Food!

[USMA36]

I will be starting to add livestock to my 90 gallon mixed (eventually) reef. I have been searching the forums for food threads and I thought it'd be a good idea to post a poll and see how much info we can get in one thread. I'm trying to get an idea of how everyone else feeds and how much. Obviously this depends on size of the tank and the amount of livestock but I think it will give me and others a good baseline on where to start. Please post your aquarium size along with what you feed, how much of each, % frozen vs dry vs other, how often, as well as any special considerations/recommendations and stuff to avoid. So far, for me I think I'm gonna have a mix of frozen and pellets dropped by an auto feeder, just not sure what percentage of each yet. I also have a crazy work schedule (24-48 hours on 72-96 hours off) because of which I will have to depend on less informed family members for feeding. I also plan on some clip food for the Herbavores.

 

[laga77]

Check out the Aquarium Nutrition Section.

 

[HB AL]

My tank is a 92 gallon Cad Lights + a 30 gallon sump with a skimmer and a uv sterilizer on 1 of the lines of my 2 return pumps. I just got into corals a little over a year ago after having fowlr for the last 30 years. I keep a bag of carbon and phosgaurd in the sump 24/7. I have 5 Kessil 130 we tuna blue lights with the intensity always set at 100% and have the blues at 100% for the 1st couple hours then around 50% for the blues, 50% whites for the remainder of the day until the last hour or so when they go back to 100% blue. My lights are on timers from 9am till 10 pm and have ZERO nuasince algae on the rocks and clean the glass every few days or so to keep it clean. I have ALOT of live rock. I have lots of sps and lps, a few shrooms, Zoa's and a couple clams. I also have 15 fish some of which are getting to be a good size. I can tell you my fish are all fat and sassy. The one thing I feed them everyday is 7 cubes of frozen food, Hikari misys, spiriluna brine, ocean plankton, mega marine. Every other day I give them 3 clams on the half shell since the large red coris wrasse goes crazy for em. Once a week or so I will throw in some Hikari pellets marine A, C and seaweed extreme to mix it up. Every couple weeks or so they also get a few different types of mixed together flake foods. I never throw any coral foods in as they all seem to thrive and surely are getting there fair share from the fish feedings and waste. I manually dose calcium and alk and put some red sea no3/ po4 every other day or so. I've been on this regimen for the last year or so with no ill effect as all the fish are very healthy and all the corals are colored up and growing. Also for no real reason other than it can't hurt I change 20gallons of water every couple months or so, I use Red Sea Pro salt.

 

[USMA36]

Awesome. Exactly why I am looking for! My tank is 90 gallons and my sump is 35 gallons. So far I have 1 Radion XR30 Gen 3 pro for the entire tank with hopes of adding another or at least an XR15 as my wallet slowly recovers from my initial build.

My tank is a 92 gallon Cad Lights + a 30 gallon sump with a skimmer and a uv sterilizer on 1 of the lines of my 2 return pumps. I just got into corals a little over a year ago after having fowlr for the last 30 years. I keep a bag of carbon and phosgaurd in the sump 24/7. I have 5 Kessil 130 we tuna blue lights with the intensity always set at 100% and have the blues at 100% for the 1st couple hours then around 50% for the blues, 50% whites for the remainder of the day until the last hour or so when they go back to 100% blue. My lights are on timers from 9am till 10 pm and have ZERO nuasince algae on the rocks and clean the glass every few days or so to keep it clean. I have ALOT of live rock. I have lots of sps and lps, a few shrooms, Zoa's and a couple clams. I also have 15 fish some of which are getting to be a good size. I can tell you my fish are all fat and sassy. The one thing I feed them everyday is 7 cubes of frozen food, Hikari misys, spiriluna brine, ocean plankton, mega marine. Every other day I give them 3 clams on the half shell since the large red coris wrasse goes crazy for em. Once a week or so I will throw in some Hikari pellets marine A, C and seaweed extreme to mix it up. Every couple weeks or so they also get a few different types of mixed together flake foods. I never throw any coral foods in as they all seem to thrive and surely are getting there fair share from the fish feedings and waste. I manually dose calcium and alk and put some red sea no3/ po4 every other day or so. I've been on this regimen for the last year or so with no ill effect as all the fish are very healthy and all the corals are colored up and growing. Also for no real reason other than it can't hurt I change 20gallons of water every couple months or so, I use Red Sea Pro salt.

 

[USMA36]

I have been using the search function to find food posts. Lots of great info, I thought it would be helpful to have all that as well as specific types/percentages/progress/problems all in one place.

Check out the Aquarium Nutrition Section.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

We'll move ya on over to that section. Enjoy!

 

[USMA36]

I kinda wish it could stay in the general area. Very very few posts in the nutrition section. I really want this to be seen and the poll answered by as many people as possible.

We'll move ya on over to that section. Enjoy!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

You can be moved back, but it sort of defeats the purpose of having sections and helping peeps in the future.

