Couple of Questions?

[Niko's Reef]

Question 1:

Seeing a lot of variation on info regarding the changing of media, pads, and how often you should clean out your cannister filters? Some people state they have never cleaned/replaced theirs and have been running it for many years, while others clean theirs weekly. I read on the website for Eheim, they suggest every 3 months you replace it. The marineland 1 says every 2 weeks. Been doing research on various websites, and there is just too much descrepancies. I guess 1 answer would be each tank is different. As long as you are hitting your levels u want, do you just run with it?

2nd question:

How often sould you feed your fish. I feed my fish 2 times a day. Seen some people state they feed theirs every other day. Mine always are waiting for feeding and devour it.

3rd qustion is how often and what do you feed your corals. I give mine the liquid enhacements as instructed; and some brine every so often, but not everyday.

Any Opinion Will be Very Appreciated,

Travis

[Juiceman]

Clean filters once a week for me. Media once a month. Feed different foods once a day. I feed coral once every 2 weeks or so. As long as ur systems keeps up with nutrients, keep everyone happy in my opinion.

[DerrickH]

I feed my fish every 3 days.

[Niko's Reef]

Thanks Juiceman. Kind of what I was thinking is more correct and going to start trying to lean towards that schedule with the filters and media. Hopefully my fish are ready to drop some weight. That will be so much easier for my schedule too.

[Niko's Reef]

Sounds like I was going way overboard with that. Thanks Derrick H.

[Juiceman]

I used to feed every few day. As long as ur fish get good and full when you feed them, you're good.

[+o0zarkawater]

I used to feed every couple of days, and switch it up between a frozen mix mysis/cyclops/emerald entree/rotifers and spectrum pellets.

Recently I wanted to see what would happen if I started feeding twice a day. I now feed cyclops/rotifers in the morning for the corals, and frozen at night for fish. I throw in pellets whenever I feel like.

I'm testing to see if I get better coral growth (Zoas/LPS/Few SPS), and if this overfeeding gives me any type of algae, or if my system can keep up.

1 week so far with no new algae, so we'll see how it goes.

[DerrickH]

Then again, i only have 3 fish in a 72g tank. My nutrient count is through the roof though. I had a goby die and he was stuck behind the rocks. Figured the crabs would eat him....they didnt eat quick enough...

[jestep]

I wouldn't use a canister on a reef tank as they tend to accumulate too much detritus. For my FW, I clean my eheims once per year max usually 6 months apart or when something like a gasket or hose breaks. If I were to use one on a reef tank, I would replace the floss or filter pad weekly.

Clean / replace filter pads or socks every week. Skimmer as needed, which is about weekly to biweekly. Media about every month but I base it on how the tank is doing. Tank tends to tell me when I need to replace something. After a while you probably don't need to test to know what's wrong.

I feed once per day rotating between pellets, mysis, and seaweed for my herbivores, and some chopped wild gulf shrimp as a real treat every few months.

[George Monnat Jr]

If the filter companies are like auto companies, then their listed maintenance schedule is very conservative (to ensure their product works well and they make more money).

I think it depends on the fish. Shane at Fishy Business says I should only feed once a week (letting everything graze and play CUC). When I finally get my anthias, everybody says I must feed those at least twice a day. I know all my shrimp are crappy CUC when I feed daily. Also when I feed daily I see a greater pH drop, which I think is due to ammonia build up (double whammy of excess food and lazy CUC).

But feeding is such fun!

[ClarkiiCircus]

It depends what your goals are. I feed my fish frozen 2X per day, and pellets once a day. Then again, I am trying to get them to continue to lay healthy viable eggs. I think it honestly depends on how confident you are in the work you put into your system, including skimmer, filtration, and CUC.

[subsea]

I run high nutriant systems and I feed several times a day, if I remember. When I am not home or forget, my refugium still feeds my display tank.

Fish dropping weight on a reduced feed schedule is not good husbandry in my opinion. If your tank nutriant processing has multiple nutriant pathways, feeding heavy increases these biological populations. Some of these nutriant pathways are recycling and some are nutriant export.

Patrick

[JamesL]

My fish/corals are lucky to get fed once a week.... and all are doing great.

[+brian.srock]

I feed every 3-4 days a mix of 1/2 cube of mysis and cyclopeeze for a total of 5 fish and multiple corals. Its within the 5 minute rule so works for me. I have a canister filter that I will change out the media once a month which included GAC, GFO, and polishing pads. My skimmer is plumbed to a gallon container so I don't need to constantly empty it but I'll also clean the skimmer monthly. Everyone's system is different so just start checking on how dirty it's getting and you'll get a feel for when to clean it out. If it smells bad it need to go is my rule of thumb.

[+dapettit]

As you can see there are a variety of answers to your questions.

I'm no expert. All the advice given is good. As far as what works for you will be mainly trial and error, as the is no one all encompassing answer. Like I always say; what works in my tank may not work in yours. There are just to many variables.

I run GFO & GAC with a filter sock on the overflow. I change the sock out every three days, the GFO & GAC are changed out every two week when I do a 45 gallon water change. I also ran an Eheim canister filter on our 29. My schedule was the same as brian.srock.

FYI, I feed my fish every other day and give them a sheet of nori everday. Every time I walk past the glass they act like they are starving, kinda like Pavlov's dog, they associate you with food. It is learned trait. I don't feed my corals my tangs poop enough for that. Also don't add any supplements I can't test for.

