Thanks mate!

I have all the gear because I bought everything in bulk when setting up a tank: a calcium reactor, dosing pumps, a pH probe, and even CO2 for the reactor from my freshwater days. And it's all in the closet, waiting for something good to happen.

I learned about patience the hard way, got some cheap acro frags only for them to STN and teach me some valuable lessons about reef chemistry and microbiology.

 

[Paul B]

I've been giving them a pinch of Prime Reef flakes, a pinch or 2 of pellets later in the day, a cube of frozen food blend (formula 2, spirulina formula, or brine shrimp plus), and about 3-4 cubes of mysis/krill/enriched brine shrimp/marine mix etc. trying to make it as varied as possible. Also a 1/4 sheet of nori twice a week. Important info is that I always rinse frozen food in RODI and soak it in vitamins.

I don't think you are overfeeding, I just feel you are feeding all the wrong things.
I personally wouldn't use any of those foods and go with one complete frozen food. I do suppliment it with real food not from a LFS like clams and live worms.

My tangs normally live for about 10 years or more and have never seen nori, flakes, pellets or vitamins.

Those dry foods are also loaded with preservatives and artificial colors.

You also don't need to soak anything in vitamins. Real foods have more than enough vitamins.
But they are your fish and you can give them what you like. Good Luck.

 

[Paul B]

I don't think you are overfeeding, I just feel you are feeding all the wrong things.
I personally wouldn't use any of those foods and go with one complete frozen food. I do suppliment it with real food not from a LFS like clams and live worms.

My tangs normally live for about 10 years or more and have never seen nori, flakes, pellets or vitamins.

Those dry foods are also loaded with preservatives and artificial colors.

You also don't need to soak anything in vitamins. Real foods have more than enough vitamins.
But they are your fish and you can give them what you like. Good Luck.

 

[exnisstech]

I've been battling high nutrients recently

When I see this statement I always like to ask what your levels are? Often what many in the hobby consider high are not really too high. Personally I've not found high levels to be a problem in my tank with 9 tangs that's fed very heavily. My nitrate runs 40-50 and PO4 0.4 -0.9 .

 

[Scope]

When I see this statement I always like to ask what your levels are? Often what many in the hobby consider high are not really too high. Personally I've not found high levels to be a problem in my tank with 9 tangs that's fed very heavily. My nitrate runs 40-50 and PO4 0.4 -0.9 .

My al time high from over a month ago was well over 1 ppm PO4 and 50 ppm NO3. With my acropora ambitions, that's a bit higher than I'd like, and it also manifested in many of my corals closing up or straight-up dying.

 

[Cael Gallery]

I don't think you are overfeeding, I just feel you are feeding all the wrong things.
I personally wouldn't use any of those foods and go with one complete frozen food. I do suppliment it with real food not from a LFS like clams and live worms.

My tangs normally live for about 10 years or more and have never seen nori, flakes, pellets or vitamins.

Those dry foods are also loaded with preservatives and artificial colors.

You also don't need to soak anything in vitamins. Real foods have more than enough vitamins.
But they are your fish and you can give them what you like. Good Luck.

Why do you disagree with feeding tangs algae, when it is practically their sole food source in the wild?

 

[exnisstech]

My al time high from over a month ago was well over 1 ppm PO4 and 50 ppm NO3. With my acropora ambitions, that's a bit higher than I'd like, and it also manifested in many of my corals closing up or straight-up dying.

I agree acros probably wouldn't be happy. I have a few pieces that I've added to the high nutrient tank when I break a piece off working on my SPS tank. They're surviving but not thriving. Monticaps are happy but it doesn't take much to keep them growing. My SPS tank, heavy on acros requires dosing ammonium and sodium phosphate to keep levels detectable and the tank does well. I only have 2 tangs and a damsel but feed several times a day already so I dose instead of feeding more. It's easier to control the levels tho I rather not dose but after 3 years of chronicly low N and P I've gotten used to it..

 

[Paul B]

Why do you disagree with feeding tangs algae, when it is practically their sole food source in the wild?

I don't disagree with it too much, but I have spent hundreds of hours underwater with tangs and of course they do eat algae. They will also eat anything else they can catch and eat a lot of worms, pods and other life forms while they are grazing. I don't think the dry nori people feed have much real nutrition.

As I said, I have been keeping them since the 70s and they have never gotten nori and they have never gotten any disease and usually live for about 10 years.

As for dry foods, no fish eats that in the sea and if you read the package, you will see the first ingredient is probably fish meal and most of the other 30 or 40 ingredients are preservatives, anti caking agents, artificial colors, manufactured vitamins and some minerals. They don't eat any of that in the sea either.

I also feel the frozen brine shrimp he is feeding is not the best food, far from it although the frozen mysis is OK as long as it is from salt water.

I don't think that diet will kill his fish, I just think there are better alternatives that will keep his fish healthy and immune.

He asked about high nutrients.

my tank is 500 liters and after almost 7 months, I'm done stocking it. I've been battling high nutrients recently and I'm thinking that the reason could be overfeeding.

Dry foods have a lot of things in them that are not helpful for health but will add to the nutrient level.
If you are going to feed, feed something that is part of the fishes normal diet where all of it is real food which is much better for the fish.

Vitamins are also not needed and will add to the nutrients in the water because the fish can only use a tiny bit of vitamins and there is plenty in real food.

Just my opinion of course, but he asked and that is my opinion.

 

[Cael Gallery]

no fish eats that in the sea

I've seen you say this a lot on various threads regarding nutrition, which is why i was so surprised that you consider feeding nori to be pointless.
It's just seaweed that has been dried, so i'm not sure why you say that it doesn't have any real nutrition.
I just don't get why the whole "feed only natural foods" suddenly doesn't apply to herbivorous species.

 

[Paul B]

which is why i was so surprised that you consider feeding nori to be pointless.

I don't think it is pointless; I just feel there are better food alternatives, and the question was "too many nutrients". Dried nori has a lot of nutrients in it and it is not a very dense, as for health benefits.

It is OK, and I realize many people feed it, and tangs eat it "fresh" constantly in the sea. They have to eat it all day because it has very little nutrients as compared to say a clam.

It won't kill your fish, but along with the brine shrimp and I assume, dried spirulina, I think there are much better alternatives. As I said 3 times, just my opinion.

Cael Gallery, I love Australia and did my first dive in Sydney in 1971. I stayed in Kings Cross when that was a good neighborhood.