LRS Reef Frenzy Problems?

[Klyle]

The reason I'm rinsing the food isn't an attempt to remove phosphates. Its because it has a direct effect on the amount of water my skimmer pulls out after feeding. At least with these last couple of bags. Maybe your product always arrives frozen, idk. But I know for a fact some of the lfs in our area have had issues- not necessarily from transport, with foods thawing. I bought more than one pack of thawed reef frenzy in 2021. Never an issue until recently. I'm not bashing your food. My fish and I agree... we love it. It's just this pesky skimmer issue! Thank you for your reply and your service to the reef community

 

[ReefFrenzy]

The reason I'm rinsing the food isn't an attempt to remove phosphates. Its because it has a direct effect on the amount of water my skimmer pulls out after feeding. At least with these last couple of bags. Maybe your product always arrives frozen, idk. But I know for a fact some of the lfs in our area have had issues- not necessarily from transport, with foods thawing. I bought more than one pack of thawed reef frenzy in 2021. Never an issue until recently. I'm not bashing your food. My fish and I agree... we love it. It's just this pesky skimmer issue! Thank you for your reply and your service to the reef community

Thanks for the clarification. Here is what puzzles me about the thawing issue. So if a frozen food thawed a little but was cool to the touch (and not room temperature for hours growing bacteria) before it was refrozen what would fundamentally change in the food to cause a skimmer to act up? I can't think of what would change regarding the organic make up or nutrient profile to notice a difference between a never thawed pack and one which was thawed briefly and refrozen. It really shouldn't matter as far as I can tell. And I know while it is not a best practice lots of people stop by the pet store on a whim without a cooler and whatever food they buy DOES thaw out during the drive home. Especially cube foods, they thaw out in minutes in warmer weather. There is a lot of thawing and refreezing going on which is why I always encourage people to bring and ice pack and cooler to the LFS.

 

[Klyle]

Thanks for the clarification. Here is what puzzles me about the thawing issue. So if a frozen food thawed a little but was cool to the touch (and not room temperature for hours growing bacteria) before it was refrozen what would fundamentally change in the food to cause a skimmer to act up? I can't think of what would change regarding the organic make up or nutrient profile to notice a difference between a never thawed pack and one which was thawed briefly and refrozen. It really shouldn't matter as far as I can tell. And I know while it is not a best practice lots of people stop by the pet store on a whim without a cooler and whatever food they buy DOES thaw out during the drive home. Especially cube foods, they thaw out in minutes in warmer weather. There is a lot of thawing and refreezing going on which is why I always encourage people to bring and ice pack and cooler to the LFS.

I agree it's very puzzling. I suppose the vitamin supplement i use could have went bad. I'll cut that out for now and see what happens. And yes I'm guilty of letting the food partially thaw on the hour ride home during summer months. It has never caused an issue. However for the last few months its been so cold in Minnesota that the ride home isn't an issue! I keep it in the back of my truck so it's close to zero degrees by the time I get home! I'll try without the vitamins tonight and post back.

 

[Klyle]

I agree it's very puzzling. I suppose the vitamin supplement i use could have went bad. I'll cut that out for now and see what happens. And yes I'm guilty of letting the food partially thaw on the hour ride home during summer months. It has never caused an issue. However for the last few months its been so cold in Minnesota that the ride home isn't an issue! I keep it in the back of my truck so it's close to zero degrees by the time I get home! I'll try without the vitamins tonight and post back.

Although that wouldn't explain why rinsing the food is decreasing skimmer production!

 

[minus9]

Although that wouldn't explain why rinsing the food is decreasing skimmer production!

I honestly don't think you need to add vitamins, especially with LRS or any other high quality food. But I also feed a variety of high quality foods, so no vitamins necessary.

 

[Cell]

Thanks for the clarification. Here is what puzzles me about the thawing issue. So if a frozen food thawed a little but was cool to the touch (and not room temperature for hours growing bacteria) before it was refrozen what would fundamentally change in the food to cause a skimmer to act up? I can't think of what would change regarding the organic make up or nutrient profile to notice a difference between a never thawed pack and one which was thawed briefly and refrozen. It really shouldn't matter as far as I can tell. And I know while it is not a best practice lots of people stop by the pet store on a whim without a cooler and whatever food they buy DOES thaw out during the drive home. Especially cube foods, they thaw out in minutes in warmer weather. There is a lot of thawing and refreezing going on which is why I always encourage people to bring and ice pack and cooler to the LFS.

