Preparing Frozen Foods for My Fish and Corals

[jsker]

The two ways that I've seen videos for that address that issue, through threads here, are:

Using the GHL doser that does reverse (). He had it set up in a little wine chiller. Dose out some food, back it up so the tube is filled with tank water into the cooler.
That seems like a setup where you'd use a fresh bottle every day.

Or using an mini-fridge and actually putting the doser and everything in there. They run a loop through the fridge and into the return section of the sump and the food goes into that ().


The thing I like about that idea is the ability to feed small amounts throughout the day.

I have seen the bottom one before and was think of going that rout with a red bull counter fridge. My only issue was with the bottom one is I feed chunky food to the fish. Chunks would not get through the doser head and lines.

The bottom on is fantastic for dosing the reef nutrition foods and when I go bigger system I would do the same.

From doser to tank, ideally would be a refrigerated line with a larger inside diameter line and head. One draw back I would see it the amount of food in the line and there time would be a factor of how long the food has been slacked. I would say in a large system this would not be a factor

 

[cracker]

Hello, this was a great thread and that auto doser was very elaborate . I'd like to asked a few questions if I may . I rarely feed my corals & need to start.
I mix my own food which was inspired by Paul B & Lee Birch . They advocate "whole" food from the sea . that's every thing, head to tail . I use whole chowder clam & oyster. Silver Side, ocean plankton,fish roe when I have it & rod's fish only blend. All choped fine . I also add a squirt of vita chem . I do soak/thaw in a container & fine strainer with RO & drain off the juice. the fishes are fat & happy ! I'm Leary of adding anything with Po4 as I'm "think" I'm on the verge of winning the war with HA in this 75. If I want to see green I'll go look at my front lawn !
Now I could try & need to experiment. So I could add some of this juice but it is very fine. Your video shows more substantial sizes stuff along with the very fine. So I think I'd like to try making up small batches of food just for the corals. Maybe a few days a week for starts. I think I will try some of this juice Some Oyster Feast & some mushed up ocean plankton. Any thing else I could add? Also I see you feed the corals during the day along with the fish. this would simplify a great deal but I use my mix to feed both the 75 coral & the 180 Fish only . I don't want a bunch of unnecessary fine stuff in the big tank. So that's a separate mix. I can easily spot feed. Also I always thought it best to broadcast after lights out with the return off. Any suggestions for my game plan?
One more thing ! Jsker, was that a capsule of vitamin C you added right before the mixing process? Thanks

ps I don't have a fancy magnetic stirrer but I do have my X's miniature food processor. I just use my finger. this way I can taste it to mke sure I have the blend just right.

 

[jsker]

I'm Leary of adding anything with Po4 as I'm "think" I'm on the verge of winning the war with HA in this 75. If I want to see green I'll go look at my front lawn !

Just seeing this @cracker

LOL, My biggest issues has always been phosphates and not nitrates. To control nutrients I have found using a seeded bio media really helps controls my nutrients and I run GFO. I pulled my filter socks three weeks ago and have noticed my nutrient levels go down. waist is not getting trapped in the socks.

I still feed everything twice a day, during light on. My sally light food crab is now waiting for dinner every day now.

I like natural too and @Paul B does a great job on collecting food from around were he live on Long Island. Kind of one of the reasons I make my own food and supplement my recipe with some basic products.

I would suggest trying the oyster feast and roti feast for just your corals and in a separate container have your slacked chunky food for your fish. I would not use a blender, unless a puree is required. I use my fancy stirrer so my liquids and chucks do not become a puree when I mix both

I use the vitamarn C and M liquid right now. Back in the day I would use a ground up vitamin c tablet with my mix. Once I run out of the liquid and will switch to powdered vitamin C and B-12 in my mix. Aquaforest makes a good multi vitamin liquid and I may try that, because it will be just easier

Let me know if I can help you further.

 

[LagunaGlide]

Will do!

I made a quick video a few minutes ago of me serving breakfast. (I do this twice a day, there is also a nightly feeding of a mix ofsuspended particles for the corals, microfauna etc.). It's a little cloudy because I pumped the zeoreactor, so there is bacterial food in the water as well.

You gotta make sure your fish get plenty of exercise, gotta make them work for their breakfast.

I am curious about your feeding method here. I have tried to leave my PH on when feeding at it seems a significant amount makes it into the sump. Do you turn off the return pump? Do you not run filter socks or other type of device that traps free floating solids? It looks like most of your food stays in the tank, but that is not how it goes in my setup

 

[Rick.45cal]

I am curious about your feeding method here. I have tried to leave my PH on when feeding at it seems a significant amount makes it into the sump. Do you turn off the return pump? Do you not run filter socks or other type of device that traps free floating solids? It looks like most of your food stays in the tank, but that is not how it goes in my setup

I don’t shut anything down, I just dump it in there. I run a 200 micron mesh sock that gets cleaned about once a week. There’s never much food in there. My sump to tank turn over is probably fairly low, the turnover in the tank is about 100x volume though at any given time.

I still feed this way on a daily basis. Now I also include some freeze dried zooplankton and phytoplankton for the corals. The tank is doing very well. It amazes me daily. Photo from today (Please excuse the algae clip).

 

[LagunaGlide]

I don’t shut anything down, I just dump it in there. I run a 200 micron mesh sock that gets cleaned about once a week. There’s never much food in there. My sump to tank turn over is probably fairly low, the turnover in the tank is about 100x volume though at any given time.

I still feed this way on a daily basis. Now I also include some freeze dried zooplankton and phytoplankton for the corals. The tank is doing very well. It amazes me daily. Photo from today (Please excuse the algae clip).

Thanks for the reply. Tank looks absolutely amazing. Talk about goals

 

[Rick.45cal]

Thanks for the reply. Tank looks absolutely amazing. Talk about goals

Thank you

 

[jsker]

I don’t shut anything down, I just dump it in there. I run a 200 micron mesh sock that gets cleaned about once a week. There’s never much food in there. My sump to tank turn over is probably fairly low, the turnover in the tank is about 100x volume though at any given time.

I still feed this way on a daily basis. Now I also include some freeze dried zooplankton and phytoplankton for the corals. The tank is doing very well. It amazes me daily. Photo from today (Please excuse the algae clip).

Tanks looks great!!

 

[Dobermanp]

Wow! Beautiful tank!!

 

[jp_75]

how big is your tank? very nice looking!!!

 

[jsker]

how big is your tank? very nice looking!!!

Are you looking at Rick's and asking about my 72 gal system?

 

[jp_75]

both actually

 

[jsker]

both actually

I will let @Rick.45cal answer for more detail and here is a link to Rick's build

My system is a 72 gallon bow front with a 80 gal water volume. If you would like you can click on the link in my signature to go to my build thread. I will warn you, my tank is a dumpster fire right now and I am working through my issue slowly, on step at a time until I get the system popping again. I will say I still use the same frozen mix and make my own food.

 

[Rick.45cal]

both actually

Mine is a 190 gallon, looking back at that picture it looks sooooooooo young compared to today, things have been growing well. (I still feed the same way)