Homemade food mixes and phosphates

[techreef]

So several months ago I went to my local Japanese grocery store and bought a bunch of fresh seafood (clams, mussels, shrimp, squid, scallops) and a package of nori sheets. I blended it all together w/ RODI water and froze it into cubes, and have been using it as a staple in my food rotation since then.

About 2 months ago I had a pretty bad bloom of cyano. I dialed back my feeding a little bit, and sucked up the chunks of cyano several times. I believe that the cyano is stemming from my homemade seafood mix, as I've read that grocery stores can treat their seafood with phosphates as a preservative, and that nori contains a ton of phosphate.

My question is can I rinse the seafood under RODI before I blend it up in order to get rid of the phosphate? The nori is tougher, as I don't see a way to get rid of the phosphate in a dried sheet of seaweed. Would rinsing the fresh seafood at least move me in the right direction?

Thanks!
-Steve

 

[inwall75]

Re: Homemade food mixes and phosphates

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9914324#post9914324 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by techreef
My question is can I rinse the seafood under RODI before I blend it up in order to get rid of the phosphate? The nori is tougher, as I don't see a way to get rid of the phosphate in a dried sheet of seaweed. Would rinsing the fresh seafood at least move me in the right direction?

Thanks!
-Steve

:thumbsup:

 

[Konadog]

Rinsing and soaking are very good ways to reduce the amount of phosphates that can be introduced with food. If you add any other frozen foods to your homemade mix, be sure to not use any of the water that is left after it thaws.

 

[techreef]

thanks guys. would soaking the nori work, or does it just turn into a nasty mess? i mean, it really doesn't matter if I'm going to just blend it up anyway. for that matter, I'd soak it before adding it to the tank for my future tang to eat if it holds together after soaking.

 

[Konadog]

Nori will just turn to a slimy mess. I don't worry about it as the tangs that eat it make a bigger mess anyways.