How much food?

[edunn]

Hi people who know more than me,
My LFS suggested that I feed my fish 1 cube of mysis every other day and 1 sheet of nori (or no nori). I have a 4-5 inch copper band, 5 inch blonde naso tang, 3 inch scopas tang, and 3-4 inch powder blue tang. I'm in the thick of the ugly phase. Nutrients are finally coming down with the addition of a media reactor running GFO, increasing powerhead flow, and upping my return pump flow. Nitrate was 12 and is now 3. Phosphate was 0.14 and is now 0.03. I was feeding 1 cube of mysis twice daily and 1 sheet of nori. The rationale behind less Nori was it would force my tangs to eat the green slime algae, hair algae, and any other algae in the tank. Pic from today included.

 

[Tahoe61]

I would feed more actually and export nutrients via water changes and algae turf scrubber.
From the images I suggest adding more rock work. Ideally LR, but try to increase surface areas for nitrifying bacteria.


Welcome to R2R.

 

[Euphyllia97]

With your livestock, I would feed at least 1 cube of mysis a day divided in 2/3 smaller feedings. Keep a very close eye on the copperband. Mix some other meaty foods like krill, artemia,….

With 3 tangs, daily nori sheets are a MUST. Even if they will pick and eat nuisance algae. There is not enough nutritional value in it. Nori is not an option but a necessity with tangs.

I would also add more rocks to your tank :)

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I feel that is bad advice, I feed my fish 2-3-4 times per day. They like eating, its really the only thing they have to look forward to, and I enjoy feeding them.

Needs more rock, I feel like even that fish is asking for more, I can see it in his eye, he's like "where's the rest of the rock"

 

[edunn]

I feel that is bad advice, I feed my fish 2-3-4 times per day. They like eating, its really the only thing they have to look forward to, and I enjoy feeding them.

Needs more rock, I feel like even that fish is asking for more, I can see it in his eye, he's like "where's the rest of the rock"

Haha. I appreciate everyone's input. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. I love feeding my fish (and I'm sure they love being fed). I am thinking about adding in a refugium to better deal with elevated nutrients in the context of heavy feeding? Do you think that is a reasonable way to go about it? I am going to replace my dry rock with more live rock in the coming weeks. I agree with you!

 

[jonelder68]

I feed 7 plus times each day. Plank dry food auto feeder, Ind AF4 frozen auto feeder, and whenever I’m around the tank. I designed my system around being able to feed heavy with a good protein skimmer and large refugiums. Both allow me to feed as much as I want without raising nutrient levels. I actually have to dose heavy amounts to keep them from bottoming out.

So on that! I would feed as much as you can while testing nitrate and phosphate levels. If your feeding too much you’ll notice the increase in test. Frequent small feedings are better than infrequent large feedings.

More importantly feed high quality foods and a variety. I feed 9-10 different frozen foods in rotation like LRS, Rods, mermaids delight, spirulina, mysis, calanus. For your tangs I would suggest getting some herbivore blends with mixed algae’s added into the frozen mix. Mysis is ok but lacks a complete diet and should be blended with other foods.

Hikari seaweed extreme, nyos pellets, etc are good to add in for your tangs/herbivores. Ocean nutrition one and two are also a good flake. Reef nutrition TDO pellet along with there refrigerated liquid line of foods ROE and oyster feast.

I’ll feed nori maybe once a week? I feed my tangs greens through regular food feedings along with a mix and variety of foods.

*defiantly would add a lot more LR to your tank. 1lbs per gallon is the general recommendation.

 

[edunn]

I feed 7 plus times each day. Plank dry food auto feeder, Ind AF4 frozen auto feeder, and whenever I’m around the tank. I designed my system around being able to feed heavy with a good protein skimmer and large refugiums. Both allow me to feed as much as I want without raising nutrient levels. I actually have to dose heavy amounts to keep them from bottoming out.

So on that! I would feed as much as you can while testing nitrate and phosphate levels. If your feeding too much you’ll notice the increase in test. Frequent small feedings are better than infrequent large feedings.