Dave-

[Richard L]

I agree, too many variables. However, I have enjoyed reading how everyone is feeding their fish. Very interesting range.

I feed pellets in the morning and variety of frozen in the evening. I give the tangs some nori every other day. BTA's get frozen krill twice a week although they are getting so big I'm starting to regret that. I keep my mandarin fat and happy by ordering live copepods everytime Reefs2go runs their free shipping which is about once every couple of months.

As far as the corals, I have a large buffet of supplements that I have aquired each time I have purchased someones complete system. Oyster eggs, phytoplankton, zooplankton and my favorite just because of its name "Reef Roids". I honestly don't know if they make any difference but since they don't affect my water parameters and everything seems to be doing so well I toss something different in every morning when I'm adding the pellets. I use a 20 min feed cycle in the morning to give the fish time to get the pellets floating on the surface and to let the supplement swirl around the corals before getting sucked up by the skimmer. Sometime soon I'm going to run out of the supplements so I'll probably phase them out to see how the tank responds.

Oh yeah, I have several large colonies of Dendros (non-photosynthetic) which I feed frozen mysis one or two times a week. I used to feed my acans mysis once a week and they really plump up and reproduce like crazy. Don't have the time or the patience to do that any more though.

It's no wonder I can't go on vacation.

[George Monnat Jr]

I feed pellets in the morning and variety of frozen in the evening. I give the tangs some nori every other day. BTA's get frozen krill twice a week although they are getting so big I'm starting to regret that.

I've been feeding my BTAs "table" shrimp from HEB twice a week, and one of them became a moster within 2 weeks.

I keep my mandarin fat and happy by ordering live copepods everytime Reefs2go runs their free shipping which is about once every couple of months.

Do you buy and use the Tigger Pods or something else?

It's no wonder I can't go on vacation.

I'm learning that feeling real quick.

[Richard L]

These are the pods I use http://www.reefs2go.com/product/INV_POD-250/Live-Foods-for-Feeding-Aquarium-Fish-Inverts-Corals-Amphipods-copepods.html Their last sale was 2000 amphipods and copepods for $25.

I don't think the mandarin will eat those big amphipods but I'm sure the my other fish are enjoying picking them off the rocks.

[+dapettit]

I agree it is interesting. . .

[subsea]

Yes, I have purchased Tigger Pods, they are some kind of big. I like multiple cultivars and subspecies for biodiversity and purchase pods from many sources. Once they are in my systems, the strong survive. However, just like in a climax forest, a dominant species will take over if nothing interrupts the process.

Patrick

[+brian.srock]

Richard L, You are just throwing money away buying pods every so often. I keep a backup in my garage in a $2 lowes bucket and feed a cube of frozen phyto every 2-3 days. I can harvest 30-50 daily now and just throw them in my DT since these are just a backup in case I have a tank crash and lose them all. I don't worry about leaving for a week since my pods in my sump will feed the fish and my ATO is big enough to fill for a week and my skimmer is now plumbed to a 1 gallon bucket. If you want you can have an extra bucket I have and breed your own. There are a couple people on here that sell phyto and if you freeze it in cubes it'll last you 3+ months.

[Drew Mendez WTR]

I feed every other day and I alternate from blended shrimp and squid that I froze and made, and reef number 2 or mysis shrimp. Some cycolopeeze added every other day and Kent for invert and corals every 3 days. I add sinking pellets whenever I feel like everyone is looking for food. I target feed the corals and my skunk shrimp loves getting in from of my pipette and collecting all he can as fast as he can. My goby will charge the pipette (he hasnt grasped it yet) and I just make sure my hawkfish gets enough meat since hes picky and a loner.

Im cleaning my eheim out once a month. Skimmer once a week to 1.5 weeks. I have prefilters on everything so I clean them as needed

This is what I found works for me, early on I fed everyday and my nitrates were high so I moved to every other day, and have kept at that. Seems to work fine for me.

[Drew Mendez WTR]

I would like to buy some pods...I live in South Austin

[JasonJones]

I feed twice daily- a mix of spectrum pellets, Elos SV m2, formula one flakes and a little bit of reef roids mixed in. I use an ehiem auto feeder set for 3:00 and 8:00. It pours in very little food, but I think it is better to provide food in small quantities more often. I am a proponent of feeding the tank lots of nutrients and then removing them quickly with a large skimmer and chemical media. I find this to be the best method for keeping SPS, and other corals dont seem to mind much.

As far as changing media, I change my GFO when phosphates start creeping up and my carbon monthly. On a tank with a mechanical filter, like a filter sock, I would change it every couple or three days.

[Niko's Reef]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. All very helpful. Just noticed a spike in my nitrates, and was wondering what the root cause cold be. I think I might be overfeeding the fish, corals, and anemone. I was using the 5 min rule and feeding my anemone once a day. Think I need to start cleaning out the cannisters more too as well. Wish I could afford a different setup for the sump, but getting married in 2 weeks, so that won't happen for awhile. I'm currently using API test kit, and it says it runs something like 5 times higher in readings then other kits. Hope this is true too. Not too crazy readings, but I was at 0 and would like to get there again. Think a mangrove plant in the overflow box might help a little too.