How much should I feed in a Nano?

Reefing Reefer · Jan 10, 2021

Tank: Fluval Evo 13.5 w/ skimmer, media basket (filter floss & Chemi Pure Elite). I do weekly 2 1/2 gallon water changes.
Stocking: 1 Allardi Clownfish, 1 Blood Red Fire Shrimp, 1 Randall's Goby
Corals: Torch Coral, Hammer Coral, Pink Gonioporra (frag), 2 birds nest corals (frag), 2 styolophora (frags), chalice (frag), photosynthetic gorgonian.
Cleanup Crew: 4 hermit crabs, 4 nassarius snails, 4 nerite snails, 1 sand sifting starfish.

What I am currently feeding - all food is target fed:
New Life Spectrum Pellets 3x per week (M-W-F) - very small amount and only what the clownfish can finish.
Reef Roids: 2x per week (T-TH)
Combination of Frozen Foods Sat/Sun

*Currently battling bubble algae and high phosphates (0.25 ppm) - unsure if it's due to feeding too much.

Reef. · Jan 10, 2021

Depends what you mean by enough? Enough to keep PO4 down or enough for the fish.

Doesn’t sound like you are over feeding at all, I would use a gfo to get the PO4 under control, chemipure might be better to help keep it where it needs to be but not reduce a .25 level.

taliesin · Jan 11, 2021

I second the GFO comment. Add it in addition to the the chemipure for a week at a time. You don't want to do leave it in there because if you get it to actual 0, you will be dealing with worse than bubble algae.

Now for chasing numbers, I know everyone says .25 is to high and will cause issues with the coral. However, in my 120, I can't get it below .30 and my SPS is thriving and the tank has been stable for 2.5 years. So I would watch the corals and their coloration and determine if you really need to bring the level down. (Just my .02c)

Nano sapiens · Jan 11, 2021

That's a good amount of bio mass for a 13.5g. I can see why you are skimming, using media and ~20% water change/wk. I used to house two adult Ocellaris Clownfish in a 12g (just live rock and live sand w/10% water changes) and they are big, messy eaters ('Goldfish of the sea' in that regard)

Rapid growth of bubble algae is typically a sign of too many nutrients. Another is a plague of bristleworms (if you see any of them cruising around during the day, or parts of your sand bed looks like moving fuzzy spaghetti at night, that's a good sign of an overpopulation).

ReefRoids are great...at raising nutrients, so cut that back to '1 or none' for a while...

Rinsing your frozen foods in a net first before feeding can be helpful (if you aren't doing this already).

Vacuuming the top layer of sand with the water change is also helpful as is removing any obvious detritus buildup.

If you try GFO, go slow. Your corals are probably already used to the high PO4 and dropping the level too quickly can cause a lot of issues. Best to stay above 'undetectable' (aka '0').

What are your nitrate levels?

Reefing Reefer · Jan 12, 2021

Nano sapiens said:
That's a good amount of bio mass for a 13.5g. I can see why you are skimming, using media and ~20% water change/wk. I used to house two adult Ocellaris Clownfish in a 12g (just live rock and live sand w/10% water changes) and they are big, messy eaters ('Goldfish of the sea' in that regard)

Rapid growth of bubble algae is typically a sign of too many nutrients. Another is a plague of bristleworms (if you see any of them cruising around during the day, or parts of your sand bed looks like moving fuzzy spaghetti at night, that's a good sign of an overpopulation).

ReefRoids are great...at raising nutrients, so cut that back to '1 or none' for a while...

Rinsing your frozen foods in a net first before feeding can be helpful (if you aren't doing this already).

Vacuuming the top layer of sand with the water change is also helpful as is removing any obvious detritus buildup.

If you try GFO, go slow. Your corals are probably already used to the high PO4 and dropping the level too quickly can cause a lot of issues. Best to stay above 'undetectable' (aka '0').

What are your nitrate levels?

0 Nitrates