overfeeding and algae blooms

[Ballyhoo]

I think I had an issue with the horrific algae bloom. Well, I know I did, but I think it was caused by overfeeding my fish stock. I've got four little damsal d(devils) and two little clowns, a little mystery wrasse, and little randal goby plus a firshrimp. Yeah I know I stocked High with the 42 gallon 51 gallon system tank, I kind of just fed them twice a day and put a lot of food in tank. I would leave it in there for like 15 minutes and thenturn the pump on. I mean, I would put the food in and the pump off so they could free feed . and I got an algae bloom , which is a whole separate issue that I had to go through hell to get out the algae out and replenishing all of the water in my tank. But how do I know exactly how much to feed my fish? I wanna make them happy and healthy but I don't want overfeed and cause
algae blooms either.

 

[boacvh]

Tackle import, tackle export, or both. There are some rules of thumb, like amount they can eat in 5 mins etc. that you can find here in the forums but I'd start by just cutting that feeding to once a day if it gave you an algae bloom and if you can, readjust amount based on testing for Nitrate and Phosphate. That's for import. In addition, (or alternatively), since you are heavily stocked, increase the export of nutrients if you can. More export means you will be able to still feed heavily without seeing the nutrients spike, and algae follow.