Getting a head start - Food

[madhatter208]

Ok.
My 65 gal is in its cycle stage atm.
I've got about 80lbs of live rock < 55 tunga, 26 fuji>
40lbs of oceanic sand
20lbs of live sand
1 uncooked unseasoned shrimp

Live stock wise ( after cycle is completed and tests out properly)( in no particular order of listing)

Ocellaris Clownfish - Tank-Bred x2
Kaudern's Cardinal x2
Neon Blue Goby - Tank-Bred x1
Blue/Green Reef Chromis x3
Royal Gramma Basslet x1

I figure this will get me pretty close if not dead on maxing out compasity of tank.

Anyhow...

What foods are recommended?
I'd like to have 4 maybe 5 diff ones so they get a variety and I'd prob be doing feeings 2x a day. ( unless im told otherwise)

flakes , pellets, frozen, etc.
If links are possible that would be awsome.

And no im not putting all them fish in at once.
1 here 2 there for the most part. Only exception would be the Chromis. I'd do all 3 at once and I'd be keeping an eye on my water parameters.

Thank you
Mike

 

[tecwzrd]

Stock list looks fine. As far as food goes check out this post on feeding requirements of SW fish & this post Tutorial: How to make your own fish food [pictures] which should cover everything you ever wanted to know about feeding SW fish

 

[roka64]

I agree with Micah. I would add 2 jumbo sized shrimp.

 

[tecwzrd]

With 80 lbs of lr assuming some still had die off you may not need the second shrimp. If your nh3 gets to at least 3 ppm then your fine, if over 5 ppm I'd remove the shrimp you do have in there.

 

[madhatter208]

ok these dip sticks are a pita to read..

lets see ..
ph looks like its around a7.8 to a 8.4
alkalinity = 300
nitrite looks like a 1.0
nitrate looks like a 20
ammonia .. hell if i know .. the color on the dip dont match the color on the jar. useing jungle brand. they show a olive green color as a 6.0.. slightly lighter shade is a 3.0 from there it slowly moves into a golden rodish color.. the pad on my dip looks more like a light grey green.. perhaps that means its in between a .5 and the 3.0?

As for the NH3 (Nitrate)the scale that is listed on the jungle system is 0, 20, 40, 80, 160, 200.
0 = ideal
20,40 = ok
rest = your probably looking at buying new fish.

how ever the NO2 (Nitrite) scale matches what your listing.
0 = safe
.5 = caustion
1.0 -3.0 = strress
5.0 10.0 = probably buying new fish less you fix it fast.

Yes there was some die off on the Live rock. I had a 30 min drive from the store back home so yea. im pretty sure there was some die off because of that.

That all sound bout right for numbers n all w/ the cycle?...

Thanks
Mike

 

[tecwzrd]

Dip sticks are a waste of money IMO. I'd at least get the AP liquid master test kit which sells for around $20 online or $30 at your lfs and it comes with ph/nh3/no2/no3

Numbers sound fine but could be off because of the dip stick. The lr was cured from the lfs so you probably had very little die-off in the 30 minute drive.

I'd take a sample to the lfs to test to get better numbers and my another test kit before deciding if you need to add another shrimp.

 

[madhatter208]

took the shrimp out.. it somehow got sucked up onto the ph n was blowing crap all over.. so thats prob stil lin there somewhere.. if i need to i can toss in some flake food as well

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Agree about the dip sticks. I use them, but not when I want to actually know the numbers! In my opinion, they're good for "do I have any level other than 0.0ppm" type of tests, and that's about it.

You're going to need better test kits anyway, and the API brands are a great value. Get some now, and use this time as a learning process of how to interpret the colors. You're going to want ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH as a minimum (the "Master" kit, as tecwzrd already mentioned). Until your cycle is done though, I wouldn't worry about pH. No need to.

 

[melosu58]

Hey Mike it looks like your cycle is doing OK. Your fish list looks OK to me and you hit the nail on the head when you said variety is the key on feeding. I`ve never had any good luck with those strips. Glad to see the tank coming along.