Am I overfeeding?

csb123

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It’s all a balance of input and export, both of which we have control over. I try to have a high nutrient flux, so I have high inputs and aggressive export...AWC, filter socks, diy NOPOX, detritus removal, cryptic refugium. The two that I can adjust are water changes and NOPOX dose (also skim wet or dry.)
 

MERKEY

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Just false..

I heard, someone said, etc ,etc. no merit or facts...
I hear what you are saying....the main place I have heard that is this site from some very senior members that know WAY more than I do so I just listen and take advice.

I believ un eaten the pellets can increase nutrient levels just as any un eaten food. This is where the logic is coming from, but I'm just guessing as to what others are saying it for.
 

tehmadreefer

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I hear what you are saying....the main place I have heard that is this site from some very senior members that know WAY more than I do so I just listen and take advice.

I believ un eaten the pellets can increase nutrient levels just as any un eaten food. This is where the logic is coming from, but I'm just guessing as to what others are saying it for.

nitrates, yes. Po4 not so much. Also spends on the actual pellet. Ingredients should be on the lane. Additionally, pellets sink very slowly so if one or two makes it to the bottom, then fish are good.

them once they turn to more mush texture if they haven’t been picked up by a fish then they are consumed by cuc.
 

ca1ore

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I recall a study years ago that showed food eaten by fish versus ‘uneaten’ made very little to no difference to nutrient contribution. Makes sense if you think about it. Four cubes plus some nori and pellets certainly doesn’t seem like too much food for the fish you keep ... may actually not be enough, though that depends on the grazing surfaces in your tank. The key is how you manage nutrient export. I have over 120 fish in my 450 and feed a ton .... but I have nutrient export to handle it.
 

vetteguy53081

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If it takes more than 2-3 minutes for fish to consume it all, you probably are.
Easier to add more food than to remove it
 

Luckyduck

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I only feed one cube a day, and I have 3 tangs and two clown fish. Your feeding too much if you ask me.
He has 13 fish you have 5. May be feeding a tad much but it seems about right. Sounds like you cut back already. Maybe 1 1/2 twice a day? Like someone else said why starve your fish. Sounds like the Phosguard is helping already. There's several products like that on the market that should help. If you dont already; dump out the excess water after you melt your cubes and only feed the meat portion, that should also help. You could always add a Chaeto ball somewhere too if you have a sump but you would also want a grow light. But it sounds like you're on the right track. My Phosphates are currently climbing too and I just added Phoslock to the mix. If it doesn't help enough I am going to add the Brightwell PO4 cubes.
 
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Luckyduck

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Then what's the problem?? You have it figured out. Keep paying a lot of money with phospguard and feed your fish less, or take people's advice you ask for.
Wow aren't you a peach. He asked the question and then started trying things out. What's the matter with asking for advise and trying to fix it at the same time?? Don't answer his post if it's a waste of your time.
 

ApoIsland

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If it takes more than 2-3 minutes for fish to consume it all, you probably are.
Easier to add more food than to remove it

This is kind of my baseline as well. I feed once a day. Takes the fish somewhere between 1 -2 mins to finish off 1.5 cubes mysis.
3 tangs, potters wrasse, hawk fish, royal gramma, marine beta, copper banded, zebra barred goby.
 

Luckyduck

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Phoslock didn't work worth a crap. My Hanna checker has been measuring 0.52 for several consecutive days. I usually try to keep my Phosphates around 0.05 but earlier this week they spiked. Most likely from the addition of about 25 corals and the extra food in the system from target feeding them all. I'm going to go with what @bam123 recommended and I ordered some Phosphat-E and also some PO4 cubes. Hopefully I can get them under control. Surprisingly the corals aren't reacting too negatively to the high levels so I probably caught soon enough. Heard great things about the Phosphat-E.
 
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Maxx Yung

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Wow, I did not receive any notifications about this post - thought it died out!

Anyways - I asked LRS again and they said to not run Chaeto/fuge as my nitrates are basically undetectable but high phosphates. They also recommended me to start dosing Nitrate, so I was going to purchase this to dose.

