I will be hosting a food making party for the January Meeting of the PSAS...One of the keys to this discussion will be how to make and use food while putting the least amount of pollution into the tank. I have tested many foods both dry and frozen, and found very high levels of phosphate and nitrates in most of them. I soak any "brined" items in RO/DI and then rinse them to eliminate as much pollution as possible.
Here’s how I do it. This is essentially Marc’s (melev) recipe and method with some minor changes:
All items are RAW!! I don't use every item listed below in every batch, and the first 5 are not needed to save cost.
Frozen Cyclops (optional)
Frozen Mysid (optional)
Frozen Plankton (optional)
Frozen Brine (optional)
Frozen Formula 2 (optional)
Frozen Mixed Seafood (Asian store, clams & mussels removed)
Frozen Shrimp
Frozen Krill (optional)
Vitamins (Vita-Chem, H2O Life Line, Selcon)
Garlic (Garlic Guard or fresh minced)
Shredded Nori (Kizami)
Spirulina (large pellets)
Fresh Seafood (If Available)
I chop the mixed seafood and shrimp. I soak and rinse all frozen items with RO/DI water and allow it to drain thoroughly. Then I mix all ingredients together and ladle into Zip-Loc bags, flatten, and freeze.
When I feed, I thaw in tank water with more vitamins, shredded nori, and drain through a fine shrimp net. Then I place in bowl and dip the bowl in the tank slowly feeding while the fish do their thing.
Discussion:
I do not like putting in pellet foods or powdered spirulina. The whole reason why I make this food is to stay away from pellet and flake food which incorporates too much phosphate and nitrate, and has very little solid food value.
The primary issue is that flake and pellet foods aren't real food in a sense. They cost a fortune per ounce vs. using frozen foods, regardless of whether you are using "people" food or fish food.
Plus you know exactly what your fish are getting and you can tweak it with vitamins you are comfortable with. Volume wise I use about 60 - 70% "human" food in my mix.
I also feel that the cyclops may be more of a risk that it is worth, just because of the particle size. It's extremely difficult to rinse and strain it, and I feel the pollution it causes may be fairly high because of that.
The Garlic is optional of course, and that is a topic all its own. Sherman is always ragging on me for using garlic, just as I rag on everyone else for putting lettuce, broccoli etc. in their tanks. And he's probably right, but it as been my experience that it has helped my fish stay strong in the face of disease. It "may" help boost the immune system but whether that will ever be proved is doubtful. One thing is clear to anyone who has farted in the shower, scents travel fast in water, and it seems to really attract the fish to the food.
One of the most important parts of feeding IMO, is straining the food once you have thawed it. I had for some oddball reason forgotten to do this for consecutive months, and I saw a drastic change in my nuisance algae and water quality. I can only assume it would be MUCH worse in a smaller system.
Another thing to note is that I also remove clams and mussels from the mixed seafood I get at the Asian store. The reason for this is that I don't want my fish getting a taste for clams, and both clams and mussels have a high waste to protein content. They are practically half crap.
On the flip side, shrimp and scallops are extremely high in protein and virtually zero waste product. They have a very high protein to weight ratio, so I tend to go heavy on those two. Scallops are expensive, but shrimp can be found rather cheaply at Asian stores.
And I do not turn off any pumps. I know most reef keepers do, but I like for the food to remain in the water column rather than sink, and I like all the fish to get an equal chance at the food. By turning off the pumps, the food stays in one location, and then the biggest bullies get the bulk of it.
And I also usually have animals in my overflow to get anything that makes it all the way there. This includes a nice gaggle of aiptasia and currently 2 neon blue gobies.
