Flow vs Food

[butts182]

I just watched a sweet video that Marvin has posted on his 110 wrasse and anthias tank and it got me to thinking...if you have high flow in your tank, do you feed more? I think this would make sense because the fish expell more energy to swim, but do you actually feed more because of this?

 

[subielover]

100X flow in my tank, and I feed at least 2-3 times a day with a variety of mysis, cyclopeeze and new life spectrum pellets. Depending on what I feed, I will put the vortechs on feed mode. Fish are all fat and healthy and sps grows well.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

100X flow in my tank, and I feed at least 2-3 times a day with a variety of mysis, cyclopeeze and new life spectrum pellets. Depending on what I feed, I will put the vortechs on feed mode. Fish are all fat and healthy and sps grows well.

1+ on feed mode for the vortechs...slows down the flow and allows fish to get the big pieces while still circulating. Flow turns back on and the smaller pieces find there way to the corals too!!

 

[akabryanhall]

I'm thinking he meant something different. If the flow is high in teh tank, the fish are going to be trying that much harder to get around, burning more calories etc, so should you feed your fish more often if you hav extremely high flow in your tank.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

I'm thinking he meant something different. If the flow is high in teh tank, the fish are going to be trying that much harder to get around, burning more calories etc, so should you feed your fish more often if you hav extremely high flow in your tank.

I see...thats what i get for reading and working LOL. Honestly i think our fish expell more energy out in the wild and probably have a tougher time working for their food. In most cases we probably over feed if anything. We save them the effort of finding food. That probably holds true for any captive wildlife. If anything the flow keeps them from getting too fat and being lazy LOL

 

[butts182]

I'm thinking he meant something different. If the flow is high in teh tank, the fish are going to be trying that much harder to get around, burning more calories etc, so should you feed your fish more often if you hav extremely high flow in your tank.

Yes, this is what I meant...but since we side tracked it a little, I'll give you my 2 cents...I purposefully never use the feed mode on my tank for the following reasons:
1 - the flow doesn't stop for the fish in the ocean, so why stop it in your tank...i feel that the flow makes it more "fun" for the fish...maybe that's just more fun for me to watch :bigsmile:
2 - my pump is positioned near the overflow and keeps food from flowing into it

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Yes, this is what I meant...but since we side tracked it a little, I'll give you my 2 cents...I purposefully never use the feed mode on my tank for the following reasons:
1 - the flow doesn't stop for the fish in the ocean, so why stop it in your tank...i feel that the flow makes it more "fun" for the fish...maybe that's just more fun for me to watch :bigsmile:
2 - my pump is positioned near the overflow and keeps food from flowing into it

Yeah but that's the cool thing of feed mode. It doesn't completely stop just tones it down (adjustable percentage) for a certain period of time (adjustable for your perference) for fish and corals to eat.

 

[johnanddawn]

i have a relatively small bioload and only feed once a day without touching the flow rate
it's an interesting concept though as to whether or not flow rate effects metabolic rate of fish in our aquariums - intuitively one would think it does, but in the end i think as long as what your doing works to keep your fish happy and healthy it is just another one of those unmeasurable variables in our systems

 

[raymond]

i like to feed often but small amounts each time, also let me put a varrity in the tank. as for the flow i leave it the way it is 24/7, i do how ever turn off my skimmer when feeding certain things that would make my skimmer go crazy