How much food is to much food?

[btackerman]

Does anyone have Guidance into feeding your fish. My nitrates it at .25 But I can tell I have a nutrient problem in the tank due to the green hair algae I’ll break I’ve had to deal with for the past eight months. I have been treating him with vibrant for the past three and have not noticed a difference in the algae. The only thing that I could contribute to is the amount of food I put into the tank.

My current stocking list is a guinea fowl puffer fish, large angelfish, coral beauty, bird wrasse, Zebra eel, 2 anthias, 2 maroon clowns, a regal tang, vlamingi tang, stripped Bristol tooth, purple tang, triggerfish and a foxface (it is a 400 gallon tank).

Evening feeding is 4 frozen food cubes, 2 jumbo shrimp, 4 half clams and a 1/2 of assorted proteins.

Morning feeding is pellets for an automatic feeder, just under a tablespoon of pellets.

am I feeding to much and if so what should I cut back on?

 

[Radu]

Does anyone have Guidance into feeding your fish. My nitrates it at .25 But I can tell I have a nutrient problem in the tank due to the green hair algae I’ll break I’ve had to deal with for the past eight months. I have been treating him with vibrant for the past three and have not noticed a difference in the algae. The only thing that I could contribute to is the amount of food I put into the tank.

My current stocking list is a guinea fowl puffer fish, large angelfish, coral beauty, bird wrasse, Zebra eel, 2 anthias, 2 maroon clowns, a regal tang, vlamingi tang, stripped Bristol tooth, purple tang, triggerfish and a foxface (it is a 400 gallon tank).

Evening feeding is 4 frozen food cubes, 2 jumbo shrimp, 4 half clams and a 1/2 of assorted proteins.

Morning feeding is pellets for an automatic feeder, just under a tablespoon of pellets.

am I feeding to much and if so what should I cut back on?

You need to buy 100 big turbo snails.

 

[btackerman]

You need to buy 100 big turbo snails.

Wish I could lol, it is a nice snack for a lot of my fish.

 

[Reeffraff]

There are many varieties of hair algae that can thrive at low nutrient levels. If you have one of those, trying to 'starve' it isn't going to help. Manual removal combined with some known hair algae eaters such as turbo snails, sea hares and/or some large rabbitfish may be the best option. In your case snails (and maybe sea hares) might be off the table due to the types of fish you have. Waterfall style algae scrubbers are also a great way to outcompete the hair algae. Just remember, it will take some time to beat no matter which option you choose, so be patient but persistent.

 

[CodyBot]

Let them eat until they’re happy

 

[vtecintegra]

It's not you're feeding too much, it's that your filtration and/or clean up crew is inadequate.

One of my pet peeves is limiting food to the fish and organisms to control nitrate and phosphate. I believe in feeding well and keeping the fish healthy. Fix nutrient problems with any of the other numerous methods available.

 

[btackerman]

It's not you're feeding too much, it's that your filtration and/or clean up crew is inadequate.

One of my pet peeves is limiting food to the fish and organisms to control nitrate and phosphate. I believe in feeding well and keeping the fish healthy. Fix nutrient problems with any of the other numerous methods available.

So my phosphate barely shows on a test and my nitrates range between .25-1 depending on my last water change. I have a protein skimmer rated for 600 gallons and a large algea scrubber and that is about it for filtration. I agree with under feeding especially for large eels and a large puffer not to sure how much so I make sure they are full. I did have a few fish die from ich and only found 1 of the bodies.
What else could I use in my clean up crew that would survive. I do have 2 conchs and they seem to be the only thing that no one pics on.

 

[davidcalgary29]

How bitey is your trigger? I'd certainly want to add three or four urchins into the mix, but they'd be in danger of becoming snacks with the wrong crowd. I've been tempted by the long-spined sea urchin, as it would seem to be well-armoured against attack, but understand that their sting can be unpleasant.

 

[attiland]

Does anyone have Guidance into feeding your fish. My nitrates it at .25 But I can tell I have a nutrient problem in the tank due to the green hair algae I’ll break I’ve had to deal with for the past eight months. I have been treating him with vibrant for the past three and have not noticed a difference in the algae. The only thing that I could contribute to is the amount of food I put into the tank.

My current stocking list is a guinea fowl puffer fish, large angelfish, coral beauty, bird wrasse, Zebra eel, 2 anthias, 2 maroon clowns, a regal tang, vlamingi tang, stripped Bristol tooth, purple tang, triggerfish and a foxface (it is a 400 gallon tank).

Evening feeding is 4 frozen food cubes, 2 jumbo shrimp, 4 half clams and a 1/2 of assorted proteins.

Morning feeding is pellets for an automatic feeder, just under a tablespoon of pellets.

am I feeding to much and if so what should I cut back on?