It really depends on how thawed it got, which we have no measurement for. But once it starts thawing, the breakdown has begun. Fish/shrimp etc are very delicate, it doesn't take much to turn to mush.

I never used to have any issue thawing LRS with some tank water and dumping it in. Sometime last year the packages i started using made the water from thawing completely cloudy, which was not the case before. My assumption was the food had thawed and started breaking down which might explain the clouding that was not present on previous packs.

 

[Klyle]

I honestly don't think you need to add vitamins, especially with LRS or any other high quality food. But I also feed a variety of high quality foods, so no vitamins necessary.

I was under the impression frozen foods were deficient in vitamins...idk. I also fed tdo pellets so there's that but worth 80% of the fishes intake being frozen i had assumed vitamins would help. At least not hurt! Definitely open to suggestions though!

 

[Midrats]

You gotta love how our vehicles double as freezers here in the Great Lakes region

 

[minus9]

I was under the impression frozen foods were deficient in vitamins...idk. I also fed tdo pellets so there's that but worth 80% of the fishes intake being frozen i had assumed vitamins would help. At least not hurt! Definitely open to suggestions though!

Read this also, if you're feeding TDO and NLS pellets, that's going to add even more. I also feed Cool Green & Cool Mysis, which are awesome flakes.

 

[Klyle]

Read this also, if you're feeding TDO and NLS pellets, that's going to add even more. I also feed Cool Green & Cool Mysis, which are awesome flakes.

I'll look into those. I've been wanting to add flakes to their diet lately

 

[Klyle]

I cleaned the skimmer cup when I got home to make seeing the results easier. The first video shows the skimmer about 15 minutes after cleaning. The second is 10 minutes after feeding. You can already see water accumulated in the cup. And this was without rinsing the food. No other additives. I have not put anything else in the tank today just to rule out all possibilities. I can see the cup filling up as I type this.

 

[Klyle]

Read this also, if you're feeding TDO and NLS pellets, that's going to add even more. I also feed Cool Green & Cool Mysis, which are awesome flakes.

I've looked at their site before. Good to read back over it though. I've never really doubted them as a quality company and I've been exclusively using their frozen food since I re-emerged into the hobby a couple years ago. And honestly the over skimming is not a big deal. It could be solved by turning off the skimmer. I guess I just wanted to know if others are having the same issue or not. I'll have to figure out how to deal with the tank sitter and keeping the skimmer cup not full, but once I'm back in town it's a manageable issue and I'd rather not switch brands! Thanks for the info

 

[minus9]

I've looked at their site before. Good to read back over it though. I've never really doubted them as a quality company and I've been exclusively using their frozen food since I re-emerged into the hobby a couple years ago. And honestly the over skimming is not a big deal. It could be solved by turning off the skimmer. I guess I just wanted to know if others are having the same issue or not. I'll have to figure out how to deal with the tank sitter and keeping the skimmer cup not full, but once I'm back in town it's a manageable issue and I'd rather not switch brands! Thanks for the info

Are you using a controller? If so, then you can program the skimmer to be off during feedings or you can utilize a breakout box and enter feed mode with a switch or button.

 

[Klyle]

Are you using a controller? If so, then you can program the skimmer to be off during feedings or you can utilize a breakout box and enter feed mode with a switch or button.

No I'm not

 

[minus9]

No I'm not

If your sitter is going to feed at a certain time, then you can use a basic timer and shut it off during that time. Or use a smart plug and you can shut it off yourself from wherever you are.

 

[Klyle]

If your sitter is going to feed at a certain time, then you can use a basic timer and shut it off during that time. Or use a smart plug and you can shut it off yourself from wherever you are.

Yeah I think that's what I'm going to do...set a timer and hope it works out. At least for most of the days. Like the smart plug idea! I have my skimmer on a remote control outlet already, just not hooked up to wifi.