Feeding question

[Pagodazoa]

I've been in this hobby for a pretty long time and up until this point I still don't know the proper amount to feed the tank. I'm relatively new to reefing probably only doing it for about six years now but have kept fowlr tanks and fresh for about 15 years. I feel like there's no definite answer that let hobbyist know exactly how much to feed the fish. I went to my lfs this week because of course I've kept a pretty strict water changing regimen about twice a week now to combat a nitrate issue. My philosophy was to always feed a decent amount so everyone got a chance to eat and whatever they could eat in about two minutes id give them. I used to feed frozen everyday until I found out this was a big no no due to the amount of nutrients that go into the water. And I've also fed my tangs including the rest of the fish like my trigger and angel seaweed everyday to curb aggression and maintain proper diet, from what I gather the more they eat seaweed the higher their immune systems. My ammonia and nitrite always remains 0 but my lfs said I've been feeding too much due to the nitrate problem and said to only put two pinches of pellets per day in the tank and feed sea weed and frozen only twice a week. Does everyone agree to this? I want to hear how much you guys are feeding your tanks because I feel like all my fish aren't getting the chance to eat but I could be wrong

 

[MIKE NY]

There is a fine line between too much and too little nutriants in a reef especially in keeping SPS. For many years I tried to keep an ULNS, but realizing that my corals weren't looking their best and need some nutrients. In recent years I see people actually dosing nitrates to obtain this. I'm a firm believer now in heavy in and heavy out. I have a large bio load with a lot of fish and feed heavily. I mix a "chum" of many different foods including frozen, pellets and flakes every day and pour alittle in throughout the coarse of the day. In order to combat this I run a large fuge with many different macros, sand and rock. I also run phosban and carbon in reactors, a large skimmer and do 10% W/Cs bi-monthly. So to answer your question I don't agree with your LFS ...feed so all are getting fed and all are full bodied, but obviously the more aggressive eaters like tangs will get more which is ok because they are usually the most active. Remember most reef fishes are feeding all day long....Just be prepared to do the water husbandry to maintain water quality... GL

 

[Pagodazoa]

Thanks for all the help mike, I run a skimmer rated slightly higher for my tank size. I also have a deep sand bed for the two wrasses in my tank and I have probably a pound per gallon of live rock, unfortunately with my sump and ato reservoir I have no room to run a fuge. I hear also that the fuge has to be somewhat a large volume in order to be efficient which was the reason why I avoided getting a hob fuge. I'd say I do 25-30% water changes weekly, I change filter socks and media monthly. My nitrates are over 50 in the Red Sea test kit so basically off the charts, like you I also have a large bio load from the many fish in the tank. Recently I've been dosing Nopox from my understanding it's similar to a vodka dosing and I still can't combat the nitrates. I believe my fish were eating a healthy amount. I've tried to feed them small feelings through out the day and like I said seaweed everyday so the tangs can pick like they do in the wild. With the regime I'm currently doing I understand there's no way I can keep sps corals, my hammers and other lps still seem to be doing well in the system and my soft corals still open up. For awhile Zoas wouldn't open for me really until recently. My next question is will the high nitrates bother any other corals beside sps? Also my understanding is that fish could careless about the nitrate as long as your ammonia and nitrite are constantly at 0

 

[Paul B]

I agree with Mike. You need to keep your fish well fed and deal with the nutrients as a separate issue. Fish need to be well fed to be immune and spawn which means they are in the best possible condition they can be in. We used to think that we should severely limit what and how much we feed. Now we know that is wrong.
You should IMO go back to frozen foods and forget flakes. Fish can't be over fed.

 

[MIKE NY]

There you have it between Paul and I you have the advise of over seventy years of reef keeping, but to answer your question although most LPS and fish can tolerate higher levels of nitrates than SPS some are hardier than others. IMO though, they too should be kept in the best water quality possible. If you don't have the room the choices are to reduce the bio- load or possibly using a chaeto reactor (Arid) , nitrate reactor, carbon dosing etc.....do some research in recent years there are a lot more methods available to deal with water quality....GL