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My 300 gallon acrylic tank
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
jnarowe
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11393377#post11393377 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by steve the plumb
Jonathan its hard for a Jewish person to refuse free stuff.
ouch.
As far as feeding frozen foods, I think it can be done, but it will take some serious DIY time and money to make it happen. I have been thinking about this for about two years now and I have a couple of decent working ideas.
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
Hey it was a joke sorry if you got offended.I did think of raising brine shrimp and then feeding live via a doser but you can never tell how much would get sucked out and fed into the tank.I also had a thought of using my small fridge that I have in the basement as a chiller.If I was to drill 2 holes in it and run tubing (coil the tubing) and hook it up to a small pump witch I then hook up to my controller could I not get a home made chiller for cheap?
chris wright
In Memoriam
Congrat's on the split,
And no a fridge is not an effective chiller. You can't control the temps, the fridge probably can't be turned down enough to cool the water as you probably can't effectively pump water through at a steady enough rate to cool the water down, and most importantly of all
Where would you put your beer :eek1:
jeez man think :lol: :lol: :lol:
And no a fridge is not an effective chiller. You can't control the temps, the fridge probably can't be turned down enough to cool the water as you probably can't effectively pump water through at a steady enough rate to cool the water down, and most importantly of all
Where would you put your beer :eek1:
jeez man think :lol: :lol: :lol:
jnarowe
New member
not offended at all dude. Fridge won't work. thawed food reeks afetr about 1 day. One idea I have been working on is making my frozen food in appropriate sized cubes and having it dispensed frozen into the tank water with the feeder from a residential ice maker.. The problem I have with that is I like to soak my food in tank water with vitamins, then strain it through a fine shrimp net before feeding the tank. The reason why I do this is to avoid all the extra nutrients going into the water column.
chris wright
In Memoriam
I make my own food out of marinara mix. I feed pellets in the morning, and my own mix in the evening. The only time that my fish don't get my mix, is when I forget to make some :eek1: which is rare, or when someone is looking after my tank for me.
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
Fridge was for a chiller.Well I thought if I had enough tubing and the water went threw it slowly then by the time it comes out the other end it would be chilled.But you are right I would have to have enough tubing and it would chill some of the water but not cold enough to chill all of the water.I thought of the frozen dispensing thing.Small freezer with the cubes pre cut.Dry Ice may help?If you made a box with dry ice in it and had a unit that could dispense the food.I don't know how long dry ice stays cold.Mini freezer with a hole it it and a conveyor belt(to bulky)
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
Maybe I should learn how to make my own food.Its it cheaper?I would think you can save some money or maybe give the fish a better quality food.Frozen foods sure aren't cheap.
jnarowe
New member
I only feed food I make myself. It's not just the money either. It's the quality and pollution that are just as important. Packaged foods contain a lot of stuff we really don't want in our systems as well as a lot of stuff we don't need to be feeding our fish, like wheat, food coloring, etc. Take a close look the foods you feed and pay attention to the ingredients.
Pollution is one of the bigest issues IMO. Prepared foods are full of excessnutrients like phosphate, nitrate, etc. Do some testing on your own foods by placing some in RO/DI water for a little while, and then test a sample of the water.
Pollution is one of the bigest issues IMO. Prepared foods are full of excessnutrients like phosphate, nitrate, etc. Do some testing on your own foods by placing some in RO/DI water for a little while, and then test a sample of the water.
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
how do you make your own food do you have a recipe.
Goodwin9
Premium Member
Jonathan has a pretty good recipe, and you can check out Melev's here. http://www.melevsreef.com/food.html
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
Thanks jonathan can you give me your also
jnarowe
New member
Hard to. I post it occassionally but I like to switch it up with each batch I do. 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
Frozen Mysid
Frozen Plankton
Frozen Brine
Frozen Formula 2
Frozen Mixed Seafood (Asian store, clams removed)
Frozen Shrimp
Frozen Krill
Vitamins
Garlic (Garlic Guard or frsh minced)
Shredded Nori (Kizami)
Spirulina
Fresh Seafood (If Available)
I chop the mixed seafood and shrimp. I rinse all frozen items with RO/DI water and allow to drain thoroughly. Then I mix all ingredients together and ladel 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.
Frozen Cyclops
Frozen Mysid
Frozen Plankton
Frozen Brine
Frozen Formula 2
Frozen Mixed Seafood (Asian store, clams removed)
Frozen Shrimp
Frozen Krill
Vitamins
Garlic (Garlic Guard or frsh minced)
Shredded Nori (Kizami)
Spirulina
Fresh Seafood (If Available)
I chop the mixed seafood and shrimp. I rinse all frozen items with RO/DI water and allow to drain thoroughly. Then I mix all ingredients together and ladel 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.
Last edited:
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
But the thing about this food is its mostly made up of frozen fish food(non human)
jnarowe
New member
I forgot about the krill...
Steve, if you look at the recipes though, you can easily eliminate the expensive hobby items. And the "human" food really isn't. It's seafood.
Regarding Marc's recipe, I got mine basically from him. He had a cool videocast of it a while back. But 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.
Steve, if you look at the recipes though, you can easily eliminate the expensive hobby items. And the "human" food really isn't. It's seafood.
Regarding Marc's recipe, I got mine basically from him. He had a cool videocast of it a while back. But 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.
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
I will try to buy the ingredients and make it myself.The only problem is I still want to feed flake foods.Now if the fish get used to the good stuff they probably won't want the pellets.I may end up not using the fish feeder and just feed frozen like you guys do.Its probably better for the fish and while I ma away they will have to settle for flakes and pellets.I always found feeding frozen became expensive but now if I mix everything like you do the food will last me twice as long.
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
I pay about $7 for frozen food
steve the plumb
In Memoriam
I would like to thank everyone who contributed to my thread and made it split.I know I posted like crazy on my thread so Its to bad they count my posts for the split but hey what can you do.It would be nice to also VOTE for my thread not that I am into my self or look to compete with others but it would be nice to get some points(votes) and have people say what a nice guy that un employed bum is.My tank is looking good after every problem I ran into.I have some bad algea but its ok.Water looks clean,still have some spending to go but eventually I will get there and when I do I will have all of you YES YOU to thank for it.I am so pleased with this outburst of love and loyalty I just may cry.
