LRS Reef Frenzy Problems?

[Steve2020]

I've been to the Reef Collective quite a few times and have only had great service and awesome livestock! They did however have a problem a few months back- can't remember if it was their freezer that went bad or the shipment arrived thawed, but they told me they weren't comfortable selling it, which I appreciated. The problem I'm having isn't with thawed food, its both Reef Frenzy and Fish Frenzy (the last two packs I've purchased anyways) have made my skimmer go nuts. The problem is somewhat mitigated by rinsing first. I will have a tank sitter soon and I would like to avoid asking them to rinse the food...or empty the skimmer everyday! Does RC carry Rods? I don't think I've ever seen it there

No they don't. I tried Rods once and it was ok but the krill are huge and to big even for my 7 inch powder brown tang. If LRS was no longer available I would use it again. Also make sure your freezer is very cold. I have a small frig/freezer that I have in my fish room that is used for all my frozen and refrigerated products and for some reason the Rod's food gets soft while the LRS and my frozen home made food stay frozen hard. I have to keep it in my garage freezer that is set to -1 degrees F.

 

[Midrats]

How? Literally no visible particles are being washed away. I add vitamins

Whatever sieve you are using is washing lots of good stuff down the drain. What does @ReefFrenzy think about rinsing their food?

 

[Klyle]

No they don't. I tried Rods once and it was ok but the krill are huge and to big even for my 7 inch powder brow tang. If LRS was no longer available I would use it again. Also make sure your freezer is very cold. I have a small frig/freezer that I have in my fish room that is use for all my frozen and refrigerated products and for some reason the Rod's food gets soft while the LRS and my frozen home made food stay frozen hard. I have to keep it in my garage freezer that is set to -1 degrees F.

Good to know i definitely don't want big chunks. I keep the food frozen solid. Probably not that cold though! Who knows maybe I'll end up making my own food. Maybe.

 

[Klyle]

Whatever sieve you are using is washing lots of good stuff down the drain. What does @ReefFrenzy think about rinsing their food?

I have no idea I'll look into it. I get your point and normally I don't rinse but 1, its helping to not overflow my skimmer and 2, if anything- minimizing the amount of small particles the vermitids in my tank eat which is a good thing for me. I feed tdo pellets also and use vitamins with the rf so I don't think my fish are missing out. Maybe the corals

 

[nkyreef]

Sorry if this is off topic but how long is your skimmer off after feeding? I'll typically leave mine off for at least an hour to let the coral and filter feeders uptake some of the nutrients. Should decrease the amount of waste the skimmer pulls.

 

[Klyle]

Sorry if this is off topic but how long is your skimmer off after feeding? I'll typically leave mine off for at least an hour to let the coral and filter feeders uptake some of the nutrients. Should decrease the amount of waste the skimmer pulls.

Not off topic since my main issue is my skimmer going crazy! I don't turn off the skimmer. It's slightly oversized for my bioload so it does better when I feed it. I suppose that would be one way to counteract the problem. But the sitter can't turn off the skimmer and come back in 30 mins soI will probably start doing that once I get back from vacation. I have like 4 days to figure it out, shouldn't be too hard. I REAALLY wish I would have went with the dc skimmer!

 

[nkyreef]

Not off topic since my main issue is my skimmer going crazy! I don't turn off the skimmer. It's slightly oversized for my bioload so it does better when I feed it. I suppose that would be one way to counteract the problem. But the sitter can't turn off the skimmer and come back in 30 mins soI will probably start doing that once I get back from vacation. I have like 4 days to figure it out, shouldn't be too hard. I REAALLY wish I would have went with the dc skimmer!

DC skimmers definitely have their advantages. Especially when coupled to something like an Apex. Maybe you can get a simple timer and set it for a couple hours if you know a round about time when the tank sitter is coming by. If your skimmer is oversized for bioload it's unlikely you'll have crazy nutrient issues when you get back. At least you have some days to try it out if it's an option.

 

[Klyle]

DC skimmers definitely have their advantages. Especially when coupled to something like an Apex. Maybe you can get a simple timer and set it for a couple hours if you know a round about time when the tank sitter is coming by. If your skimmer is oversized for bioload it's unlikely you'll have crazy nutrient issues when you get back. At least you have some days to try it out if it's an option.

Yep. I'm doing a few larger wc's this week before I go just as a buffer. I may do the timer thing and just have him keep an eye on the collection cup.

 

[Drendo]

I turn my skimmer off during feed mode and back on 10 minutes later and I haven’t had this problem with LRS over the last 2 years. I have also found it to be quite consistent, so my guess is spoilage.

 

[Klyle]

I turn my skimmer off during feed mode and back on 10 minutes later and I haven’t had this problem with LRS over the last 2 years. I have also found it to be quite consistent, so my guess is spoilage.

I don't think so. It has not thawed out whatsoever. I'll see what happens with the skimmer off. I suspect that will help.

 

[homer1475]

I don't think so. It has not thawed out whatsoever. I'll see what happens with the skimmer off. I suspect that will help.

And you know this how?

How would you know if it thawed in transport, then refrozen at the LFS?

Only time my skimmer went nuts with a pack of LRS is when it was thawed and refrozen.

 

[Klyle]

And you know this how?

How would you know if it thawed in transport, then refrozen at the LFS?

