How much do you feed?
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Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
I'm not sure how much I feed but I prepare a mix of frozen in jars that will last 2-3 days and keep it in the fridge. I didn't used to rinse it as I read some stuff that suggested the liquid was good for feeding but have just started rinsing to see if that will lower my nitrates. I feed 2 x's a day. If I had anthias again, I'd feed 3x's (after feeding more often to get them in better shape). Feed what they consume in just a few minutes. I overfeed as I am targeting 2 new mandarins and I also have a 30+ head Sun coral.
Newb73
Valuable Member
I feed 3 cubes of mysis, 1 cube of brine with spurila, 1/2 sheet of nori, three or four pinches of seaweed extreme, a pinch of spectrum pellets, 1 freeze dried mysis per day.
Wednesdays frozen coral food and Saturdays reef energy A & B.
Do not put that much food in your tank unless you have a LARGE tank and a lot of filtration....
Wednesdays frozen coral food and Saturdays reef energy A & B.
Do not put that much food in your tank unless you have a LARGE tank and a lot of filtration....
Reef of Fillory
Valuable Member
I have a 32G biocube with ~15 gallon sump.
Pair of snowflake clowns
Coral Beauty
Lawnmower Blenny
[new] Green Mandarin
I take a cube of angel blend [frozen], a cube of algae blend [frozen], a chunk of Hikari Mysis [frozen], a cube of general marine mix [frozen] and sometimes a shot of garlic extract. I mix this in a tupperware container and it lasts around 3-4 days for me.
I also feed PE formula 2 flakes [~2x per day], a pinch of New life spectrum Growth [~every other day] and a pinch of New life spectrum Algae [~2x per day]
I also feed reef chili 2-3x a week
I've tried adding algae sheets for the blenny and coral beauty but they won't touch it.
I have 0 detectable nutrients [according to ATI - just ordered a Hannah Phosphorous checker from BRS sale] and no algae in my display. I actually wish that I had at least a little algae for the blenny and CB but i'm not gonna complain about it, especially with my feeding habits.
The fish won't starve in my tank. [maybe the Mandarin, it's BIOTA so it's supposed to be conditioned to frozen/prepared but it's being shy right now]
Pair of snowflake clowns
Coral Beauty
Lawnmower Blenny
[new] Green Mandarin
I take a cube of angel blend [frozen], a cube of algae blend [frozen], a chunk of Hikari Mysis [frozen], a cube of general marine mix [frozen] and sometimes a shot of garlic extract. I mix this in a tupperware container and it lasts around 3-4 days for me.
I also feed PE formula 2 flakes [~2x per day], a pinch of New life spectrum Growth [~every other day] and a pinch of New life spectrum Algae [~2x per day]
I also feed reef chili 2-3x a week
I've tried adding algae sheets for the blenny and coral beauty but they won't touch it.
I have 0 detectable nutrients [according to ATI - just ordered a Hannah Phosphorous checker from BRS sale] and no algae in my display. I actually wish that I had at least a little algae for the blenny and CB but i'm not gonna complain about it, especially with my feeding habits.
The fish won't starve in my tank. [maybe the Mandarin, it's BIOTA so it's supposed to be conditioned to frozen/prepared but it's being shy right now]
Porpoise Hork
Well-Known Member
Keeping your nutrient levels low is really an art of balancing your nutrient import/export levels and having a large enough anaerobic bacteria development in the reef to handle the nitrates. Some tricks to feeding is avoid or minimize the use of flake or pellet foods as these rapidly break down to nitrates and phosphates in the tank compared to fresh or frozen foods which take much longer to break down. Regular weekly water changes of at least 5-10% and a larger monthly change of 15-25% with a sand bed cleaning also keeps levels in check. For anaerobic bacteria development, this takes time and an environment suitable for them. They require low oxygen to develop and with regular sand bed cleaning, this pretty much cancels this out. So you are left with colonies developing within the rock work or some other bio media like sintered glass. It can take at a minimum 4-6 months for your tank to start developing the anaerobic colonies and the only means of exporting or removing nitrates is via water changes or with macro algae like chaetomorpha in a reactor or refugium.
For me I'm currently running a 40g sumpless and have 10 fish all less an 3". My current bio-load is 2 clowns, 6line, pygmy angel, 2 fire fish, a lawnmower, 3 b/g chromis, and the devil incarnate (yellow black damsel). In an effort to reduce territorial issues or aggression I feed them heavily with one rinsed cube of mysis, or at home prepared fish/shrimp meal with about a 1/2 dime size chunk of Rod's Food Coral Blend mixed in daily. Mid week I dose with phyto and zoo plankton and on Sundays I add a 1/8 teaspoon of Reef Roids to this mix. For filtration I am running a Fluval 306 canister at 75% flow and am running the standard coarse foam, then poly-fill micro filtration on the bottom tray with Bio-Home Ultimate media in the bottom and middle trays. The top tray has Chemi-pure blue and Purigen that is replaced/regenerated monthly. For the first 6 months my system ran a consistent nitrate level of 2-5 then fell to .25 -.5 and has remained there.
