Confessions of an over feeder

[VitalApparatus]

I am fairly certain that I have been over feeding my tank and that this has led to an increase in Nitrite (0.1-0.2)and Nitrate (75~ppm).
Ive been giving them approx 6 cubes mysis/brine shrimp every 3 days.With Garlic Guard.
Fish are:
1 tang
1 angel
2 clowns
1 basslet
1 goby
1 hawk
1 wrasse
1 pajama

The Plan
Im going to do a regular 10% WC today (although this is the bi week on my two week schedule)
Im going to reduce feedings to once per day.

I already use RO/DI and skim seemingly effectively.
Any other thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading.

 

[OneReef]

If you are interested in what your phosphates are, I have an electronic Hanna phosphate meter, and can swing by your place one night to test them for you.... Adding a phosban reactor may help. Do you run carbon? I agree on spreading the food out more.

 

[neuroslicer]

Wow, those levels are really high. you've got plenty of live rock? I've got about the same number of fish, and I feed them one cube (rinsed) and one medium pinch of flakes per day. A couple times a week I'll add a small piece of nori for my power blue tang, clownfish and coral beauty angelfish. Are you pulling a lot of thick sludge from your skimmer on a daily basis? If it's slowing down after a day or so because it's starting to fowl, then you need to clean it more frequently. Got macroalgae in your refugium? Is it growing fast? You can supplement with chelated iron to stimulate macroalgae growth (I can make you a batch in the lab). Do you see nitrogen bubbles in your sand bed, signs of effective nitrate reduction? these are all important in keeping nutrient levels down.

With such high nitrate (fertilizer) levels, have you got a problem with algae (hair algae, etc.) in your tank? I was visiting a club member yesterday who had a significant hair algae problem in his tank, and there wasn't much of a clean up crew in it. One of the frags I bought had quite a bit of hair algae on it, and as soon as I put the plug in my tank, I had 7 little blue legged hermits all over it. This morning it was as clean as a whistle. I can't overemphasize the importance of a good clean up crew to help keep nuisance algae cropped down. My 125 gal tank has 75 blue legged hermits, 20 red legged hermits, 2 cucs, 50 turbo snails and 50 nassarius snails. But you've got to get those nutrient levels down, as you know.

 

[VitalApparatus]

Jay (One Reef)-Thanks! Could I just as easy bring a sample to you to test? I do run carbon.

Jay (Neuroslicer)-Used 80# dead rock with 20# live 7 months old now.
Not really thick sludge but nasty smelling black water
I have a huge cheato ball in the fuge
Yes Ive noticed bubbles in the sand lately
No hair algae issues

thanks again guys!

 

[Mako Shark II]

John -

I feed 4-5 Cubes PER NIGHT + dry sinking pellets and/or flakes + a couple sheets of Nori a few times each week.

Now granted, I do LOTS of Water Changes (15% weekly) and my Skimmer gets cleaned out regulalry to remove the (uber-nasty, freshly-dead) Skimmate it craps out, but still.

I FEED 'em!

Fat Fish are Happy Fish!
:fish2::fish1::fish2:

(My tank is always clear in 5-minutes, post-feeding.)

 

[VitalApparatus]

I dont know if this is significant or not but my cheato ball is covered in some sort of fuzz..I run the lights on reverse from the DT and there are pods in there.Im just wondering why its not doing its denitification job.

 

[VitalApparatus]

Moving into the third week of weekly water changes and reduced feeding, the nitrates are still high.Im going to increase the water change to 15% from 10%.
However all the corals are bumpin.My tank has looked better this week than ever before as far as water clarity and coral polyp extension goes.

 

[Blindside]

give bio digest a try, after yiour next wc wait a day then do the digest. I have been using this method for a little while now and haven't stopped the feeding them. I also skip a day sometimes to let them foridge themselves.

 

[sedor]

John -

I feed 4-5 Cubes PER NIGHT + dry sinking pellets and/or flakes + a couple sheets of Nori a few times each week.

Wow :eek1: That's a lot of food for a 120!

 

[VitalApparatus]

give bio digest a try, after yiour next wc wait a day then do the digest. I have been using this method for a little while now and haven't stopped the feeding them. I also skip a day sometimes to let them foridge themselves.

Thanks Blindside Ill give that a go this week.

 

[Mako Shark II]

Wow :eek1: That's a lot of food for a 120!

"a lot" is pretty subjective.

Given my Fish load (18), what would you recommend??

Qty Size (Inches) Fish
1 6 Blue Regal Hippo Tang
1 5 One-Spot Fox face
2 3 Blue Chromis
1 2.5 Mandarin Goby
1 1 Yellow Clown Goby
1 3 Klausowitz Blenny
1 3 Starry Blenny
1 4 Black Damsel
2 2.5 Ocelarius Clownfish
1 4 Cleaner Shrimp
1 4 Midas Blenny
1 2.5 Tuxedo Urchin
1 2 Yellow Watchman Gody
1 2.5 Six-line Wrasse
1 1.5 Yellow tail Damsel
1 1.5 Red Dragonette

 

[MrRyanT]

I guess I would agree that it's "a lot." I have roughly half your fish load Marty. I feed 1 frozen cube every day, a frozen cube of reef plankton twice/wk, 4 pinches of sinking pellets twice/wk, a small(2"x4")piece of algae sheet 3 times/month and that's it other than feeding my anemone a silverside about 3 times/wk. I don't think you're over feeding unless your water quality suffers, then you're overfeeding. I don't totally agree with, "fat fish are happy fish." I think healthy fish are happy fish. Generally speaking of course fat fish probably are healthy fish. I just think water quality is probably just as important to having a healthy tank as feeding.

 

[MrRyanT]

Sorry, left one thing off my feeding list. I put a choc chip starfish in about once every month to month and a half for my pair of harlequins.

 

[keaton]

Regarding chaeto, it is my understanding (though I could be mistaken), that it is necessary to "prune" chaeto. I believe that the pruning stimulates growth. I think often it grows like crazy and it becomes necessary to pull some off to make room in the fuge...so it ends up being pruned out of necessity...when Keaton grew it on a HOB filter in his 55 that was the case. Now, since we have moved the livestock into the 150, our chaeto does not grow very quickly at all. I don't know if it is the reduced bioload (same number of fish in 3x water volume) and therefore less "fertilizer" or maybe there is less flow in the sump/fuge than there was in the HOB filter/fuge. Whatever the case, like you I often find that my chaeto ball has some type of green fuzzy algae growing on the exterior so when I do a water change, I try to sort of swish it around in the change water to remove most of the fuzzy algae growth then I pull the ball apart so sort of "prune" it even though I'm putting the whole ball back in. I don't know whether it helps, but I'd like to think it sort of stimulates some growth.

So I said all that to say maybe if you take your "huge ball" of chaeto out and prune it, perhaps it would be more actively growing and in the process, taking up more of your "fertilizer"...just a thought.

I don't feed heavily because I believe that even fish need to work for a living. I feed them enough, but I think it is good for them to be "earning their keep" cleaning up. It is my theory that they are like kids and need something to occupy themselves at least part of the time. I do wash the filter sock and clean the skimmer cup (not just empty it) twice a week. I don't do frequent water changes (1-2x per month) and so far, knock on wood, I haven't had a nutrient problem.

There's my two bits.
Pam

 

[rfd515]

6x cubes of food to that fish list is 4 or 5 cubes too many.