fish feeding=high po4=hair algea help needed

[donald altman]

Hey all.. I need some suggestions. I currently have been having some high po4 readings and the associated hair algea.

I know I need to cut down on feeding my fish in order to get this under control.
But I'm not sure really how much to cut back.

My fish are all healthy and I would hate to harm them.. It has been sugessted to me to stop feeding all together for some time. Let me know what you think.. what kind of schedule would you do.. I'm open to sugesstions.


First my tank is mixed reef...100 gallons ... I have 20 gallon macro refugium on the tank.

I have about 10 fish in the tank and 10 turbo snails. One starfish and a few blue leg hermits. Tons of microfuana including baby brittles and fans

The fish are as follows: 1 Domino Damsel, 2 three stripe damsels, 2 yellow tail damsels, 1 blue damsel and 1 yellow damsel. 1 oceelaris clown and last but not least a purple dottyback.

I think all of these fish are omnivores so the suggestion to not feed might be okay.. I've just never heard anyone tell anyone that before.. I've heard cut back on food but never cut out completely. The refugium has copepods... the tank is an established tank (7 years old now.)

I have been doing a big pinch of flake food nightly becuase my kids love seeing the fish eat and they "help" I never had a problem with too much
P04 until adding the last 2 fish about a month ago.. Will my tank overcome this own its on?

 

[29reef]

I would use a GFO, it's much more reliable at removing phosphate than adding less food to a tank. Your barely feeding as it is IMO.

 

[Jsteffen]

I agree with 29 reef, just make sure the food you give them is cleaned up in a short period of time.

 

[av8]

IMO you are over feeding. I feed once every day or couple of days. My clown has gone (by accident) 14 days without feeding. He was a little skinny, but he is still going strong at 21.

 

[29reef]

IMO you are over feeding. I feed once every day or couple of days. My clown has gone (by accident) 14 days without feeding. He was a little skinny, but he is still going strong at 21.

I feed flake and pellets daily, along with 3 cubes of frozen; spread over 3-5 hours daily. Mostly 6 days a week. It's different for different tanks.

 

[donald altman]

I guess I could cut back some and just see if it helps. Have any of you ever heard of someone with a mixed reef just not feeding their fish at all?

 

[pinnatus]

Yes, I have heard of it. I believe Leng Sy does it to some extent. But, it would probably be better to use GFO (Granular ferric oxide) to remove the phosphate rather than starve your fish.

 

[pscott99]

How about pics of your 7 year old tank ? Is this just a recent development ? Do you dose anything ? How much phos ?