As for now, I've cut down feeding to 3 Hikari cubes a day, while also getting 7 more Blue-Green Chromises. Problem is, I still don't understand why my phosphate is so high. My LRS said to start rinsing the food, so that's what I do. Also running Phosguard 24/7, and phosphate is consistently at 0.5. I might also start using Phosphate-E or Lanathum chloride as opposed to Phosguard.

If it takes more than 2-3 minutes for fish to consume it all, you probably are.
Easier to add more food than to remove it

It takes approximately 30 seconds or less for the fish to consume my daily feeding of 3 cubes. I'm probably under-feeding, right?

Is there any other way that Phosphate can somehow get in? I stopped feeding my corals (Reef-Roids) for about 2 months due to this Phosphate issue.
 

Luckyduck

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Wow, I did not receive any notifications about this post - thought it died out!

Anyways - I asked LRS again and they said to not run Chaeto/fuge as my nitrates are basically undetectable but high phosphates. They also recommended me to start dosing Nitrate, so I was going to purchase this to dose.

As for now, I've cut down feeding to 3 Hikari cubes a day, while also getting 7 more Blue-Green Chromises. Problem is, I still don't understand why my phosphate is so high. My LRS said to start rinsing the food, so that's what I do. Also running Phosguard 24/7, and phosphate is consistently at 0.5. I might also start using Phosphate-E or Lanathum chloride as opposed to Phosguard.



It takes approximately 30 seconds or less for the fish to consume my daily feeding of 3 cubes. I'm probably under-feeding, right?

Is there any other way that Phosphate can somehow get in? I stopped feeding my corals (Reef-Roids) for about 2 months due to this Phosphate issue.
First off Phosphat-E is great stuff! Second rinsing the food is also something you should get in the habit of doing. Both of those things are something I suggested to you previously in this thread. I'm not really sure about dosing sodium nitrate. Do you have a problem with corals? If nothing is showing signs of being unhappy don't start adding nitrates to your water. It may open you up to a whole new set of problems. I run an ultra low nutrient system and everything is happy with it. Unless I see signs of unhealthy corals I would not start doing Nitrates.

Adding Chaeto in a fuge WILL help to keep your Phosphates down so I'm not sure why they told you not to do it. I also work at my LFS and do not like some of the advise they gave you. Particularly about that you can't run Chaeto, Chaeto thrives off of Phosphates. It does need some nitrates but you can certainly grow it with what you have and it would benefit you. You can always add Chaeto Gro or Ferrion to help it. I don't really know about adding straight powdered sodium nitrate to your water. I don't think I like that at all. I would look into some NeoNitro by Brightwell. But again if your corals are happy, DO NOT start adding Nitrates to your water just because you dont have any.

 
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vetteguy53081

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Wow, I did not receive any notifications about this post - thought it died out!

Anyways - I asked LRS again and they said to not run Chaeto/fuge as my nitrates are basically undetectable but high phosphates. They also recommended me to start dosing Nitrate, so I was going to purchase this to dose.

As for now, I've cut down feeding to 3 Hikari cubes a day, while also getting 7 more Blue-Green Chromises. Problem is, I still don't understand why my phosphate is so high. My LRS said to start rinsing the food, so that's what I do. Also running Phosguard 24/7, and phosphate is consistently at 0.5. I might also start using Phosphate-E or Lanathum chloride as opposed to Phosguard.



It takes approximately 30 seconds or less for the fish to consume my daily feeding of 3 cubes. I'm probably under-feeding, right?

Is there any other way that Phosphate can somehow get in? I stopped feeding my corals (Reef-Roids) for about 2 months due to this Phosphate issue.
Through type of water
inadequate maintenance
from liquids in frozen foods
Some salt mixes even have higher Phos
 
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Maxx Yung

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First off Phosphat-E is great stuff! Second rinsing the food is also something you should get in the habit of doing. Both of those things are something I suggested to you previously in this thread. I'm not really sure about dosing sodium nitrate. Do you have a problem with corals? If nothing is showing signs of being unhappy don't start adding nitrates to your water. It may open you up to a whole new set of problems. I run an ultra low nutrient system and everything is happy with it. Unless I see signs of unhealthy corals I would not start doing Nitrates.

