I don't use any kind of flake, pellet or other manufactured food. Sometime when you get the chance, soak some in RO/DI water for an hour, and then test the water for phosphate, nitrate etc.
I first got turned on to DIY Fish Food by Marc (melev) and a video he did on it. He and I have slightly different philosophies regarding ingredients, but the intent is the same, and that is to feed the highest quality food at the relatively lowest price. You know how expensive all those fish foods are and most of them are very reliable as pollutants if not down-right unhealthy for your fish.
I don't want to get into a public discussion about specific manufactured foods and their sometimes harmful ingredients, but I would suggest you check out how we do it and come up with your own food. Whatever the case, making your own is IMO the ONLY way to go.
Marc's DIY Fish Food
Jnarowe's DIY Fish Food
I can't find the link to Marc's Food Making Video, and that may have been exclusive content for a program he does, so you can PM him for it. If you can't find it, I think I may have it saved on my PC or iPod.
As you can see from reading these through, we don't agree about some things like I would not recommend using cyclop-eeze or phytoplankton just because I feel they add too much pollution for little gain. Other reef keepers swear by phyto but my experience with it was pretty decisive and after discussing it with other more advanced reef keepers, I stopped using it after only about 2 months.
But you can see that our end products are similar in that we are trying to use the freshest ingredients and adding vitamins, HUFA, etc. Here's are pics of my latest batch:
Got to give Marc props for heading me in the right direction. I tend to get more into the pollution aspect than Marc and did a lecture/demonstration to our local reef club, the Puget Sound Aquarium Society back in January.
January 19th PSAS Meeting: Fish Food Making
There is some decent discussion within this thread. I hope that gets you started!
