phosphate free food?

[arinova8]

what food are you using? looking for a good phosphate free food? any recommendations...

 

[mick243]

no such thing as a phosphate free food.

food needs to contain protien, protien is made of amino acids and peptides and such, which are made from phosphates, nitrogen carbon and such.

 

[vegaskid11]

no such thing as a phosphate free food.

food needs to contain protien, protien is made of amino acids and peptides and such, which are made from phosphates, nitrogen carbon and such.

+1 No such thing

 

[Sohal Tang Tim]

in general

in general

in general what has more phosphate? Frozen mysis or flake food?

Tim

 

[mick243]

depends, is it a high quality flake, or something you got at kmart for 99cents, is the frozen preserved wit phosphates, nitrates or something else?


you are kind of asking "how long is a piece of string" . . . . . .


my vote would be the mysis is better for the fish, thaw it out, rinse it off with RO water (cos the juice is just pollution) and feed it. many flake foods are the fish equivalent of cheeseburgers - fish love it, loads of calories but no nutrition, my prefered flake food even has a warning right on the label warning that its no good for fish long term. quality pellets are better than flake, quality frozen is better than pellet, and quality fresh is better than frozen.

 

[spw4949]

IDK that I would agree that flake food has no nutrition, all dry food has phosphates in it....I personally never feed any flake or pellets, there are so many good quality frozen diets out there, I personally alternate between a variety of frozen foods, frozen prime reef, frozen mysys, frozen angel formula, frozen clams, & frozen cyclopeeze, variety is the key IMO..........

 

[smatter]

IDK that I would agree that flake food has no nutrition, all dry food has phosphates in it....I personally never feed any flake or pellets, there are so many good quality frozen diets out there, I personally alternate between a variety of frozen foods, frozen prime reef, frozen mysys, frozen angel formula, frozen clams, & frozen cyclopeeze, variety is the key IMO..........

I would have to respectfully disagree. Dry foods, pellets in particular, are much more nutritionally dense than any frozen food. I do feed Rod's Coral Food a couple of times a week, but pellets are the mainstay for the fish. Given a choice, they always go for the pellets first. It isn't any different than feeding a dog or a cat a high quality kibble. The best part is that much less food is required, and they get it all, which means much less waste and phosphate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I disagree as well. Good flake food is very nutritious, and need not have any more phosphate than anything else. Some does have extra phosphate, especially if it has anything with bones in it (like fish meal), but many do not.

All foods contain substantial phosphate, but unless they have added phosphate (like some fresh, canned and frozen seafoods for people do), I am not certain that any particular type of food has more phosphate relative to other nutrients like protein than do other types.

Phosphate is an integral part of many tissues, not just a preservative. It is a part of proteins, phospholipids, DNA, RNA, etc. There is no getting around that. So anything that contains fish, seaweed, clams, etc is going to contain phosphorous. And the higher the protein, the higher the phosphorous is going to be, typically.

Fresh, canned and frozen seafood from the grocery store does often have phosphate added to retain moisture in the food. So be careful of that.

You might want to avoid anything with bones in it as they are very high in phosphorus. So fish meal as an ingredient might be something to avoid.


Ron Shimek analyzes some foods here;

http://web.archive.org/web/20010720071031/http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/data/foods.asp

From it I calculated the phosphorus to protein ratio, and get:


Formula Two...........................176
Formula One.............................69
Frozen Brine Shrimp................232
Frozen Plankton/Krill...............182
Golden Pearls..........................273
Lancefish.................................244
Nori..........................................221
Plankton Gold Flakes...............169
Prime Reef.................................69
Saltwater Staple......................500
Silversides...............................952
Tahitian Blend..........................318

 

[Agu]

Fresh, canned and frozen seafood from the grocery store does often have phosphate added to retain moisture in the food. So be careful of that.

I've made my own fish food for years. Seafood vendors can legally add phosphate as a preservative, The fact that it causes seafood to weigh more due to water absorption is a plus for the vendor that sells by the pound. Treated with phosphate seafood is designated as "wet" and untreated is "dry". I use either frozen without preservatives or fresh "dry" seafood. If your store can't designate wet vs dry assume it's treated with phosphate and don't buy it for your fish or yourself.

 

[Sohal Tang Tim]

thanks

thanks

thanks people for the input/comments.

Tim

:beer:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Happy Reefing.

 

[Sohal Tang Tim]

thanks Randy

thanks Randy

thanks again everyone!

Thanks Randy!

Tim