Adding Chaeto in a fuge WILL help to keep your Phosphates down so I'm not sure why they told you not to do it. I also work at my LFS and do not like some of the advise they gave you. Particularly about that you can't run Chaeto, Chaeto thrives off of Phosphates. It does need some nitrates but you can certainly grow it with what you have and it would benefit you. You can always add Chaeto Gro or Ferrion to help it. I don't really know about adding straight powdered sodium nitrate to your water. I don't think I like that at all. I would look into some NeoNitro by Brightwell. But again if your corals are happy, DO NOT start adding Nitrates to your water just because you dont have any.


I saw posts in R2R about rinsing food - some say it helps with Phosphates, but many also say that they noticed their corals doing better without rinsing. That's why I decided not to rinse.

I also saw a thread about dosing sodium nitrate. My nitrates are essentially 0, so I need to add some nitrate. Additionally, from what I read, dosing Nitrate can help with lowering Phosphates... I also do have problems with my corals (bad colors, and many LPS dying off).

Regarding Chaeto - My LRS said that Chaeto needs high nitrate and phosphate, and told me that I have a phosphate issue, not nitrate and phosphate issue. I can start Chaeto now, I have a fuge and a really good fuge light. It's just that my big ball of Chaeto died due to low Phosphate and Nitrate before...
 
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Maxx Yung

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Through type of water
inadequate maintenance
from liquids in frozen foods
Some salt mixes even have higher Phos

Type of water - RODI. 0 TTS. I'm assuming means 0 phosphates.
Maintenance - 10% weekly water change, changing skimmer/socks 2x a week, recently running Phosguard.
Liquids in Frozen Foods - Started rinsing food, minimal changes, if any.
Salt Mix - Red Sea Coral Pro. Don't know if that has high Phosphate.
 

vetteguy53081

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Type of water - RODI. 0 TTS. I'm assuming means 0 phosphates.
Maintenance - 10% weekly water change, changing skimmer/socks 2x a week, recently running Phosguard.
Liquids in Frozen Foods - Started rinsing food, minimal changes, if any.
Salt Mix - Red Sea Coral Pro. Don't know if that has high Phosphate.
RS coral pro is supposed to be LOW phosphate
 

edreefer

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Have you performed a test on the RO water itself? Don't "assume".

My phosphates shot sky high to 2 over time and I couldn't figure out the reason. After several different attempts to identify the source, I decided to test my RO water... It read 0.2 straight from the source. Almost a year's accumulation of ATO brought it that high. I ran GFO and brought it down again.
 

footgal

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Just my 2 cents, but maybe you should try feeding more broadly but less? So let the cube melt in a pee cup of water then pour 1/3 into a corner of the tank, your pigs will go there and eat. While they’re distracted feed another 1/3 on the other side of the tank so the other fish get some food, then the last 1/3 aim at anybody who looks left out. This is what I have to do cause my blenny beats my clowns but my clowns beat my cherub angel. I cut feeding in half and I can actually see full bellies on everyone now using this method, really helped with my algae problem. Maybe it can help you too
 

KingTideCorals

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In my honest opinion? NO.

I feed like crazy in a smaller system, I have a of filter feeding inhabitants in the tank but still, I honestly think there can be at times too much cleaning and attempts to have "super clean" water when in reality a tank can handle and enjoy a little "meaty water"
 

Luckyduck

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I haven't had any phosphate issues and I feed Reef Roids. I don't think it's coming from that and if it was it should effect your nitrates as well. Again like some one suggested have you actually tested your RODI water? I would do an ICP analysis which has two sample tubes; one for tank and, one for RO water. It will also give you a bigger more exact picture of what's going on in your tank in case you've missed something. Phosphates can also leach out of dry rock too.

And I would still be cautious about adding Nitrates to your water. Just because you read something in a forum dont just go following it. I would do more research. Back in the day everyone ran zero nitrates. That's what everyone thought was the best for your reef. It's only untill recently that it was discovered that running nitrates around 5ppm could be beneficial to corals. My water tests zero nitrates and I'm not having any issues with my coral growth or coloration. I'm not telling you not to dose nitrates but just cautioning you to be certain that is the issue before you start dosing it. And I am still sketched out by sodium nitrate powder. I would be much more comfortable with a natural product like NeoNitro. It could be a whole number of things that could cause growth and coloration issues. Just out of curiosity what kind of light do you have? You said you run a skimmer try only running it for 12 hours a day.
 

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