Pumps on or Pumps off when feeding?

[Quiverfull]

I am interested in your feeding regimen with the goal to supply nutrients to sps.
Just wondering what folks are doing when:

1. feeding fish?
2. feeding corals?

I usually keep all my pumps on for fish feeding thinking that this feeds corals. I usually feed fish in afternoon and when lights dim 30 minutes before they go totally off thinking this provides a level of nutrients in the water column as the polyps are fully extended.

 

[G Santana]

Feeding fish, pumps on
Feeding corals, pumps off and target feed

Main pump off for both

 

[Sharkbait19]

I turn off my pump simply because the food would all get sucked into the intake if I left it on.

 

[HB AL]

I turn off all pumps, then within 10 seconds they all start going crazy realizing its feeding time. I have to feed my fish alot so turning them off allows them to easily eat the food thus keeping uneaten food from entering the sump.

 

[jda]

I leave the return pump on when I feed my fish. I usually turn the flow pumps off when I am around, but I have an auto feeder that feeds pellets that goes 4x a day and nothing gets turned off. I don't feed my acropora.

 

[X-37B]

I leave all powerheads and return pumps on. Skimmer stays on too.
I only feed the fish and my fish feed the corals.

 

[mattdg]

Seems like it is really dependent on the type of fish and coral someone is keeping. For me, with a mixed, SPS dominant reef, Pumps on and feed into a ring so the food breaks up slowly and is distributed around the water. I only feed the coral once every two weeks... pumps off for 20 minutes.

 

[cpalminteri]

I leave all powerheads and return pumps on. Skimmer stays on too.
I only feed the fish and my fish feed the corals.

How does the food not go into the return? I tried that and it all got sucked up

 

[gbroadbridge]

I am interested in your feeding regimen with the goal to supply nutrients to sps.
Just wondering what folks are doing when:

1. feeding fish?
2. feeding corals?

I usually keep all my pumps on for fish feeding thinking that this feeds corals. I usually feed fish in afternoon and when lights dim 30 minutes before they go totally off thinking this provides a level of nutrients in the water column as the polyps are fully extended.

Fish:
5 mins
Return, UV, ozone, skimmer off - Wavemakers on

Coral
20 mins
Return, UV, ozone, skimmer off - Wavemakers - Feed mode.
Skimmer off for another 2 hours

Controlled by automation system.

 

[X-37B]

How does the food not go into the return? I tried that and it all got sucked up

I have quite a bit of flow in my 120 +15 fish.

 

[ninjamyst]

All pumps on. I am lazy. My fish are freakijg competitive eating champs. With my 6 feet peninsula tank, I drop food at the far end and nothing makes it to return. The tangs and triggers are front line squadron, and the damsels come in like raptors for any leftovers.

 

[Karen00]

I turn off all pumps/powerheads. I target feed all fish/corals and the couple times I forgot to turn off the pumps it quickly got sucked into my filter totally wasting the food. I also find once I turn the pumps back on the stuff that settled on the substrate gets picked up into the water column and swirls around long enough for fish and corals to get it before getting sucked into the filter.

 

[Waters]

I turn my two WAVS (which sit up high) off when feeding coral or fish. The two MP40s (which sit on the bottom) remain on at all times to keep pushing anything that hits the bottom back up.

 

[Dbichler]

I have always left everything on let the fish chase the food and whatever gets missed is filtered out or cuc food

 

[SPS2020]

I feed acropora and fish at the same time, twice per day.
For around an hour, the return pump is off, gyres stay on for circulation of food for corals.

 

[mfinn]

I don't do thing different when adding food to the tank. All pumps on.

 

[Sarlindescent]

I think this question largely has to do with the individual tank, flow, food, and corals. If you are looking to feed acans to improve growth/color, then flow off to ensure the targeted corals get what you want. If your tank has a right return and a left overflow and food gets push to the overflow, maybe turn pumps off. If you have a coast to coast overflow with gyres constantly pushing food back into the tank, leave the flow on. If food sinks to quick, than flow on. If... really depends on the interaction of the specific tank and flow. Barring target feeding, I personally prefer flow on as long as it isn't going down to the overflow too quickly.

 

[MattB69]

I like my fish to work for it. I leave everything on. The feeding frenzy is fun to watch.

 

[Dakota_reef]

As of now I turn all pumps off for feeding whether fish or target feeding. After 5 minutes, my circulation pump turns on. 5 min after that my return comes back on. And 5 minutes after that my skimmer comes back online.