More importantly feed high quality foods and a variety. I feed 9-10 different frozen foods in rotation like LRS, Rods, mermaids delight, spirulina, mysis, calanus. For your tangs I would suggest getting some herbivore blends with mixed algae’s added into the frozen mix. Mysis is ok but lacks a complete diet and should be blended with other foods.

Hikari seaweed extreme, nyos pellets, etc are good to add in for your tangs/herbivores. Ocean nutrition one and two are also a good flake. Reef nutrition TDO pellet along with there refrigerated liquid line of foods ROE and oyster feast.

I’ll feed nori maybe once a week? I feed my tangs greens through regular food feedings along with a mix and variety of foods.

*defiantly would add a lot more LR to your tank. 1lbs per gallon is the general recommendation.

Thank you for the very detailed info. I love that you feed that much. I bought a refugium light and Chaeto (being delivered today). Hopefully that'll help out. I'll definitely add in the variety as well as more rock. Thx for your input!

 

[commod0re]

Haha. I appreciate everyone's input. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. I love feeding my fish (and I'm sure they love being fed). I am thinking about adding in a refugium to better deal with elevated nutrients in the context of heavy feeding? Do you think that is a reasonable way to go about it? I am going to replace my dry rock with more live rock in the coming weeks. I agree with you!

yes setting up a refugium is a good way to implement nutrient export

I'll just add this as well: feeding more often doesn't necessarily translate into more nutrients in the water column. ideally you feed the amount they need in a day, but spread out over multiple total feedings. as long as the total daily amount of eaten+uneaten food in the tank doesn't increase then the daily amount of nitrate and phosphate production won't increase either

 

[Gundy]

I feel that is bad advice, I feed my fish 2-3-4 times per day. They like eating, its really the only thing they have to look forward to, and I enjoy feeding them.

Needs more rock, I feel like even that fish is asking for more, I can see it in his eye, he's like "where's the rest of the rock"

I strongly agree. There needs to be a lot more rock for your fish to hide and swim in one out of. If possible purchasing some live rock will greatly improve the health of your tank. Even if you can buy some from your local fish store that they have in bins of water, that is a good alternative to purchasing it online which is expensive.

 

[Paul B]

More rock definately, like 5 times more. I would feed that cube every day and forget the nori or any dry foods.

I personally would also add some real food like live whiteworms or clams. My fish generally only die of old age, even the copperbands and tangs.

 

[NeMoo]

Ditto everyone else’s advice!!

FEED THAT FISH!
lol
But for real….

Do not let your nutrients hit zero and wouldn’t let phos get any lower,

Other words you’ll end up learning a whole new lesson on uv light sweepers and filter floss in display at night out in morning and if your lucky you’ll get someone as good as Dr Randy Holmes or many many other super knowledgeable people in here to tell you that zero is not good.

I have learned the hard way lol and I would rather see 20+ nitrates and over .1 phos than zero

 

[exnisstech]

Feed throughout the day and this is how your fish will behave anytime you walk near the tank.

I feed based on my inhabitants needs which means multiple daily feedings with snacks in between. Hungry fish can be aggressive because they go into survival mode.
I never feed based on test results because my fish are more important and TBH I have not found higher levels of N and P to be a problem even though it's the first thing people blame for nuisance algae. I feed a mix of 6 different pellets, 2 types of flake and chopped nori mixed in with frozen PE mysis heavy on the mysis along with rods. Then I add selcon and vitachem. I keep it refrigerated and feed throughout the day with a heavy feeding before lights out because it seems to keep the tangs from getting to frisky before bed.

In this tank NO3 runs 50+ ppm and PO4 0.4-0.9 + (not 0.04) and the tank has run those levels for over 3 years. Starve your fish to prevent algae is bad advice IME.

The previous tank ran similar levels for over 6 years.

You really need more rock. In the first tank above I have 20+ fish including 9 tangs and you can't see a fish when the lights are out unless you hunt with a light to find out where they sleep. That CBB has to be stressed. Mine were none stop hunters in and out of the rocks all day. I think I have more rock in my observation tank than your DT.