What, when and how do you feed your tank?

[TheOceanTraveler]

Hi everyone,

After purchasing 2 more large bags of Rods I thought it would be fun to find out what everyone else is doing for food and what their growth is like? Plus , I might find a tip so I don't go thru the Rods quite so fast.

I use Rods with some phyto feast and garlic in the evening with an extra long baster to target feed and light snack of flakes in the morning that I just throw in. I give my anemones the larger chunks of shrimp from the Rods. Everything is growing ok but don't have a good reference as to fast or slow.

I have a softie/LPS tank with clam, anemones and a few sps.

I feed in the evening because everything is open at that time.

[Timfish]

By the end of the first year this tank was getting Spectrum pellets from two autofeeders each feed about an 1/8 teaspoon twice at each of four settings each day so approxamitely 2 teaspoons a day. Frozen food, usually 6 - 8 cubes, was feed randomly, sometimes every day and sometimes skipping several days. Remember, frozen food is over 90% water so a frozen package of food that wieghs roughly 4 oz is rougly equal to 2 teaspoons of dry food.

[Robb in Austin]

Rods, PE mysis, Ocean Nutrition formula 2 cubes, and occasionally NLS pellets. Usually twice a day.

[Richard L]

Rod's Original in the evening. Clowns grab shrimp out of it and feed their anemones. I also have an apex auto-feeder that feeds my frag tank Elos pellets in the morning. They're the only pellets I've found that do not use some type of phosphate binder.

[FarmerTy]

I only feed my fish and don't target my corals or inverts. They get some indirectly via uneaten food or fish poop. ☺

I feed everyday and rotate 2 days of frozen (mysis, bloodworms, LFS food [similar to Rods]) with one day of Prime reef flakes, new life spectrum pellets, and Hikari seaweed pellets. I feed a ton! Every other day I throw in a sheet of nori or red seaweed sheet. I dose amino acids/vitamin mix 2x a week.

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[jestep]

Spectrum pellets about 3 or 4 times a week and rods as a treat by no specific schedule.

[sethsolomon]

120g w/ 40g sump and a Bubble Magus Nac 9

I feed NLS A+ pellets 2x a day and 3 cubes of frozen (PE Mysis, pacific Krill, brine, or a homemade mix)

I have Acro power amino's on a dosing pump of 30ml per day.

For anyone who is interested in my home made food recipe:

toss all this in a food processor then freeze in flats

1 flat of brine

1 flat of mysis

1 flat of krill

1 brick of frozen cyclopeeze or 3/4 of a cup of dried

3/4 lb of squid

3/4 lb of cod

3/4 lb of octopus

4 medium/large prawns

1 dropper full of garlic oil

1 dropper full of Selcom

1/2 cup of live palatable macroalgae (Ulva, garcilia, or nori(nori is high in phosphate so not optimal))

and NLS pellets to thicken

RO/DI water to thin

fish food parties make this optimal if your not going to go through 10-12 quart flats of food within 6 months.

Edited August 7, 2014 by sethsolomon

[TheOceanTraveler]

Wow I want to come back as your fish. Eats better then I do!

[sethsolomon]

Wow I want to come back as your fish. Eats better then I do!

the fish love it!

[nuxx]

Daily:

10am - Get one sheet of Emerald Cove Organic Pacific Nori Untoasted and tear into three pieces. Put a squeeze of Selcon and Garlic Xtreme on it and let it soak.

11am - Put the nori onto three pieces of live rock rubble spaced out in the tank.

5pm - Get a small dipping bowl and fill it half way with water from the sump. Then add the following:

- Pinch of Ocean Nutrition Formula One Flakes

- Pinch of Ocean Nutrition Formula Two Flakes

- Pinch of Spirulina 20

- 10-20 New Life Spectrum Small Pellets

- 5-10 New Life Spectrum All Purpose Pellets

- 1" Square Piece of Hikari Mysis Shrimp (Broken from flat panels)

- Another squeeze of Selcon and Garlic Xtreme

6pm - Make sure it's all mixed in good, and dump in.

By about 4pm each day the nori is gone. After dumping in the above food, it's all gone within 1-4 minutes. Just depends how hungry they are.

I have some Rods and Doctor G's foods too. The tangs will leave those for last, so I just use them once a week or so. Maybe using less Mysis when I do those foods. Might use more often when I get some more meat eaters.

Also have some baby brine shrimp, since I thought the Cleaner Wrasse would need it... but turns out the Cleaner is the first to the nori and will eat, spit out, eat more, spit out, rinse and repeat even large pieces of Mysis until it's gone. I just put the baby brine in the frag tank once every few days.