0.25 nitrate is not a nutrient problem however you need to control where your algae grows by using algae reactors/scrubber.

 

[btackerman]

How bitey is your trigger? I'd certainly want to add three or four urchins into the mix, but they'd be in danger of becoming snacks with the wrong crowd. I've been tempted by the long-spined sea urchin, as it would seem to be well-armoured against attack, but understand that their sting can be unpleasant.

I do not know just knowing the risk I run with the trigger I never have bought one

 

[vtecintegra]

Curious to see a photo of how bad the algae is. If it's significant, then it's probably using up PO4 and NO3 rapidly, resulting in low numbers. My tank is like that now.

Almost everyone uses snails and adjusts their numbers to keep algae under control. You could try an urchin maybe.

I thought the Foxface was a big algae eater. Foxface + good skimming + scrubber should be managing the situation. Are you sure it's not bryopsis you're dealing with?

 

[btackerman]

Curious to see a photo of how bad the algae is. If it's significant, then it's probably using up PO4 and NO3 rapidly, resulting in low numbers. My tank is like that now.

Almost everyone uses snails and adjusts their numbers to keep algae under control. You could try an urchin maybe.

I thought the Foxface was a big algae eater. Foxface + good skimming + scrubber should be managing the situation. Are you sure it's not bryopsis you're dealing with?

Here is a picture of the tank

 

[Spare time]

Maybe try fluconazole?

 

[btackerman]

Maybe try fluconazole?

The anti fungal medication?

 

[anthonygf]

What is your magnesium level? Several months ago I raised my mag to 1500. I read on this sight of someone doing this to control GHA. Well my algae is dying and starting to turn white, it is a slow process by my algae is slowly receding. You need to remove the algae by hand or the method I learned from a fellow reefer. Get a Stainless Steel Straw and a hose and suck out the GHA. All mt corals and clam are doing fine with the elevated magnesium.

 

[kingjoe]

Does anyone have Guidance into feeding your fish. My nitrates it at .25 But I can tell I have a nutrient problem in the tank due to the green hair algae I’ll break I’ve had to deal with for the past eight months. I have been treating him with vibrant for the past three and have not noticed a difference in the algae. The only thing that I could contribute to is the amount of food I put into the tank.

My current stocking list is a guinea fowl puffer fish, large angelfish, coral beauty, bird wrasse, Zebra eel, 2 anthias, 2 maroon clowns, a regal tang, vlamingi tang, stripped Bristol tooth, purple tang, triggerfish and a foxface (it is a 400 gallon tank).

Evening feeding is 4 frozen food cubes, 2 jumbo shrimp, 4 half clams and a 1/2 of assorted proteins.

Morning feeding is pellets for an automatic feeder, just under a tablespoon of pellets.

am I feeding to much and if so what should I cut back on?

I have a similar algae issue right now. I put two small blue tuxedo urchins in the tank (captive bred from Biota), and they are mowing through it at a very impressive rate; I may get two or three more. I also had one in my return pump chamber in the sump, and it did a good job of cleaning up the algae in there. Not really sure how your current inhabitants might view the urchins, though. I'm a little concerned about what will happen when I move my Harlequin Tusk out of quarantine and into the main tank in about a month.

 

[anthonygf]

My nitrates average 5-10 and phos 0.04 to 0.1. I feed kinda heavy twice a day of assorted quality flakes, 30-40m of live phyto, 20m of zooplankton,10m of AB+ every few days, oyster eggs once a week in my 75 gallon.

 

[vtecintegra]

Well that's about as bad as it gets. If snails aren't an option, I'd try an urchin. If the urchin isn't effective, then I'd try fluconazole. That's enough algae to probably give inaccurate test results on your test kits. And I'd attack it with manual removal. I use one of these sonic scrubbers. They eat batteries though, so I use rechargeables with it. I crank up the flow and scrub, letting a filter sock catch it all. I'd guess the algae in the tank is out competing the algae scrubber. Just speculating, but if you beat the tank algae battle back, the scrubber should start to win out. If not, since it's 400 gallons, maybe two scrubbers or bigger screen might help.

 

[Spare time]

The anti fungal medication?

Yea. It kills derbesia hair algae and bryopsis (and some other algae). I have used it in many reefs with no problem.

 

[Spare time]

I have a similar algae issue right now. I put two small blue tuxedo urchins in the tank (captive bred from Biota), and they are mowing through it at a very impressive rate; I may get two or three more. I also had one in my return pump chamber in the sump, and it did a good job of cleaning up the algae in there. Not really sure how your current inhabitants might view the urchins, though. I'm a little concerned about what will happen when I move my Harlequin Tusk out of quarantine and into the main tank in about a month.

Urchins are the best algae eaters! I am wondering if a few long spines would be good in op tank. I am not sure what trigger op has thoigh