How often and how much food should I be feeding my fish and corals?

[Mouser1]

I have read many times that I shouldn't overfeed my fish, and I get it. I don't know how much and how often I should be feeding. Right now I am feeding every other day alternating between one frozen block of brine shrimp and a 1x 4 inch sheet of green algae. I have a new 240 gallon DT that I began cycling in mid April of this year. Today I have 3 fish and 4 corals:
Foxface Lo (4 inches including tail)
Hippo Tang (3 inches including tail)
Yellow Tang (3"-4") including tail)
Pulsing coral (small)
Cabbage coral (small)
Zoa colony (small)
Toadstool Mushroom Leather Coral (small)
Both the fish and corals are growing but I have no idea what is normal growth.
I took a water sample to my LFS on July 8 and received the following results:
Nitrite = 0.05
Nitrate = 0.0
Salinity = 1.023
Ph = 8.2
Ammonia = 0.0
I would appreciate some advice as to what I should be doing.

 

[Willu]

You ideally shouldn't have any nitrite, but given that you're tank is a couple of months old, it could be a testing error. It is also strange that you have zero nitrate, do you know what test kit your lfs is using, are they using test strips?

I think the amount is alright, but if you find that algae is becoming a problem just reduce your feeding since your tank is quite young, you may eventually have an algae problem. And in terms of the corals, you really don't have to feed soft corals, the corals you posted don't really accept direct feedings but rather it is sufficient enough for them to absorb nutrients from the water column and also gain energy through photosynthesis given that your light is sufficient.

I would also suggest that you feed mysis shrimp instead of brine shrimp, since it has been shown that brine shrimp has very close to zero nutritional value, or you could perhaps use a supplemental liquid in conjunction with the brine shrimp with a product such as selcon.

 

[Mouser1]

I don't know what my LFS is using for tests. I know they don't use test strips. I suspect they are using Red Sea. I didn't know about the nutrition value of brine shrimp. I will switch to mysis shrimp. Thanks so much.

 

[Mr Fishface]

I feed what my fish will eat in just a couple minutes. It took some trial and error but it's basically one mini cube of mysis plus about a third of a cube of krill. I had a few days where i fed wayyyy to much in order to learn to cut back!

 

[Mouser1]

How often do you feed?

 

[Mr Fishface]

I feed about 4 days a week

 

[Mouser1]

I feed about 4 days a week

Thanks.

 

[Mouser1]

You ideally shouldn't have any nitrite, but given that you're tank is a couple of months old, it could be a testing error. It is also strange that you have zero nitrate, do you know what test kit your lfs is using, are they using test strips?

I think the amount is alright, but if you find that algae is becoming a problem just reduce your feeding since your tank is quite young, you may eventually have an algae problem. And in terms of the corals, you really don't have to feed soft corals, the corals you posted don't really accept direct feedings but rather it is sufficient enough for them to absorb nutrients from the water column and also gain energy through photosynthesis given that your light is sufficient.

I would also suggest that you feed mysis shrimp instead of brine shrimp, since it has been shown that brine shrimp has very close to zero nutritional value, or you could perhaps use a supplemental liquid in conjunction with the brine shrimp with a product such as selcon.

I just tested for nitrite using a Red Sea testing kit. It turned out to = 0.0. Thanks for your help.

 

[revhtree]

I think you should be feeding at least once a day with the fish you have.

I try to feed twice a day although sometimes it’s one. When I’m out of town they get one bigger feeding every other day.

 

[Fudsey]

I feed my fish 3-4 times a day. 3 times an automatic feeder dispenses a mix of pellets, 1 time each less than a 1/4 tsp. and then once a day I feed a frozen Reef Frenzy mix, about a large postage stamp.