How much too feed?

[Charley Diesing]

Alright soo at the moment I got 5 fish.

CBB-2.5-3 inches
Flasher Wrasse- 2 inches
two small regular clowns- 1-1.5 inches
Black and yellow stripe Damsel- 0.5 inches

Soo right now I'm feeding them once a day, at the moment I'm feeding the CBB live black worms I throw in a little flake for my clowns, and Fire-shrimp.

Right now I'd say I feed them about 20-30 worms a day.

My Nitrates are at 20. Been trying to feed less and been doing bi-weekly 15% water changes. So my question is. Am I underfeeding? Overfeeding? I am trying to underfeed a little till my nitrates get down to 0.

I think the reason there so high is because when I first got the CBB fish I fed a lot because he wasn't getting much.

Thanks a lot,

Charley.

 

[small alien]

I would observe the body weight of your fish to determine if you're feeding the correct amount. I don't think there's a magic formula. Nitrates at 20 isn't so bad depending on your corals. Your fish certainly won't mind 20. Do you have current pictures of your fish? We could help you assess their body weight.

 

[pakirri]

You need to find more methods of exporting nitrates, maybe a bigger skimmer? do you have a sump? or a refugium?

 

[small alien]

Water changes should suffice. 20 isn't that high.

 

[Charley Diesing]

Yeah I don't think my skimmer is a problem rated for 150 gallon, reef octopus is good. It has taken a while to really kick in. Now its at full throttle I would think.

Corals just soft corals, Xenia, GSP, Zoas, and a Hammerhead.

They are all doing fine, I think the CBB fish is a little stressed.

But yeah I can't upload no pictures, no camera, and no camera on my phone. :/

The fish are all small, and have some good weight on them, minus the CBB fish he's a little thin but ever since I started feeding live black worms he's put on some weight.

Any ideas much appreciated...

thanks,

Charley.