How Often Should Fish Be Fed?

[Todd A.]

Three times a day; Spirulina flakes at mid-day and a variety of frozen @ morning and late afternoon plus a small sheet of seaweed two to three times a week (which only gets hit on by my Yellow Tang and Blue-Spot Toby). And I base the amount fed on wanting all the food eaten within 2 - 3 minutes. My nitrates have always been high (around 20ppm) and have never fluctuated much between when the tank was brand new and making weekly water changes to now doing 20% changes every three weeks. I'd love to get the nitrates down but haven't figured out how to do it without additional water changes, but everything in the tank is healthy and happy.

 

[alex.mccann99]

I used to try and just feed them every other day, to keep nutrients low. But I noticed that many of my corals (mostly softies and LPS) didn't do as well. I started Vodka dosing, now I feed daily, sometimes twice a day. Always have close to zero nitrates, no algae problems whatsoever.

 

[Rausch]

I feed at least three times a day, with a Purple tang and Blue tang i like to keep them as fat as possible, there are also a few wrasse and goby in the tank but i mostly feed that much for the tangs sake. I feed LRS reef frenzy and love it, also use Hikari Mysis and add Phytofeast once daily. My nitrates are close to zero and po4 is at 0 as well. I change my filter socks every three days and clean my skimmer twice a week, lots of maintenance to feed that much, but my Corals and especially my SPS love that fish poo!

 

[renato120]

The good thing about feeding every other day is that they clean the rocks better... My tangs and fox face on the day I dont feed it, they pick on the rocks, and sand bed all day long... my tank is deffinately cleaner. Nitrates and phosphates under control now.
PS: All my fishes are healthy and FAT

 

[Be102]

Nutrients reduction starts with the salt we choose that's why I use a salt mix that provides near to NSW parameters. Salts "on steroids" are not balanced and some cause issues with algae, diatoms and so. We should never forget that the salinity we want for the water is made of the near perfect balance of all the elements in the mix.

Flow and rock work are very important, no dead spots! Keep everything in suspension until the water hits mechanical filtration!

Mechanical filtration IMHO is a must! Not using mechanical filtration makes any sump dirty in a matter of days, also some of that dirt does past the skimmer and goes back into the tank. I use Nylon filter socks and have many but only use one per 24h, keep the dirty ones in a bag and wash them all in the washing machine. I don't like felt filter socks, they don't last as long, harder to wash and occupy too much space.

Skimmer... I use a Tunze9430 and empty a full skimmer's cup every 24h! The idea is to remove most of the ammonia before become Nitrites and Nitrates.

Sand... Coarse sand keeps the detritus in, finer sand keeps the detritus out and is best for the nitrification process, IMHO.

CUC - I use sand sifter starfish and Gobies.

Keep panels and pumps clean, do not let algae or bacteria to take over!

There are different suitable methods of nutrient reduction and most would do the job. I use Nopox mainly and the above.

I make the food. A blend of shrimp, clams, salmon fish, nori sheets and occasionally black or blood worms, or sometimes eggs of fish or shrimp. I never use octopus, squid nor the skin of the fish, these are just too hard for our relatively small fish, hard on the blender and usually gets stuck on the pumps. These foods already contain some elements and many of the amino acids needed. So, one must be careful about dosing mainly more amino-acids into the tank. Also this food feeds my few LPS. I don't target feed corals.

I have undetectable levels of NO3 and PO4 per Salifert test kits. No GFO , no refugium, just a little carbon during the first week of the month an then removed.

At least one "cube" 3x a day! I cannot imagine my fish surviving years with less feedings and less food. I love my fish and I do everything I can to keep them healthy and happy... without having to release them back in a real reef!

What type of salt do you use if you don't mind me asking? Along with what sump? This honestly is probably one of the nicest tanks I have ever seen and would do anything possible to nearly replicate it on my 65 gallon. Do you just have a sump with a place for the skimmer and return pump?

 

[JMacedo]

What type of salt do you use if you don't mind me asking? Along with what sump? This honestly is probably one of the nicest tanks I have ever seen and would do anything possible to nearly replicate it on my 65 gallon. Do you just have a sump with a place for the skimmer and return pump?

Thank you for the very kind words. Presently I am using Fauna Marin salt and Fauna Marin Balling method but I was having similar success with RedSea salt (the blue bucket, as the pro version is too rich and causes darkening of corals and some algae) and a Calcium reactor.

I am a very lazy reefer and I try to keep things as simple as possible. The sump is very simple as you can see in the pics below. Also here is the link to my tank thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-reef-on-the-10th-floor.241369/

 

[Be102]

Thank you for the very kind words. Presently I am using Fauna Marin salt and Fauna Marin Balling method but I was having similar success with RedSea salt (the blue bucket, as the pro version is too rich and causes darkening of corals and some algae) and a Calcium reactor.

I am a very lazy reefer and I try to keep things as simple as possible. The sump is very simple as you can see in the pics below. Also here is the link to my tank thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-reef-on-the-10th-floor.241369/

Is your sump to just add additional water capacity along with a better place to hide your reactors/heater? I only ask because I am looking to build one of my own however am overwhelmed with all the different baffles and sections and whatnot. I love your advice about the salt because I seem to have an excess amount of algae problems from using the Coral Pro Salt. Will definitely be looking into the basic RedSea Salt. Can you explain the products you add into the tank? Your tank has been up half the time as mine however I can barely keep anything alive/ get anything to grow.

 

[Paul B]

My fish get live blackworms every day and the other feeding is clams with either Mysis or LRS food. My smaller fish like bluestripe pipes and mandarins get new born brine shrimp in a feeder every day. All my paired fish are spawning and if they stop spawning I know something is wrong. My nitrates are way over 100 and I have no nuisance algae. I don't use any dry foods.