How much should I feed my tank?

by **newbie916** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 7:28 am

Hey guys,

Here is a list of my setup and my livestock. I may be over feeding and I wanted your advice on how much I should feed my corals,clams, and fish. It's a fairly long list so bare with me. I'm still having the green algae problem. I don't think it's hair algae because it looks like cotton balls on my LR and on my back wall. I've had it for at least two months now.

I have a 100 gallon with a 30 gallon refugium. 3" LS bed in the main tank and 2" LS bed in the fuge. I have approximately 150 lbs of LR and use R/O water with Red Sea Salt and do 15-20 gallon water changes every other week. I bought the tank established and I've had it set up for 7 months now. I have a Euro Reef protein skimmer and my lighting system are T-5's and in my fuge I have a power compact over 15 lbs of LR and Macro Algae.

I currently feed my tank 2 cubes of brine shrimp and a pinch of flake food daily. Every other day I feed my bubble tip two silversides or several krill. I also feed my inverts an extra silverside or two twice a week. I will also throw in a piece of Sea Lettuce from my fuge once a week for the tangs.

I've been putting two capfuls of phytofeast twice a week along with 10 drops of Rotifilers.

Here is my livestock:

Fish:
1- Large Hippo Tang
1- Large Yellow Tang
1- Medium Sailfin Tang
1- Small Maroon clown
1- Medium Perc clown
1- Damsel
1- Chromi

Inverts:

1- X-Large Rose bubble tip 12" diameter
250- various hermits
6- peppermint shrimp
2- Cleaner shrimp
1- Fire Shrimp
1- Serpent star
8- Emerald crabs
100- Astrea, Margarita snails
50- Nassarius snails
1- Sand Sifting star
2- Large Maxima clams
2- Large Crocea clams
1- feather duster
Corals:

1- 10 Head Frog spawn
1- 10 Head Hammer coral
1- Torch coral
1- Red Favia with yellow eyes
2- Toadstools
1- Large Colt coral
1- Medium Leather
1- Brain coral
2- Pulsing Xenia
1- X-Large rock of Star polyps
1- Medium rock of Star polyps
1- X-large rock of various Zoanthids
5- colonies of variuos Zoanthids
1- Large rock of 32 green neon mushrooms
1- small frag of Colt coral

I think that's it, but I may have missed something. Am I overfeeding my tank and if so, what should I feed them and how much

Thanks for the help,
newbie

by **puffedupseagull** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 9:18 am

With fish i Think enough for continual feeding over a 2 minute period is heaps.
Corals I just make up enough that 1 can squirt a 2ml syringe at them all each. That seems to work for me.
If you are getting high nitrate rises, or algae blooms, high phosphate, then back your feeding down because that is a general idea that you are over feeding.

by **newbie916** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 3:55 pm

It's weird because even when I drop three cubes of brine in my tank, it's usually gone within 1 minute.

I cut back my feedings to 1 cube of brine per day and instead of flake food I put in some nigiri sushi seaweed. I'll probably cut my phyto and roto's back to twice a week. I'll feed my anenome twice a week also. Any other suggestions? Also, how do I know if my tank is being under feed?

by **dick_headers** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:37 pm

Is your hair algaes everywhere in the tank, or just at certain points? i mean when you clean them off they came back at the same spot? If the answer is yes then try to pull out the rock with the hair algae(hope it's not too difficult)on it, put em in the bucket with saltwater, and try to pull off the algae with your fingers. you can pull them out by the "root", sorta like when you pull out a flower or a weed from the dirt by their roots. The chance they will grow back is very small.
i don't think you are over feed. With the size of your tank and livestock, it should be ok.

by **newbie916** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 4:58 pm

Unfortunately, it's on a majority of my rocks and I just pick at them every day. Most of my rocks have some sort of coral on them, so it would be difficult to pull them out and clean them. The algae does grow in the same spots though, but unfortunately it's everywhere:( This stuff sucks!!! I noticed my phos reactor wasn't working because it was clogged these past few weeks. I'll start off with the smaller rock though and put them in a bucket and start pulling the stuff off. I appreciate your feedback.

Thx
newbie

by **dick_headers** » Sun Nov 23, 2008 5:06 pm

Any time.. You'll actually feel that you pull out those chunks by the roots( you are right, they're sorta' like cotton balls). I had to deal with that once, and the method I mentioned was very successful. I know it5 is sucks because all the corals, but hey, it worth it on the long run. You'll probably spend a whole day, if yo willing to do that.
Easy now,
DH

How much should I feed my tank?

6 posts