How do you know if you are feeding enough???

saltyh20

New member
I was wondering how everyone judged if they are feeding there corals too much or too little? What are the signs of too much feeding and how long does it take?
 
Signs of too much feeding: elevated nitrates, elevated phosphates and algae, lots and lots of algae.
 
Great thread, tagging along on this one :fun2: I would agree with the first two posts.
 
The real question it how do you now you need to feed . You could just be add stuff thats not being used. If you have a tank that has some trates feeding is not need, This is because you most likely have alot of fish and feed heavy so fish poop will feed your coral all the time . So feeding is not needed, if adding food to a tank like this all you will be doing is add more nutrients to you system causing highyer trates and P04. So do you really need to feed ? Fading colors is a sign of no food source.
 
ok, given slightly fadded corals, an 0 nitrate and PO4 of avg .018-.024 what would you suggest feeding? More for the fish or coral foods like coral frenzy, reef chilli or reef roids, etc.... How often as well? Light- Med fish load currently

I beleive i have been on the "need to feed" side a bit.
 
HEre is a video of me feeding my fish. This is all the tank is fed. Everything I put in my system gets eaten many times. Eventually it is broken down and consumed by animals that produce eggs and larvae or it is broken down and grows bacteria. Since i dont feed anything else and my corals are all fat and sassy I believe my corals eat this plankton soupe if they eat anything at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESpeZI8s5Qo

On this same note. I dont feed my corals. I feed my system. IF the corals eat they eat food the system produces.
 
HEre is a video of me feeding my fish. This is all the tank is fed. Everything I put in my system gets eaten many times. Eventually it is broken down and consumed by animals that produce eggs and larvae or it is broken down and grows bacteria. Since i dont feed anything else and my corals are all fat and sassy I believe my corals eat this plankton soupe if they eat anything at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESpeZI8s5Qo

On this same note. I dont feed my corals. I feed my system. IF the corals eat they eat food the system produces.

Nice Video! Your tank is rediculous. I like how you put it. "I feed my system". I agree with the symbiotic relationship, our systems need to flourish. I feel like i have to dump loads of food into the system to just keep my corals from starving, and to get them to grow, I have to put even more food into it. I feed my 40gal system about 2 cubes of mysis, 1 cube of plankton and a tsp of cyclopeeze every day. (spread out in a 3x dose in 24hr) Is this a lot? I didnt start seeing coloration in the corals until i turned off my skimmer. I only run the skimmer for an hour a day. (5-6am) Ive been doing this for about 3 months and have seen possitive results but can't understand why it needs so much. If it is too much? my nitrates are about 5-15ppm but corals seem to like it better when higher? I used to think 0 no3 was the way to go and it didn't work out for me.
How many times do you feed, how much, and how big is your system?
 
I feed the amount shown in the video once a day. I have a remote deep sand bed in a lower flow portion of my system. If i see it cleaning up, loosing the cyano coating or see my algae growth slow down i supliment my nutrients with a single dose of about 30 small sinking pellets (fish food) two days in a row. This is usually enough to give the nutrients a boost. They are high protein and the fish love it. I only add it a couple of times per month. Other than that the only food added to the tank is as shown in the first video. I do rotate rocks out of the sumps so the angels can graze sponges but that is all grown in the tank so it isnt any extra nutrients. If i need to reduce nutrients i will decrease the squid i add but I skim heavy and change 30 to 60 gallons of water per week so nutrients are not a problem. I have high flow and heavy lights so the corals have plenty of energy to consume the extra nutrients in a system like this. The colors are rich and deep and growth is fast. Here is another video showing the other side of the tank and discussing tank size and feeding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFoD4LztTKI&feature=feedbul
 
thanks for the vids. they really help. I have to add more nutrients to the system. i have trouble getting any reading of no3. when i feed heavy a see more coraline algea growth. I like how you use your sand bed to monitor the amount of nutrients in the system.
 
would anyone else like to post a vid of feeding or tell your secrets on how you know when your system has had enough to eat?:wavehand:
 
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