Am I overfeeding?

Maxx Yung · Jun 23, 2020

Hi, I am not sure if I am overfeeding.
My phosphate is absurdly high at 1~. I asked my local LRS and they said it was overfeeding, which is what I thought anyway. But I feel like I feed my fish pretty little...

Fish
Chocolate Mimic Tang
Caribbean Blue tang
lawnmower (but doesn't eat any of our food)
2 clowns
purple tang
foxface
hippo tang
2 bimac anthias
2 small damsals
leopard wrasse

Feeding
2 times a day 2 cubes of Hikari.
Every other day full sheet of seaweed, removed after 4 hours.
Every other day sustainable aquatics pellets.

nukemdanno · Jun 23, 2020

What's your filtration setup?

MERKEY · Jun 23, 2020

I've heard Pellets are phos bombs....

I'm dealing with a similar situation...im feeding what I think isn't too much for my corals but my phos keeps going from .06 to .19...its a game we all play

nukemdanno · Jun 23, 2020

Sorry the second half of your post never loaded. That seems a bit much on the food and if the pellets go uneaten then I've heard they can release a lot of nutrients into the water. My reef gets various frozen DIY food and Rod's Reef and Mysis. I don't have tangs in my current build but when I had 3 from a previous build way back I fed about an 1/8th of a sheet of Nori daily. They'd hammer it and go back to grazing

Maxx Yung · Jun 23, 2020

Filtration setup: filter socks, protein skimmer, carbon reactor, biorock (marine pure). currently running seachem phosguard now.

Maxx Yung · Jun 23, 2020

So a total of 4 cubes a day is high? I honestly thought that was little lol. Used to be feeding 8 cubes a day...

Henryb9 · Jun 23, 2020

I only feed one cube a day, and I have 3 tangs and two clown fish. Your feeding too much if you ask me.

nukemdanno · Jun 23, 2020

Maxx Yung said:
Filtration setup: filter socks, protein skimmer, carbon reactor, biorock (marine pure). currently running seachem phosguard now.

Solid foundation....maybe cut back on the food a bit.

Sheripie · Jun 23, 2020

When was the last time you change your rodi filter? Have you test the water from your rodi unit? When you feed if your fish can finish most of it, it's should be OK I think..

Maxx Yung · Jun 23, 2020

I just changed my RODI filter 1 week ago... but before that it was about 8 months~ with 25 gallons a week made. Problem is, when I feed the 2 cubes, only 2 of my fish take it because they are pigs and refuse to share.

bam123 · Jun 23, 2020

keep feeding. Get an Algae Scrubber. You can always use E-phosphate, but dose 1/4 of what they recommend.

Maxx Yung · Jun 23, 2020

Isn't algae scrubber a refugium in a box? my nitrates are ultra low but my phosphate is ultra high, thus, my LRS says that I don't really need a refugium.

bam123 · Jun 23, 2020

Maxx Yung said:
Isn't algae scrubber a refugium in a box? my nitrates are ultra low but my phosphate is ultra high, thus, my LRS says that I don't really need a refugium.

Yes and NO. An algae scrubber type of algae grows much faster then chaeto and IMHO is better at lowering phosphates as you have to throw out the algae every 5 days or so. Either way, try the E-phosphate, but go slow and very low. Test the phosphates 48 hours later to avoid false positives and adjust accordingly.

Maxx Yung · Jun 24, 2020

I mean, I am using Seachem Phosguard right now. Just tested and it went from 1 to 0.5 in a week so I guess it is working. Also probably because of me feeding way less now.

Jenuvio · Jun 24, 2020

Maxx Yung said:
Hi, I am not sure if I am overfeeding.
My phosphate is absurdly high at 1~. I asked my local LRS and they said it was overfeeding, which is what I thought anyway. But I feel like I feed my fish pretty little...

Fish
Chocolate Mimic Tang
Caribbean Blue tang
lawnmower (but doesn't eat any of our food)
2 clowns
purple tang
foxface
hippo tang
2 bimac anthias
2 small damsals
leopard wrasse

Feeding
2 times a day 2 cubes of Hikari.
Every other day full sheet of seaweed, removed after 4 hours.
Every other day sustainable aquatics pellets.

Can we see a pic of your tank??

bam123 · Jun 24, 2020

Maxx Yung said:
I mean, I am using Seachem Phosguard right now. Just tested and it went from 1 to 0.5 in a week so I guess it is working. Also probably because of me feeding way less now.

Then what's the problem?? You have it figured out. Keep paying a lot of money with phospguard and feed your fish less, or take people's advice you ask for.

csb123 · Jun 24, 2020

I like Lanathum chloride to keep phosphates down. It is predictable and cheap.

tehmadreefer · Jun 24, 2020

I feed 7-8 cubes a day plus large pellets. My po4 stays around .1
Wwc feed every hour in their lagoon tank.
why starve your fish?

WIReefer · Jun 24, 2020

From my experience I do not think you are feeding too much, I have around the same amount of fish and feed just as much as you are maybe more. But my phosphates are actually low so that’s the difference.

tehmadreefer · Jun 24, 2020

MERKEY said:
I've heard Pellets are phos bombs....

I'm dealing with a similar situation...im feeding what I think isn't too much for my corals but my phos keeps going from .06 to .19...its a game we all play

Just false..

I heard, someone said, etc ,etc. no merit or facts...