Recommendations to reduce feeding seem like a bad idea

[James Tucker]

I agree it's not one size fits all

I think it's all about finding that balance of being an adequate amount for your livestock and finding where your export is also adequate.

I agree with this. I might be mistaken, but I have always thought of the recommendation as a blanket statement of "If you will not or cannot manage nutrient export, reduce the nutrients going in, in the first place."

With fish, and lots of other added complexities of individual setups, it might not be the best route. For me, I'm trying to increase the nutritional value of the food I add, so that I can put in only as much food as I want in volume. Like using a drone to delivery a pizza with a bunch of nutritious ingredients instead of doing a military plane drop of pallets of generic pizza hoping that everyone gets what they need from the generic ingredients.

 

[User1]

I agree with this. I might be mistaken, but I have always thought of the recommendation as a blanket statement of "If you will not or cannot manage nutrient export, reduce the nutrients going in, in the first place."

With fish, and lots of other added complexities of individual setups, it might not be the best route. For me, I'm trying to increase the nutritional value of the food I add, so that I can put in only as much food as I want in volume. Like using a drone to delivery a pizza with a bunch of nutritious ingredients instead of doing a military plane drop of pallets of generic pizza hoping that everyone gets what they need from the generic ingredients.

Beans and bullets are important...

 

[Gareth elliott]

In my mind when i have given this advice has always been the intention of do more feedings with less each time. Not to reduce fish poop but reduce uneaten portions.

This is especially important with dry foods that by their nature of ash content contain such high phosphate concentrations.

While i have not seen this in marine fish, have seen freshwater that over ate dry food in one sitting to the point of a intestinal blockage.

To clarify 12 pinches through out the day maybe close to one handful in the morning in volume but completely different in how its consumed and digested.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I agree with this. I might be mistaken, but I have always thought of the recommendation as a blanket statement of "If you will not or cannot manage nutrient export, reduce the nutrients going in, in the first place."

With fish, and lots of other added complexities of individual setups, it might not be the best route. For me, I'm trying to increase the nutritional value of the food I add, so that I can put in only as much food as I want in volume. Like using a drone to delivery a pizza with a bunch of nutritious ingredients instead of doing a military plane drop of pallets of generic pizza hoping that everyone gets what they need from the generic ingredients.

Good point

Take the same approach with our dog. We feed raw diet. Less quantity but less crap that isn't needed along with it

 

[C. Eymann]

Feeding regimes should be custom tailored to each tank and esp fish species kept.

Example:
If you want a nice healthy harem of fish like Anthias or even Chromis in your 120gal, you should be feeding small amounts 3x a day!

Which would be unneeded otherwise if you didnt keep those species. Also variables involved are the amount of nutrient export your system can handle, carbon dosing methods can definitely be an asset when it comes to enhancing NE as well, thus enabling more feeding.

 

[Joe Rice]

Here is a medium size feed on my DT.

Can you give us a sense of what the "fish load" was when you were doing that feeding?

I feel like I already feed a lot but I would love to feed more as my fish always seem hungry. Whenever I'm in the kitchen anywhere near the spot where I prep their food they all cluster excitedly over by the kitchen side of the tank where they can see me (and which also happens to be where I dump the food in).

 

[Thales]

I am mostly feeding the corals - the bottom half of the tank is NPS.


I would like to see if we can get back to the OP - people recommend less feeding for algae and cyano control; has anyone seen that actually work? Unless you are really overfeeding, I don't think it does.

 

[Aero]

I’ve always been an advocate of heavy feeding in conjunction with heavy skimming and nutrient export.

Running a fuge with a high quality grow light like the Kessil H80 also helps keep nutrient levels in check. Of course flow in the DT should be at an adequate level to keep particles suspended to avoid detritus accumulation..

 

[sde1500]

Very interesting point. I think the basis for it would be to reduce nutrients, but definitely misguided IMO. Much better to find ways to increase export, instead of starving everything in the tank.

 

[APC]

I tend to be a low to moderate feeder. In the wild fish don't have food provided to them, they have to forage for it. One could argue that they really can't forage in a tank, so need more food provided....the other side to that though is they are in a more confined space and burning less calories as a result and therefore need less food. My approach has been to have an oversized tank, with lots of live rock, and a light fish bio-load. My tank is 250 gallons, and I have 5 fish (Yellow Tang, Hippo Tang, Sailfin Tang, Maroon Clown, and a Fox Face Rabbit Fish) and lots of corals. I feed once a day - either flake and seaweed OR frozen food. One day a week I don't feed at all. The fish are thriving, they forage on the rock, and eat well when fed. My oldest fish is the yellow tang, he has been I my tank for 13+ years and looks great. Understand there are multiple arguments around this topic - just wanted to share my logic.

