My homemade Reef Gourmet !

[Crease123]

Some pictures documenting my reef food making process carried out over the past weekend:

All the seafood are purchased the morning of making the reef food to ensure freshness.

Ingredients:

Fresh seafood ingredients (clockwise from top-left):

• Mussels (1lb)
• Atlantic Cod (1/2lb)
• Wild caught shrimp (1lb) -bulk of food, good protein-to-waste ratio
• Littleneck Clams (8 pieces)
• Oysters (5 pieces)
• Squid body and tentacles (1/2lb)
• Bay Scallops (1/2lb) - good protein-to-waste ratio

Frozen food:

• Plankton
• Nutramar Ova (100% prawn roe) - very highly rated, so good that even Mandarins eat them (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZEGItO4zZU)
• PE Mysis Shrimp

Dried food:

• Brown, Red and Green Seaweed (unroasted)
• Cyclopeeze

Vitamins:

• Vita-Chem
• Kent Marine Garlic Xtreme
• Selcon Concentrate

 

[Crease123]

The seafood are rinsed thoroughly and allowed to soak in RO/DI water for 2hours in the fridge, before re-rinsing again. Seafood from supermarkets are often sprayed with phosphates to make it look fresh for longer, and thorough rinsing and soaking is required to get rid of most of it.

Rinsed, and soaked in RO/DI water:

Sitting in the fridge for 2 hours while soaking:

A dedicated "reef-only" food processor for blending the food:

The seafood is chopped up slightly...

then mixed together and separated into three different batches, each of which will be blended for varying duration to allow for different food sizes so as to feed a wide range of reef habitants (corals, small fishes, larger fishes).

Resulting mix:

The entire pack of plankton, mysis shrimp and Nutramar Ova is allowed to thaw slightly and then blended:

Adding everything together! 2 sheets of brown, red and green nori are hand-crushed and added to the mix. Poured in 1/2 bottle of Selcon, 1/2 bottle of Vita-chem and an entire bottle of garlic extract. Stirred well to ensure even mixture:

Allowed to sit in the fridge for another 2 hours to allow the mixture/nori to soak in the nutrients:

Spread across mini ice-cube trays and freezed. Each of these tray makes 90 cubes, with each cube measuring 1/2" on all sides:

I fed my tank that night with a small chunk, and EVERYTHING went crazy. The feeding frenzy was extremely satisfying to watch. All in all, the experience is extremely rewarding from the idea of knowing exactly what you are feeding your tank. My tank is only 28 gallons, and I more than likely make too much reef food. Will definitely do this again though, once I figured out how to calm my wife down on the smell in the kitchen. If anyone is interested in purchasing some, I will be happy to go home and take inventory and return with a price.

 

[boosted chemist]

nice, about how much did that cost you>

 

[mr86mister]

Hahaha, that is freaken awesome! Thanks for the step by step process. That should last you easily over a year.

 

[Eastamherstbias]

How long will this last?

 

[cmof29]

nice, about how much did that cost you>

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Crease123]

nice, about how much did that cost you>

Quite abit. I mean, just the PE Mysis and Nutramar Ova alone cost me almost $20 as it is. I saved all the receipts, and will calculate a final cost hopefully by tonight.

 

[Crease123]

Hahaha, that is freaken awesome! Thanks for the step by step process. That should last you easily over a year.

More than a year I think. My tank is only 28 gallons, and even one mini ice-cube worth of food is too much for it.

 

[truebeliever71]

Tagging along... definitely interested in the total cost.

 

[Crease123]

Tagging along... definitely interested in the total cost.

Thanks. I wasn't willing to compromise on ingredients. However, I do try to value-shop a little for deals. For example, I bought the Atlantic Cod at Tops for $2.50 for 1/2lb, which is a steal in my opinion. On the other hand, $10 for Nutramar Ova is well worth it imho.

 

[toddmh]

I bet the wife loved that little project in her kitchen lol

 

[Crease123]

I bet the wife loved that little project in her kitchen lol

Lol! I prepped her up mentally for several days prior to me doing this little project. I also had the vent above the stove running for the entire day. I also had to wash many of the utensils/bowls/food processor twice to completely get rid of the smell.

 

[block head]

looks fun. i sneak mine in w/ groceries. hey hun, want scallops for diner tonight? doesn't sting all at once.

 

[sandworm]

your fish eat better than I do! oh wait mine do too. lol.

 

[Crease123]

your fish eat better than I do! oh wait mine do too. lol.

You and me both bro, you and me both.

 

[magdelan]

I used to make my own fish food and found out quickly that if you don't keep it in a tightly sealed container, the moisture will evaporate out and you'll be left with a cube of food that is around a tenth of is it's origional weight.

Looks like a nice spread though.

 

[block head]

i've seen a few recipes use gelatin for that reason.

 

[nate82]

I used to make my own fish food and found out quickly that if you don't keep it in a tightly sealed container, the moisture will evaporate out and you'll be left with a cube of food that is around a tenth of is it's origional weight.

Looks like a nice spread though.

Sounds like an easy fix for a vacuum sealer. Separate it into 2 week supplies and you'd be set! Nice project, interested in the total cost. Although not sure my girlfriend would be cool with turning the place into a fish market for the day :lolspin:

 

[Jacwil]

You guys are cracking me up with the wife/gf comments!!! I've broke down worse things than those items for OUR consumption! lol What's the big issue with cutting up seafood in the kitchen?

I love this idea Crease, and will look into doing this for our livestock!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

great thread!

great thread!

thanks for sharing pictures and all :thumbsup: