feeding??

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

chase35

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Messages
21
Location
Boise, Id
I have been strugling with water perameters mainly phosphate and NitrAte, for the past 2-3 months. I need help! I have tried the following: Skim heavier (wet), reduced my feeding schedule, Got a new can filter, and 30g waterchanges every 3-4 days, siphon out my substrate for detritus (only a quarter with each water change) cleaned out sump, and clean filters every time I do a WC! My Nitrates are still high (20-40ppm) and phosphates are .25ppm. My Lfs told me that maybe i was over feeding. So with that being said, How do I know if I'm over feeding? Right now i feed 2 frozen cubes once a day and twice a day alternating every other day! I am feeding a 8" blue tang, 5" blue jaw Trigger, 3 occelarus clowns, 2 dominoe damsels, 1 fuji blue devil damsel, 1 Royal Gramma, and 1 Coral Beauty, and 2 Cleaner shrimp. I also have other livestock but they are inverts so feeding is different! Please before any one gets on me I already know that's a lot of livestock!!
 
Are you having trouble with algae? Nitrates below 40 won't harm the fish. But it could fuel algae. Getting nitrates as close to zero as possible is best, but with your heavy stock, is obviously proving to be difficult. If your not having an algae problem, I wouldn't stress too much. Is this a reef and its affecting corals?

Also, are you using liquid test kit? If its API, I've read on here several times that for API liquid nitrate test, you have to divide the number by 4.4 to get the actual result because it measure total nitrate. Good luck!!
 
I am using ro/di, I am also using API liquid test kit! I have a little algae but not all that bad. mainly on the substrate,Sorry for the long thread, but my question was how do I know if I'm over feeding? By the description does it sound like I'm feeding too much? Thank you to those how replied!!
 
Two cubes a day seems alittle much, I know you have a a lot of fish but that seems like a lot. I have four fish and a cube last me like a week. I thaw a cube in tank water in a little Tupperware and leave it in the fridge, every other day or so when it smells rank I change the water out. I usually feed one squirt from there with a small turkey baster every day or every other day. That's with a sailfin tang, Maron clown, coral beauty and a 6 line wrasse.
 
Two cubes a day seems alittle much, I know you have a a lot of fish but that seems like a lot. I have four fish and a cube last me like a week. I thaw a cube in tank water in a little Tupperware and leave it in the fridge, every other day or so when it smells rank I change the water out. I usually feed one squirt from there with a small turkey baster every day or every other day. That's with a sailfin tang, Maron clown, coral beauty and a 6 line wrasse.

So how much would you feed with the stock i have? Just to make sure you are talking about the 1/2"x1/2" cubes correct?
 
I would feed what ever they can fully eat in five mins or so once every 3 days...
 
From what I have read from multiple sites and articles, you are suppose to feed several times a day but only what they can eat in less than three minutes. My fish devour the food in less than one minute! (No joke) am I still feeding to much, to often?
 
The fish will eat almost everytime u add food ... I feed mine every three days and I have no algae issues ...I had cyno in my nano but my rodi filter needed changed
 
Do you have live rock? What about sand? How much? What size tank is this anyway? I saw you were doing 30 gallon water changes. Have you ever tested the RODI for nitrates and phosphates? It's always possible the RO membrane or DI resin is shot.

I saw you had a canister filter. Since these do a good job at trapping detritus, they can often turn into nitrate factories and the only time the nitrates go anywhere is when you clean out the canister. But, as other have said, if your fish and corals are OK (no HLLE) and there's not an algae plague to fight, I wouldn't worry.
 
Back
Top Bottom