What's on the menu tonight...

DragonReef

DragonReef

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Ok guy's, this is something most of you do anyway but for the benefit of those who don't here is another way to combat nuisance algae.
During the height of my algae campaign I got very paranoid about any phosphates I was adding to my tank.
I was trying like crazy to get phos out of my system and wanted to ensure that I was minimising what was going in. One of the biggest daily phosphate additions is feeding. Foods especially frozen foods are high in phosphates, which are used in preservatives etc.
So this is how I feed:
First up a look at the menu:

Foodpreparation004.jpg


This is some of the variety of dry foods that I feed. I choose 2 of each daily for some variation.

First Step. I take 2 blocks of frozen food. Tonight I have used 1 block of Krill and 1 block of mysis. Then I let it thaw in my feeding cup with some RO water, like this

Foodpreparation001.jpg


Takes about 10 minutes to thaw and then I stir it all up and pour it through a tea strainer like this

Foodpreparation003.jpg


I pour some more RO water through the strainer, shake it off and I'm left with this:

Foodpreparation005.jpg
 
Next a take some water from my tank and put it in the feeding cup and empty the contents of the strainer into the cup.

Foodpreparation006.jpg


Next I add whatever else I'm feeding. Tonight it was a small pinch of Formula One flake, some Tetra bits and a small scoop of CyclopEeze.

Foodpreparation007.jpg


Then I add a few drops of either Selcon or Biovit to fortify, stir it all up and leave it for about 15 minutes to soak up.
Dinners Ready :D

Foodpreparation008.jpg
 
I feed this over a period of 3 hours between 7pm and 10.30pm. I switch all my circulation pumps off and pour some of the food in. I pour it towards the front of the tank so that I can keep it all in one place. It's also in a very high flow area. When the circulation pumps start up they blow up whatever has settled on the substrate.
 
Nice i always feed Frozen and have never had a problem with phosphate:) Nice thread
 
With all your pumps off....would'nt that limit what food your coral get access to
 
sunburst said:
With all your pumps off....would'nt that limit what food your coral get access to
Click to expand...

Yip Sean when the pumps come back on it causes quite a stir up. I do leave my return pump running so there is still some current in the tank which disperses it a bit.
 
DR excellent thread thanks. Don't want to sound melodramatic but its threads like these that make MASA superior!

Ok now question time, do you ever feed any invert food like the Sera end Tetra ones ? and do you target feed your LPS?
 
Omega One is an awesome dry food range, they even have one with garlic in to help combat the dreaded white spot and other fish diseases and a first flake which has an appetite stimulant for new fish which are often difficuilt to start eating.
 
Copperband said:
Ok now question time, do you ever feed any invert food like the Sera end Tetra ones ? and do you target feed your LPS?
Click to expand...

CB currently other than the Cyclopeeze I'm not feeding any specific invert food. The pippette you see in the cup is what I use to target feed if I need to. I suck a bit of the food up from the cup and squirt the specific coral I want to target feed. I also have a turkey baster which is a lot longer and easier to work with. I don't target feed everyday though, maybe once a week.
 
Awesome info. I have certainly learnt a thing or two.I used to just chuck the food in and that's it.\Do you leave your skimmer running during feeding?
 
Galibore, yes my skimmers always run. Depending on the type of foods fed though the skimmers will die off during feeding, especially with Tetra Bits. The oils in Tetra bit's seem to flatten a skimmer for about an hour.
 
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