Only time my skimmer went nuts with a pack of LRS is when it was thawed and refrozen.

I'm psychic. Plus it's happened with more than one pack from different stores. And I live in Minnesota where is been below freezing for 2 months now. Pretty good chance it hasn't been thawed

 

[Klyle]

And you know this how?

How would you know if it thawed in transport, then refrozen at the LFS?

Only time my skimmer went nuts with a pack of LRS is when it was thawed and refrozen.

But for real I suppose it could have thawed at some point, although unlikely I suspect. But that's good to know... maybe there's hope after all!

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I'd suspect somewhere in the chain it thawed also. Been feeding LRS & Rods for years, with and without the skimmer running during feeding. I never had it go crazy and fill the cup but I also run a remote reservoir on both tanks, so a ymmv scenario.

 

[Cell]

I shop at the same places in MN as Klyle and can say without a doubt you could absolutely get a previously partially thawed pack of frozen food.

 

[minus9]

I’ve been using LRS since 2015 and have only experience increased foam a couple times, but that’s because of the amount I fed. For those wanting to set up amounts for tank sitters, just break off what you would normally feed and place those chunks in a ziplock baggie and keep it in the freezer. I usually try and break off smaller chunks for those who are feeding in my absence. I also instruct them to use two smaller pieces (if I break off a couple smaller than normal chunks) to make a normal size. You can use a knife to make precise pieces for your sitter.
As others have mentioned, don’t rinse this food, it’s completely pointless. If your skimmer is reacting, try reducing the amount and feed smaller portions throughout the day (which is what you should be doing anyway).

 

[Klyle]

I’ve been using LRS since 2015 and have only experience increased foam a couple times, but that’s because of the amount I fed. For those wanting to set up amounts for tank sitters, just break off what you would normally feed and place those chunks in a ziplock baggie and keep it in the freezer. I usually try and break off smaller chunks for those who are feeding in my absence. I also instruct them to use two smaller pieces (if I break off a couple smaller than normal chunks) to make a normal size. You can use a knife to make precise pieces for your sitter.
As others have mentioned, don’t rinse this food, it’s completely pointless. If your skimmer is reacting, try reducing the amount and feed smaller portions throughout the day (which is what you should be doing anyway).

I have increased the amount I've been feeding. I do cut them into chunks for the sitter. But it's not really possible to feed smaller amounts through the day as I'm not home most of the time. I'll see what happens when I feed less though!

 

[Klyle]

I shop at the same places in MN as Klyle and can say without a doubt you could absolutely get a previously partially thawed pack of frozen food.

I totally agree with you, it just seems less likely to me this time of year unless someone had a freezer mishap. Either way I've definitely used partially thawed bags of LRS and haven't had the over skimming issue

 

[ReefFrenzy]

Whatever sieve you are using is washing lots of good stuff down the drain. What does @ReefFrenzy think about rinsing their food?

We generally don't recommend rinsing our foods as there isn't really a benefit. Studies have been done on this topic and rinsing only removes about 1% of the phosphate. Meaty foods have phosphorous in their tissue so rinsing has little effect overall.

You can google the article by Randy Holmes-Farley titled "Aquarium chemistry phosphate and math: Yes you need to understand both" where they tested a bunch of frozen foods before and after rinsing.

With regards to feeding making a protein skimmer act up, I have heard of that with various foods at feeding time. A skimmer is designed to remove organics from the system and while feeding you are adding nutrient dense organic material to the water. You can try temporarily shutting off the skimmer or maybe feed less at a time.

One of the core facets of our business which we are praised by retailers is the transportation of our foods from our shipping center to the pet store. I can assure you the foods arrive 100% frozen or they are discarded and replaced. After shipping perishables around the globe for a decade we have packing for 1-5 day transit down to a science. For example last week we had the largest fertilizer plant fire in our city's history which shut down the city and Fed Ex hub for three days. We had several thousand dollars worth of food spoil while sitting at the hub before the "all clear" was given. We knew by the time it arrived at the final destination it would likely be thawing having sat all week, and then over the weekend. We had Fed Ex return the foods to sender, discarded them and replacement shipments have been sent out to the impacted stores. Unfortunately, we don't have any control over how our foods are handled once they arrive at the retailer. If it looks suspect like it had been thawed and re-frozen you may want to ask the retailer if they have had any freezer issues.

During the pandemic more people entered the aquarium hobby than in our ten year company history. We have continued to remain true to our core focus of manufacturing the highest quality aquarium foods. Our Carolina suppliers have done a great job keeping us supplied with the raw ingredients we need. We now employ 8 people to help service over 400 retailers, service companies and public aquariums in nine countries. We use over 1 Ton of dry ice EVERY week to pack our premium 1.5" thick walled foam coolers. Fed Ex is now sending three trucks to our shipping center on a daily basis. Last year was our strongest year ever for sales with repeat orders from retailers who have been with us from day one. The consistency of the foods has remained the same and our shipping methods preserve the integrity of the product from our freezer to the retailer no matter what the outside temperature.

We appreciate all the support and feedback from the R2R community!

 

[Midrats]

Speaking from experience, the freezer door gets left open all the time at the fish store. I had to put a lock on it and put it on the closing duties check list. Lost $$$$$. I'd never re-freeze and sell it, but I wouldn't put that past someone that didn't know that wasn't ok.