Marine snow....
- Thread starter Wiggsy
- Start date
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
Lps corals eat the meaty bits left over from feeding your fish and mushrooms and other soft corals eat small particulates and organic molecules in the water column. Shouldn't really need to feed marine snow. If anything, a small amount of live phytoplankton would be a good addition.
bang guy
Moderator
None of those can benefit from Marine Snow. The LPS, Button polyps, and probably the Mushrooms can eat any minced meaty seafood. The Brain Coral is going to prefer fairly large pieces of meat. Larger than you would expect but can make do with something like Mysis Shrimp or chunks of seafood. All of the animals you listed are carnivores and have no use for tiny bits of algae.
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
Your welcome. Marine snow has a reputation of fouling up the water quality.
I'd run the skimmer 24/7 on a mixed reef and feed heavy enough to keep nitrates between 5-10ppm.
I'd run the skimmer 24/7 on a mixed reef and feed heavy enough to keep nitrates between 5-10ppm.
I have been running the skimmer 24/7, my nitrates are at zero...I usually feed around noon with flakes and around five with mysis shrimp
pegasus
Well-Known Member
I feed a 50/50 blend of Marine Snow and Phytoplankton. I have a spiny sea fan, deepwater gorgonians, Hawaiian feather dusters, xenia, anthelia, and zooplankton that thrive on it. I also give my SPS corals a good dusting as well. I only feed once a week... or two weeks... and in limited amounts. Spot feeding helps reduce the amount added to the tanks. Some people recommend turning off your skimmer for up to 24 hours. I keep mine running, because I want it removed from the water column as quickly as possible. That's the purpose of spot feeding.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
I turn my skimmer off for 15-20 min when I feed. Only because I also turn off my return pump to keep the food in the display as long as I can so all my critters get a chance to eat. When I turn the return off, the sump water level rises and the skimmer goes nutts and wants to over flow. After a time, I turn the pump back on, wait for the sump level to return to normal, then turn my skimmer back on to resume it's normal operation.
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
Silverado, that's a great method.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
I don't have to worry about my skimmer going nuts after a power cut. Naturally, when I turn off the return pump, I also turn off my skimmer. However, instead of having to wait for the water level in the sump to return to normal before turning on the skimmer, I turn on the return pump and walk away. It was a bit pricey, but I haven't had a single overflow in over 2 years since installing this simple device:
http://www.reefoctopus.com/product_detail.aspx?ProductsCateID=166&CateID=36&CurrCateID=157
silverado61
Well-Known Member
That might work for someone else, but it's only got a five minute timer on it and I leave the return off for longer than that. The reason I leave it off for so long is because, counting the snails, I have over 100 crawling critters in my tank but only 2 fish. 3 serpents, 2 shrimp, 2 urchins, a really really big hermit and a lobster. I let the food hit the bottom and give them time to get to it.
Then I turn the power heads back on to stir the food back up and let the fish and corals get more of the food. 5 min later, the return pump gets turned back on. When I hear the overflow hit the sump I know the level is back to normal so I can turn the skimmer back on. What ever food get washed down to the sump, the pods, bristle worms and hermits polish it off.
It takes me roughly 30min to feed my tank once a day. It's what works for me.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
I think you missed my point. If you put the return pump and skimmer on a power strip together, and use the toggle switch on the strip to turn the pump and skimmer off at the same time, there will be a 5 minute delay before the skimmer turns back on after the switch is flipped back on to start the return pump. This way, you don't have to wait for the sump to reach it's normal level, nor do you have to worry about forgetting to turn the skimmer back on in case you get distracted. I bought the delay mainly because my skimmer was overflowing every time the power went out, and the fact that there's a delay also makes life much easier when I cut the power to do a water change. Other than cleaning my skimmer (which I simply unplug from the delay when I clean it), I never have to think about it.That might work for someone else, but it's only got a five minute timer on it and I leave the return off for longer than that. The reason I leave it off for so long is because, counting the snails, I have over 100 crawling critters in my tank but only 2 fish. 3 serpents, 2 shrimp, 2 urchins, a really really big hermit and a lobster. I let the food hit the bottom and give them time to get to it.
Then I turn the power heads back on to stir the food back up and let the fish and corals get more of the food. 5 min later, the return pump gets turned back on. When I hear the overflow hit the sump I know the level is back to normal so I can turn the skimmer back on. What ever food get washed down to the sump, the pods, bristle worms and hermits polish it off.
It takes me roughly 30min to feed my tank once a day. It's what works for me.
Question... do you run and unplug your skimmer every time the power goes out, knowing that the sump water level is too high for the skimmer to function properly after power is restored, or do you just let it overflow and dump all the nasty stuff back into the tank water?
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Honestly, I can't remember the last time we lost power. But, point taken and it is something to consider. How much does this cost?
flower
Well-Known Member
LOL, I'm lazy...I just left it alone, the "nasty" stuff really isn't all that bad for the tank, it won't do any damage...and the skimmer cleans it up real fast anyway, it will pull it right back out before it could even be noticed.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
$50.