 

[tripdad]

I've had out of control cyano before, blankets daily on everything. I could of stopped feeding altogether and it would not have mattered. I reduced and all that happened was I created ravenous fish when i did feed. Fish that would steal food from anemones and corals that never bothered them before. Still had the cyano. I ended up using a chemical cure.

 

[Saltfishonly]

If I reduce feedings I’ll have some angry fish specially the tank breed ones..I only feed twice a day,maybe I’ll go for 3 depending if they are signaling to me they want food..all of them will gather together in the specific side I feed on and I’ll feed them..but some days they are happy with just twice a day,if I do 3 times sometimes they don’t go for it so I stick with twice daily and sometimes extra they let me know

I never had a algae break out,or Dino I feed slowly to make sure no food is wasted..a few times I’ll Notice a little algae but I do weekly water changes and keep my tank clean I don’t add any harsh chemicals most I’ll do is add a little carbon but that’s it

But this hobby is not a one size fits all like some have stated what works for me can fail for you..but feeding more often does limit aggression

 

[Thales]

Another feed video



This is a medium feed for the reef that took place over an hour, edited to about 8 minutes.. First is a PE mysis flake feed. A little while later I add a chuck on PE Calanus to the auto feeder (not shown). Then a mix of PE Calanus, Hikari mysis, and LRS foods are added at intervals. The video ends with a few minutes of the reef in silence with all the polyps open and feeding.

 

[mitch91175]

Guess the big question comes down to not just reducing feeding, but exactly how much are you feeding and is it consistent? Do you dump in food every chance you pass by your tank? What type of fish are you housing that requires frequent feeding? Do you have eels or messy feeders in the system that do not scavenge naturally? When you feed is it massive quantities or enough to be eaten very quickly? Is the food you feed a high quality food? Is it a mixed diet of seaweed, frozen etc? Are you feeding only frozen every time you feed? Are majority of your fish tangs and your feeding primarily frozen?

There are many variables to the cutting back on feeding to help combat nutrient problems. If you have fish that you need to feed numerous times per day, then you have to consider alternative approaches like more frequent water changes, better export of nutrients with a better slimmer. Maybe do carbon dosing as well.

But short answer is yes controlled feeding will help decrease nutrients but doesn’t mean that your fish are starving by feed them morning and night. From my experience, feeding frozen daily isn’t necessary, I personally feed a half sheet of seaweed and some pellets every day. So just twice a day and I have tangs, a starcki damsel, and some anthias. All fish in the system have now been conditioned to eat seaweed and are fat and healthy. If I feed them as much as they came to the glass, they would eat 30 times a day.

 

[mitch91175]

Another feed video



This is a medium feed for the reef that took place over an hour, edited to about 8 minutes.. First is a PE mysis flake feed. A little while later I add a chuck on PE Calanus to the auto feeder (not shown). Then a mix of PE Calanus, Hikari mysis, and LRS foods are added at intervals. The video ends with a few minutes of the reef in silence with all the polyps open and feeding.

Your system can more than handle the amount of food you add from the looks of it. You have so much coral that will also help reduce the nutrients you add to it. Someone with a handful of coral might not be able to feed nearly as much as your do without dealing with nutrient spikes. Lovely system BTW

 

[Thales]

Your system can more than handle the amount of food you add from the looks of it. You have so much coral that will also help reduce the nutrients you add to it. Someone with a handful of coral might not be able to feed nearly as much as your do without dealing with nutrient spikes. Lovely system BTW

Thanks. My nutrients are what most people consider high. Last test was in Jan, Phosphate was .91 and nitrate was 42. I should test again tomorrow.

 

[Victor_C3]

I always prefer to solve my excess nutrient problems by adding animals to remove the excess nutrients or increasing my natural filtration. I find that almost no matter how often I feed my fish in a given day that they’ll always manage to stuff their guts some more.

When I feed, I have my return pump off for 10 minutes. I try to adjust the amount I feed so that only a little is left after 10 minutes of fish feeding bonanza.