Rinsing frozen food
- Thread starter Mac Inger
- Start date
I'm always super paranoid about getting chloramines/chlorine from tap water into my tank. When rinsing out powerheads/skimmer collection cup, I dip all peices into RO/DI water with Prime added just before I dry them to be sure. Are you never worried about the chloramines binding to the food and then the fish eating it?
I might be overreacting, but I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on that. Would save me a ton of time!
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
I rinse it in a brine shrimp net under the tap.
I think you posted this in another thread and I meant to comment, but didn't get around to it.
So, you are concerned about washing away "vitamins and nutrients" that are in the thaw "juice"? Exactly what are you concerned about washing away, and how are your fish benefiting from these things in the juice?
jdieck
New member
No not really. I would be more worried if chloramine enters the tank in significant amounts but the amount is so diminute. The tank will just get chloride (which there is a huge amount in there already) and a minimal undetectable amount of Ammonia that gets processed very quickly.
If it were a 5 gal system I might be concerned. In any case I let the net dripping on the sink for 5 to 10 minutes before adding it to the tank.
Gdevine
Premium Member
Yes I am concerned about washing away the vitamins that are added to many frozen foods. There are numerous threads on just this topic on WWM.
The recommendation is to thaw the frozen food then decanter the juice and not to wash the food as this could/will rinse away the added nutrients added by the food processing companies.
I just use a spoon to squeeze out as much of the "juice" as possible after it thawed to eliminate the potential phosphate introduction into the tank.
I've been doing this method for well over a year and my phosphates are near zero.
I take WWM with a grain of salt sometimes.
I'm not following you on this. You thaw your food, squeeze out more juice with a spoon, add selcon, let it sit overnight...then what? Do you dump the whole thing in the tank? Rinse it? Drain it?
Do you separate the food from the thaw/squeezed out juice rpior to adding the selcon?
I'm not following you on this. You thaw your food, squeeze out more juice with a spoon, add selcon, let it sit overnight...then what? Do you dump the whole thing in the tank? Rinse it? Drain it?
Do you separate the food from the thaw/squeezed out juice rpior to adding the selcon?
Mac Inger
Member
Ok thank you for the informative thread,..but for those rinsing in tap water,...dont you think the tap water might have the same amount of phosphates ?
I havent tested as i dont think the color chart tests will give me accurate low readings on this,..maybe we should ask Jetcat to check with his Hannah meter
SDguy,...i dont understand you process,...can you please explain how you drain in a cup and how you catch the particles ?
I havent tested as i dont think the color chart tests will give me accurate low readings on this,..maybe we should ask Jetcat to check with his Hannah meter
SDguy,...i dont understand you process,...can you please explain how you drain in a cup and how you catch the particles ?
PhilliePhil
New member
SDguy,
it sounds like he does something similar to me. I let it thaw and then "strain" the water out. I dont rinse it off at all, I just drain/strain the water thats melted and then dump a little shrimp into my tanks. Obviously I add ZoeCon, Selcon, or whatever additive I'm going for that day. For some insane reason I also vary their vitamin intake. I like to think that sometimes they just want a "little cotton candy" (once or twice a month) rather than healthier food all the time. Ugh, I'm in waaaaaay too deep.
Not sure if that helps or not.
it sounds like he does something similar to me. I let it thaw and then "strain" the water out. I dont rinse it off at all, I just drain/strain the water thats melted and then dump a little shrimp into my tanks. Obviously I add ZoeCon, Selcon, or whatever additive I'm going for that day. For some insane reason I also vary their vitamin intake. I like to think that sometimes they just want a "little cotton candy" (once or twice a month) rather than healthier food all the time. Ugh, I'm in waaaaaay too deep.
Not sure if that helps or not.
Gdevine
Premium Member
OK, here's what I do:
1. In a clean juice glass drop in the frozen food (in my case usually mysis and blood worms).
2. Let thaw for 10 minutes (a puddle of juice will form around the thawed food).
3. Tilting the glass I use the underside of a spoon and squeeze the food against the side of the glass to extract even more juice from the thawed food (you'd be surprised how much more comes out!). Pour out the juice and wipe inside of glass to get residual juice.
4. With the thawed and decantered food on the bottom of the glass I add 3 to5 drops of Selcon and 3 drops of garlic extreme (it really soaks up since the food has been dehydrated if you will...).
5. I cover the glass top with some cellophane and put into the frig overnight. This gives the food a lot of time to soak up even more of the Selcon.
6. In the morning I simply add some tank water to the glass and get the food into suspension.
7. Pour contents into the tank and the fish have a party.
8. Great food source, high in nutrition and no phosphates!
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
Definantly over-reacting. Did you know that 55% of that salt mix you mix with your RODI water is chlorine? Well technically chloride, which is chlorine with an extra electron.
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
When you take a shower, do all the vitamins and minerals you have consumed (ie. in your body) wash away?
Oh, missed that part. That's cool then
I prefer to be more thorough. Anything like vitamins and minerals and nutrients should be within the food I am feeding, not coating it. So quick rinses should remove no more than what will be removed into the water column as soon as the food is added to the tank anyway.
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