How much to feed?

[Bakedpwn]

im finding i have high nitrates and hmi HAD high phos which led ro gha outbreak. i literally scrubbed the rocks clean.
only things i could think of was too long lights on and overfeeding. so ive reduced my lights way down timewise. how much should i feed?
right now i just feed mysis cubes and was doing 2 a day. probably too much so im trying half a cube a day now.
i have 3 chalk bass
2 cleaner shrimp
1diamond goby
1 yellow goby with pistol
1 tail spotted blenny
1 clown fish
1 conch

its a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon long sump.

i change filter socks every 2 to 3 days now.

 

[Joey waid]

No skimmer?

 

[Joey waid]

With that live stock, a third or quarter cube once a day. If it was me.

 

[Bakedpwn]

gotcha. yea. i got a dc10 your choice skimmer. works. great pulls out nice chunks and darkness

 

[Joey waid]

Regular water changes too. I really think the food is your main issue..

 

[Bakedpwn]

yea forgot to mention i do at least a 5 to 10 gallon water change every 4 to 7 days. i actually like water changes.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

There isn't such a thing as feeding too much for your fish. It is feeding too much for your filtration.

Yes you can lower feeding a bit. And it will help. But as fish grow or you add more fish you will need to feed more anyway.

The main issue is that you have more nutrients going into your tank than you have going out of your tank. So if you find lowering feeding isn't enough you need to increase export.

Adding things like a sea hare, urchins, snails and algae eating fish can help control the algae, but all of those animals will just eventually digest the algae and turn it into more nutrients (which then turns into more algae).

Things like bigger skimmers or more water changes help a lot. But IMO macro algae is the way to go for this. Having a fuge to grow macro is good but an algae turf scrubber is probably best and can be implemented without a sump or even just a sump without much room. As long as it is lit with powerful enough (and not too powerful) lights, has the correct flow and a big enough screen to handle the amount of nutrients you are adding to the system an algae scrubber should work well.

If you haven't tried one I do recommend it. Nail the screen size, lighting and flow and it should work perfectly for you! (recommended guidelines are on algaescrubber.zohosites.com)

 

[Bakedpwn]

yep. your like the 5th reccommendation for an algae scrubber. id love to find or make one that is stand alone.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Stand alone as in not in your cabinet with the sump?

If you don't want to DIY one I would look into Turbos aquatics scrubbers. Best designed scrubber IMO. They usually sit on top of your sump but it would be possible to have it sit on top of your tank or even off to the side with enough plumbing.

I think the guy who makes them actually has his sitting on top of his tank.

 

[themcnertney]

Monday: 1/2 green 1/2 red algae sheet (Rod's Fish Foods) 7:00pm

Tuesday: 1/2 green 1/2 red algae sheet (Rod's Fish Foods) 7:00pm

Wednesday: 1/2 green 1/2 red algae sheet (Rod's Fish Foods) 7:00pm

Thursday: 5-10 large Krill (Rod's Fish Food), 5 cubes of mysis (Ocean Nutrition) 7:00pm

Friday: 1/2 green 1/2 red algae sheet (Rod's Fish Foods) 7:00pm

Saturday: 1/2 green 1/2 red algae sheet (Rod's Fish Foods) 7:00pm

Sunday: 1/2 green 1/2 red algae sheet (Rod's Fish Foods) 7:00pm

 

[NanoDJS]

Do you have or have you dosed pods for your system , I use about 4-6 diff ones and wow they work they do is un matchable with "devices" Also I feed very sparingly maybe every other day

 

[Bakedpwn]

I bought some pods from algae barn but they didnt seem to take because i dont see them anywhere like i see videos of people showing them off.
can high nitrate or phos kill copepods?

 

[Bakedpwn]

Stand alone as in not in your cabinet with the sump?

If you don't want to DIY one I would look into Turbos aquatics scrubbers. Best designed scrubber IMO. They usually sit on top of your sump but it would be possible to have it sit on top of your tank or even off to the side with enough plumbing.

I think the guy who makes them actually has his sitting on top of his tank.

no i ment not in the sump. I have room next to the sump and though it would be cool there.
if they have scrubbers that actually fit nicely on sumps i might not be opposed.

 

[Bakedpwn]

o jesus lol, nevermind on the Turbos aquatics scrubbers, 399 for their small one. Ill give DIY a try before that lol.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Lol yeah they aren't cheap, his are well priced too. You can DIY quite easily though. A pump, some PVC and cheap LED flood lights or even cheaper CFL lights and good to go. Use the guidelines on algaescrubber.zohosites.com to figure out the best screen size and then that will tell you how much flow and light to give the screen.

Generally the pump will go in the sump and then everything else can go ontop of it easy enough and the water cascades down the screen and back into the sump.

 

[Bakedpwn]

ok thanks! im checking them out now.