For me I'm currently running a 40g sumpless and have 10 fish all less an 3". My current bio-load is 2 clowns, 6line, pygmy angel, 2 fire fish, a lawnmower, 3 b/g chromis, and the devil incarnate (yellow black damsel). In an effort to reduce territorial issues or aggression I feed them heavily with one rinsed cube of mysis, or at home prepared fish/shrimp meal with about a 1/2 dime size chunk of Rod's Food Coral Blend mixed in daily. Mid week I dose with phyto and zoo plankton and on Sundays I add a 1/8 teaspoon of Reef Roids to this mix. For filtration I am running a Fluval 306 canister at 75% flow and am running the standard coarse foam, then poly-fill micro filtration on the bottom tray with Bio-Home Ultimate media in the bottom and middle trays. The top tray has Chemi-pure blue and Purigen that is replaced/regenerated monthly. For the first 6 months my system ran a consistent nitrate level of 2-5 then fell to .25 -.5 and has remained there.
Susan Edwards
5000 Club Member
I didn't add coral food. I feed 3-4 times a week and a mix. Sometimes I use reef chili, or I'll mix that, with coral frenzy and or reef roids. I also have marine snow. I feed phytoplankton daily as I have pods. I'll also toss in a pinch of spectrum pellets for the cuc and narsarius snails. This week, now that I have brine shrimp, I also add some of those for the mandarins. I'll probably as the brine shrimp hatch and I build up, do one feeding a day of those, and the other my frozen mixture. Oh, just got some dried black worms. I soaked with selcon and a drop of garlic, and mixed with the frozen. I may defrost and drain larger batches of food and then refreeze to save prep time. I'm trying to go better foods and more live foods. Can't get blackworms live and the place that sells them is shutting down for the winter so got the freeze dried-no frozen available.
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larisa Raykh
Active Member
How big is your tank?
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larisa Raykh
Active Member
check this video out of how much cyclopeeze goes into a one gallon reef
each polyp can eat until its gorged.
then do three flushing water changes, repeat next mo
the result is every surface is coral and no where for algae to grow except the glass, occasionally. the feed if left in the system a mere few days would likely kill it, but with a convenient exporting storm surge just after, the entire biosystem is cheated clean into growing, the sandbed lives forever, I don't care if its a ten ounce tea cup sps will grow in it.
each polyp can eat until its gorged.
then do three flushing water changes, repeat next mo
the result is every surface is coral and no where for algae to grow except the glass, occasionally. the feed if left in the system a mere few days would likely kill it, but with a convenient exporting storm surge just after, the entire biosystem is cheated clean into growing, the sandbed lives forever, I don't care if its a ten ounce tea cup sps will grow in it.
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4 times a day a little and often is my way with my 100 gallon. I don't worry about nutrients as I have an ATS that keeps them low. I make much of my own foods and feed very little dry food.
Reef of Fillory
Valuable Member
I have been trying to get nitrates into my tank, and phosphates have been low to even with this level of feeding.
When I filled the pipette for the picture I realized that it was about double what I would fed twice a day. (10ml is my daily amount, feed in two 5ml feedings)
+ Flakes and pellets once a day at 3:00pm on my auto feeder.
Just bought stump remover to dose nitrates
When I filled the pipette for the picture I realized that it was about double what I would fed twice a day. (10ml is my daily amount, feed in two 5ml feedings)
+ Flakes and pellets once a day at 3:00pm on my auto feeder.
Just bought stump remover to dose nitrates
ca1ore
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As noted the extent to which nitrates/phosphates build up or don't build up is a function of the input/export balance. If you have plenty of live rock, a good skimmer and use an ATS/chaeto fuge, you may be able to feed 10 cube equivalents to your tank and not see a nutrient rise. If you have none of those things, even a single cube every other day may drive up nitrates, etc.
I don't think you say what the 10 fish are, but they should be fed properly and adequately and then you employ apprpriate export mechanisms to handle the wastes.
I don't think you say what the 10 fish are, but they should be fed properly and adequately and then you employ apprpriate export mechanisms to handle the wastes.
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larisa Raykh
Active Member
Yea, its a delicate balance. My skimming isn't too good, so I have an opposite problem. A friend of mine shuts his skimmer half the time to help build up some nutrients. I guess you can get more fish too.I have been trying to get nitrates into my tank, and phosphates have been low to even with this level of feeding.
When I filled the pipette for the picture I realized that it was about double what I would fed twice a day. (10ml is my daily amount, feed in two 5ml feedings)
+ Flakes and pellets once a day at 3:00pm on my auto feeder.
Just bought stump remover to dose nitrates
Reef of Fillory
Valuable Member
I've already got 6 fish in my 32g (2 clowns, 1 coral beauty, lawnmower Blenny, green Mandarin and watchman goby)
Unfortunately I use a co2 scrubber on my skimmer so running it less isn't an option.
My chaeto has completely died off, but now I'm getting detectable nitrates by dosing stump remover so I'm hoping that it should grow alright now.
