How much to feed & light..

[WJH1748]

I'm new to this... We have a 4" Huma Trig, 4" PinkTail Trig, 3" Draggon Wrasse, #5 Striped Puffer, 14" Banded Moray eel, and two damsels. The food we have is Bay Brand Krill & Marine Cuisine Squares (brown). Sooo how much and how often should we feed? For the eel, we have a tube that we put the food down. LIGHTS: 40 watt hood w/ Two Coralife 50/50 bulbs. They are on a timer from 3pm to 10pm. Should we do more or less?
One more question: I have a salinity tester. Should we buy a kit to test the other pertinent stuff?

 

[MACATUA]

Wow, that is a lot of bio-load in there.................. I am assuming it is FO?

 

[biotoxin]

probably why he posted the topic in "fish only"

 

[MACATUA]

Thanks...................

 

[WJH1748]

Bio-load?

Fo, other than some live rock. What is "bio-load"?

 

[loganj]

Bioload is the biological load on the filtration...basically how many fish you have in the tank...inverts don't really add much to the bio load.
What size tank?
How much LR?
I wouldn't feed them more than they'll eat in about 3-4 minutes once per day. I only feed my eels and puffer about twice a week...usually give them krill. Also, you don't want to just thaw the food in water and dump it all in there...the water contains lots of nutrients that will cause an algae bloom. I use a brine shrimp net to strain the food out before adding it to the tank. You can feed them shrimp, clams, fish, ect... from the grocery store as well. Only get fresh or fresh/frozen...not canned...nothing with preservatives in it.
You should have test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and alkalinity at the least.

 

[MACATUA]

Messy eaters, like triggers, cause a heavy bio-load. Basically because they don't eat everything you put in the tank, and the leftovers go to the floor to rot. Just make sure they are eating all that you put in, and try and fish out any leftovers

 

[wseaton]

The lighting is plenty - fish aren't photosynthetic.

If your tank is stable and fish healty I'd look at getting a Nitrate test kit along with PH. Ammo/nitrite testing is kind of a waste of time in an established FO tank in my opinion because when you start to notice a problem your fish are usually already dead. PH will help tell when you need to do water changes, which is really all that nitrate test is good for as well.

I'd also look at getting a skimmer like a Remora or CPR BackPack. A skimmer will dramatically help with that bio load, and if you haven't been running one you'll be *shocked* at the literal gallons of gunk a skimmer will produce when first run on a mature tank.

 

[WJH1748]

Thanks... My PH is 7.8 - 8.0. Amo/Nitrite was 0. However the Nitrate was high, 70. I have a Sealife75 Prot Skimmer. Yes there is a bunch of "yuk" coming out to the bottom of the sump. The fish seem healthy & happy. TX WJH

 

[Dewey]

Water change

Imo i wouild do a water change to get them nitrate down . You may have to do a couple . Hope this helps Dewey