When to feed, how often, and how much?

badstorm48 · Feb 20, 2016

I feel like I am over feeding my tank. I just started to see my water isn't as clear as it was like a few days ago and hair algae started growing. Right now I am feeding twice a day a pinch of flakes. Though, I feel like my lunch is to big of a pinch. I've read hat people feed every other day and some people feed every day some times more than once a day. So, I'm not sure exactly how much I should feed and how often. I feed in the morning when I get up and when I get home from work. So, when should I feed, how often, and how much?

Dr. Phil · Feb 20, 2016

A little more about your setup will help people answer your questions. What size is your aquarium, protein skimmer, live rock and livestock would be a few points to consider.

badstorm48 · Feb 20, 2016

I have a 40 breeder with a yellow tang 2 blood orange clowns and a royal gramma with some cuc need more though. I have a bubble magus nac 3.5 in a 5.5 gallon eshopps nano sump with a 200 gph overflow box and a rio 1100 return pump. I also have a ato as well.

badstorm48 · Feb 20, 2016

I feel as if I'm over feeding and I don't want to do that

samba_dad · Feb 20, 2016

How is your NO3 and PO4 levels? If they are 5ppm or less NO3, I would keep feeding very regularly. Many reefers will feed more than 3x per day. I feed 2x a day.

badstorm48 · Feb 20, 2016

They're good at 0. I talked to my lfs and he said that to much light can cause that. So I'm gonna try that and see how that goes cause my light is on for 12 to 16 hours a day so I'm gonna try and cut it to just 8 hours a day or so

Dr. Phil · Feb 20, 2016

badstorm48 said:
I have a 40 breeder with a yellow tang 2 blood orange clowns and a royal gramma with some cuc need more though. I have a bubble magus nac 3.5 in a 5.5 gallon eshopps nano sump with a 200 gph overflow box and a rio 1100 return pump. I also have a ato as well.

I think you might want to look at rehoming the yellow tang, it will quickly become too large for your tank.

As far as feeding, I feed once a day. I haven't had any problems, but I have a very light bioload. I have had fish that required 2-3 feelings per day in the past and as long as I kept it so that they could eat all of the food within a few minutes that was not a problem either.

samba_dad · Feb 21, 2016

I think variety of food is important to the diet. The gramma and clowns are carnivores and will need meaty foods and the tang is a herbivore and will need nori sheets added regularly. You will hear this from everyone but a yellow tang needs a long tank to swim and therefore a bigger tank than a 40 eventually. If your NO3 and PO4 are low you are unlikely to be over feeding. Try changing carbon every few weeks and see if that addresses the cloudy water. Good luck!