 

[Valkyrie]

Activity in a forum section happens when there's activity to draw people.
I'd look in nutrition before I searched in general.
But that could just be me.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I feed 3-5 times a day. It's a rotation of Piscine mysis, LRS reef frenzy, Hikari mysis, Hikari Spulirulina Brine, San Francisco Bay Reef plankton, San Francisco bay fish eggs, tobiko, and a blend of salmon, oysters, cod, fish eggs, and whatever local fish are being caught. It is fed to a mixed reef that is sps dominant with 7 wrasses, dartfish, marine betta pr, royal gramma in an 80g.

 

[USMA36]

How do you have the time to feed 5x a day. I'm trying to figure out how I can manage 3x. I'm hoping my lfs sells frozen food the 30.00 shipping charge is twice the cost of the food. Can I ask what you spend a month in food?

I feed 3-5 times a day. It's a rotation of Piscine mysis, LRS reef frenzy, Hikari mysis, Hikari Spulirulina Brine, San Francisco Bay Reef plankton, San Francisco bay fish eggs, tobiko, and a blend of salmon, oysters, cod, fish eggs, and whatever local fish are being caught. It is fed to a mixed reef that is sps dominant with 7 wrasses, dartfish, marine betta pr, royal gramma in an 80g.

 

[eatbreakfast]

How do you have the time to feed 5x a day. I'm trying to figure out how I can manage 3x. I'm hoping my lfs sells frozen food the 30.00 shipping charge is twice the cost of the food. Can I ask what you spend a month in food?

Acquiring all the food isn't terrible price-wise, because once you have such a variety it will last a while.

I get the food ready when I get home from work, and every 45-60 minutes pour a little bit in. It ends up being approximately the equivalent of 1 cube per feeding.

 

[Breadman03]

How do you have the time to feed 5x a day. I'm trying to figure out how I can manage 3x. I'm hoping my lfs sells frozen food the 30.00 shipping charge is twice the cost of the food. Can I ask what you spend a month in food?

We've got a few solid options in NEPA.

• Scranton Aquarium-Scranton-looks nice, good reputation. I haven't bought anything there yet because I only recently found out about it, but the reputation is good and I was impressed when I stopped by. LRS
• M&F Reefs-Brodheadsville-very DIY look, but good selection. LRS
• Something Fishy-Northampton-nice all around, and been in business for years. Solid plumbing selection.
• Reef to Rift-Hatfield-new shop, but the owners are very experienced. I expect them to thrive. Good selection of niche items like medications, fragging tools and other odd stuff.
• That Pet Place-Lancaster-It's a warehouse pet shop. They carry fish, reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids. Maybe other stuff. They had some $$ issues a few years ago that tarnished their reputation, but seem to be recovering nicely. It wasn't worth the drive for a while, but it's been better lately. The tanks aren't "pretty" because they are wholesale type tanks-just a series of blue tanks with fish in them. I'd plan a day trip out there with TPP as just a part of it. Check out Isaac's next door for good sandwiches. They are a small chain shop.

As far as food goes, Larry's Reef Services/LRS is one of the top foods out there. The LRS website has a dealer locator.

 

[USMA36]

I've been to Scranton Aquarium several times. They are the closest to my house (about 30 min away) They have been great. I bought a bunch of stuff including a used light. There was a minor issue with the light and they went out of their way to make it right. I wish they had some more livestock and dry goods on hand but for a small shop they have a good amount. They also keep inverts in the same tanks as the fish, it's nice to know their fish aren't all doped up on copper. I believe they are also in the process of greatly expanding their livestock offerings. I bought my tank and some plumbing from Something Fishy. Nice sized store with tons of stuff dry goods and live stock. I did notice 2 or 3 dead fish and a few others not doing too hot in their tanks. That turned me off a bit. I haven't been to any of the others yet.

We've got a few solid options in NEPA.

• Scranton Aquarium-Scranton-looks nice, good reputation. I haven't bought anything there yet because I only recently found out about it, but the reputation is good and I was impressed when I stopped by. LRS
• M&F Reefs-Brodheadsville-very DIY look, but good selection. LRS
• Something Fishy-Northampton-nice all around, and been in business for years. Solid plumbing selection.
• Reef to Rift-Hatfield-new shop, but the owners are very experienced. I expect them to thrive. Good selection of niche items like medications, fragging tools and other odd stuff.
• That Pet Place-Lancaster-It's a warehouse pet shop. They carry fish, reptiles, amphibians, and arachnids. Maybe other stuff. They had some $$ issues a few years ago that tarnished their reputation, but seem to be recovering nicely. It wasn't worth the drive for a while, but it's been better lately. The tanks aren't "pretty" because they are wholesale type tanks-just a series of blue tanks with fish in them. I'd plan a day trip out there with TPP as just a part of it. Check out Isaac's next door for good sandwiches. They are a small chain shop.

As far as food goes, Larry's Reef Services/LRS is one of the top foods out there. The LRS website has a dealer locator.

 

[randy4083]

That pet place is a nice store because I live in Maryland and I go there sometimes they get alot of nice corals and fish and they have good discounts once you sign up in there club or whatever you want to call it

 

[USMA36]

Thanks. That's a bit far from my area. I'm gonna try and support my lfs Scranton Aquarium. Hopefully, he will be able to get most of what I need.