Feeding enough or too little?

[Jimbo662]

Wasn't sure which forum this should go in. I've been wondering how you can tell if you're feeding enough or too little to keep the beneficial bacteria at a good level. Currently I have a 66g and 45g tank set up. Each has 6 fish and I feed half a cube of frozen mysis / brine or some pellet food each day. I've been having a problem with algae and started wondering if maybe I'd been starving the bacteria and reducing the population which then allowed algae to develop and now the algae is consuming what nutrients are in the tanks. Nitrates run about 25 in both tanks and phosphates around .06.

 

[glb]

Wasn't sure which forum this should go in. I've been wondering how you can tell if you're feeding enough or too little to keep the beneficial bacteria at a good level. Currently I have a 66g and 45g tank set up. Each has 6 fish and I feed half a cube of frozen mysis / brine or some pellet food each day. I've been having a problem with algae and started wondering if maybe I'd been starving the bacteria and reducing the population which then allowed algae to develop and now the algae is consuming what nutrients are in the tanks. Nitrates run about 25 in both tanks and phosphates around .06.

My guess is the nitrates/phosphates caused the algae, not the other way around. It doesn't sound like you're overfeeding. Has anything else changed recently? Have those levels been consistent? They're ok for fowlr tanks as far as the fish are concerned.

 

[Jimbo662]

Everything has been pretty consistent. The 66g has been set up since Oct, the 45g since April/May.

 

[glb]

Everything has been pretty consistent. The 66g has been set up since Oct, the 45g since April/May.

So at those levels you didn't have algae before?

 

[Jimbo662]

No, algae appeared in the 66g back around March / April. I used Vibrant and got rid of just about all of it. I ran out of Vibrant and didn't think to order more and with maybe a month it was all back. I started Vibrant again about 2 months ago but it doesn't seem to be having any affect.

 

[glb]

No, algae appeared in the 66g back around March / April. I used Vibrant and got rid of just about all of it. I ran out of Vibrant and didn't think to order more and with maybe a month it was all back. I started Vibrant again about 2 months ago but it doesn't seem to be having any affect.

Is Vibrant carbon dosing?

 

[Jimbo662]

Not exactly sure. Ingredients: 95% cultured bacteria blend, 1% amino acids, .5% vinegar, 3.5% other

 

[glb]

Not exactly sure. Ingredients: 95% cultured bacteria blend, 1% amino acids, .5% vinegar, 3.5% other

What's your water change schedule?

 

[Jimbo662]

I hadn't been doing any thinking I wasn't putting many nutrients into the tank. I did start this past Sunday. Doing 5g every other day on each since I'm working from home all week. Will change to once a week next week.

 

[Jimbo662]

Once the lights are up I'll take a couple of pics. There were two rocks that had the reddish/brown powdery type on it and since I started the water changes about half of it has disappeared. I've got several different types growing right now.

 

[glb]

Once the lights are up I'll take a couple of pics. There were two rocks that had the reddish/brown powdery type on it and since I started the water changes about half of it has disappeared. I've got several different types growing right now.

How long has the tank been up?

 

[Catchemall]

No, algae appeared in the 66g back around March / April. I used Vibrant and got rid of just about all of it. I ran out of Vibrant and didn't think to order more and with maybe a month it was all back. I started Vibrant again about 2 months ago but it doesn't seem to be having any affect.

This shows that the vibrant was A bandage. I wouldn't order any more. What you need is better nutrient export in form of bigger skimmer or Refugiam, algae scrubber etc. try to get those nitrates down to 2-5 and phosphate undetectable to a low reading. Remember if phosphate is reading undetectable it's still there as long as your feeding. So it's really a false reading. If your getting those numbers with algae growing then odds are those numbers are larger and just being uptake by the algae.

 

[Jimbo662]

The 66g has been running since Oct.

I've got the SCA-302 skimmer on both systems. I'll try tweaking them and continue water changes for now.

 

[atoll]

I come at feeding my fish from a different angle. I have 22 mainly small fish in my 100 gallon. Most small fish we keep are opportunist feeders feeding from the water column. Most of these have inefficient digestive systems and eat little and often and also have a high metabolic rate constantly swimming and on the look out for any food. With that in mind, I feed a little and often and at least 3 times a day often 4 times. I ensure I have enough filtration to cope with the waste created by my fish and corals rather than limiting the food to balance with filtration. IMO this is important to the welfare of my animals but also the quality of food I feed plays an important part. I make quite a bit of my own foods adding fish oils to them and those commercial foods I do feed. So to sum up, feed what your fish what and how they need to be and as often as they need then employ the filtration to deal with the waste resulting.

 

[Jimbo662]

Here's a couple of pics. In the first two the rocks were completely covered when I started water changes on Sunday. In the third one I actually pulled the rock out about a month ago. Took a glass baking dish and filled with tank water and peroxide and soaked the rock upside down for about 10 min. Most of the algae was gone but what was left was very short and gray...I assumed it died. As you can see it has all come back to life!!!! :mad:

 

[Forsaken77]

I hadn't been doing any thinking I wasn't putting many nutrients into the tank. I did start this past Sunday. Doing 5g every other day on each since I'm working from home all week. Will change to once a week next week.

It may be better to do a bulk water change instead of small ones. Because then you're taking out some of the fresh water you just added, as opposed to removing all old stuff.

 

[Jimbo662]

It may be better to do a bulk water change instead of small ones. Because then you're taking out some of the fresh water you just added, as opposed to removing all old stuff.

Good point.

 

[atoll]

Good point.

There are arguments both for and against both small water change and bulk water changes.

 

[jp_75]

i would do 20% wc,wait 3-4 days and another 20%. test and see where you at.

 

[atoll]

i would do 20% wc,wait 3-4 days and another 20%. test and see where you at.

Sounds a plan but we are getting away from the subject matter about feeding and filtration although I agree water changes is a contentious issue for many.