Will mix in a bit of the frozen food that comes in a red bar from Aquadome every now and then as well. Think it's cyclo-peeze or something. I always forget about it though. Probably better for the frag tank though since it's so small when dissolved.

BTW Fish List:

Black Tang (5")

Purple Tang (2.5")

Yellow Tang (3.5")

Chevron Tang (2.5")

Tomini Tang (3.5")

Yellow Bellied Blue Tang (4.5")

Black Ice Clownfish (2")

Pajama Cardinals (3) (1.5")

Cleaner Wrasse (2.5")

[Bpb]

I used to feed heavily on the frozen foods, but just like timfish said, they're mostly water. It was when I got my leopard wrasse that I was reading up on their diet preferences, and most people actually recommended against frozen foods for them, and suggested getting them eating pellets or flakes, due to their high calorie content vs frozen foods. Theyre so nutrient dense, and super active fish can starve on a diet of strictly frozen foods. Granted I'm sure 20 people on here will prove me wrong with their experience in that matter, but it made sense. So...I feed a small pinch of NLS pellets 2-3 times a day. I'll toss in some Elos amino acids a few days a week (4-5 drops each time, 90 gallon tank), and feed BRS reef chili once or twice a week. Really struggling with too low of nutrients in the water, even after removing Biopellets and GFO, so...I guess food food food is the only fix. That...or I could start dosing my planted tank chemicals. Anyone ever dose their reef with KH2PO4 or KNO3? Ty, where you at!

[FarmerTy]

Did someone say dose Potassium phosphate? Worked like a charm to increase my phosphate levels when I was experimenting with the tank. May start doing it again since I'm pulling 0 ppb on my Hanna phosporus meter too.

Just to keep this on topic, I am a big fan of varying the fishes diet and feeding the heck out of my tank. To do that though, you have to have a good system of exportation of nutrients as well.

[Makena95GT]

My nano gets fed all days but Tuesday and Thursday. Because im a fan of overfeeding and its hard to get food down to the Goby without Marley getting to it first.

NLS small pellets. A pretty solid pinch I try to sprinkle on the surface to distract Marley then I Emril the next small pinch and throw it in to sink to the Goby

Fridays I feed the nem. Twas frozen mysis but they're a bit small now. I was going to get frozen krill last night and didnt have the money so I opted for Top Fins "large" freeze dried medley. And soaked a large shrimp/krill.. nem went wild for it

Fridays Ill also use my mysis to feed my larger zoas and them dump the "dirty" water at the powerhead to kinda feed everyone else.

I also have old algae wafers I might try to toss to the urchin since ai havent had as much algae for him to graze on.

So yea. Thats pretty much how I do it for the ten gallon

And less than 5ppm nitrates and <1ppm phosphates so I guess im doing alright??

[FarmerTy]

Maybe I'm overly particular of my phosphate level since I run a mainly SPS tank but I try not to let it get over 0.1 ppm of phosphate. Typically it's at 0.03 ppm though... but I realize this is for an SPS tank so the levels could probably be higher. If nothing is unhappy in your tank with 1 ppm of phosphate, then keep on trucking!

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[Makena95GT]

Weirdest thing.. when my phosphates were off the charts my red people eaters started popping out new polyps left and right.

Who knows where my phosphates are really at. All I have is the API test kit o.o

[FarmerTy]

I go with the, if it isn't broke methodology. If everything is happy, then just let it be.

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[Robb in Austin]

Whatever Ty. You're like a mad scientist, always trying the latest tank fad.

[FarmerTy]

I've been called scientist before... but mad? Has a nice ring for sure! I'm going to start dosing honey next month!

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[+Grog]

I feed Rod's in the evening. I'm alternating between the herbivore and regular blend. Every other day I also supplement with Cyclopseze. I feed a bit heavy, as I have a lot of filter feeders.

FWIW: The Rod's herbivore blend has meat in it. (first four ingredients are meats.....) I think next go around I'm going to buy just that and cyclopseze.

If I had the time, and I don't, I wouldn't hesitate to make my own blend. Too much work for me right now.

[jolt]

I start with Hikari mysis on the day after a sock change (which is weekly), then 3 days before the sock change I alternate Rod's original with mysis+oyster feast.

Who knows if it is working for the corals, since my tank is a baby still. I do have growth for LPS and SPS. The fish are fat piggies. I am going to start adding either flakes or pellets soon, and saw some good ideas in the thread above.