preparing your frozen food

iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
this might be a stupid question lol but...how does everyone prepare there frozen food before feeding your tank?

I think what I do is better then nothing but still not the greatest...

1. get a glass of tank water
2. let the frozen cubes thaw in the water
3. dump the glass of tank water and cubes into a net in the sink to get rid of the gross water and whatever else
4. dunk the net in the water and feed the fish

now the part Im not sure about is the whole rinsing the food after you dump it in the net which is why I don't do that...my reason for not doing that is because I have tried this a few times with RODI water and it seems like it washes a lot of the food right out of the net? How do you guys do this rinsing part without losing a bunch of food down the drain? Could you maybe just dunk the net into a bowl of RODI water that way its not pounding down on the net? I mean even when I shake out my net I start losing food through the netting...I also feed cyclopese which as you know is teeny tiny so if you rinse it, it just goes through the net...

anyways that's my stupid question of the day...lemme know your secrets...
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I put the number of cubes I am going to use in a cup add some liquid garlic let it soak until defrosted then add some tank water and disperse in front of a power head
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
I do pretty much what you do, iidyli except I re suspend it in more tank water a couple times a week to feed the nems and LPS.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
florida joe said:
I put the number of cubes I am going to use in a cup add some liquid garlic let it soak until defrosted then add some tank water and disperse in front of a power head
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I just hate putting all that gunk in the tank joe that's all

lmforbis said:
I do pretty much what you do, iidyli except I re suspend it in more tank water a couple times a week to feed the nems and LPS.
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yeah I guess I just don't know how people rinse with RODI without losing a lot of food down the drain like I said..oh well I think a lot of the junk gets washed out just dumping it in the net..better then nothing I guess...ok no biggie I was just seeing what others do
 
one-fish

one-fish

Active Member
I soak all foods in RODI strain rinse again in RODI pour off add garlic every other day but I am trying rid phosphates
 
one-fish

one-fish

Active Member
Some foods yes mostly the algae foods like I said trying to reduce my phosphate intake. Fighting GHA at the moment
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
Ok like I said just making sure I'm not missing some simple solution to rinsing there food lol good luck with the phosphates
 
S

Shilpan

Member
Just saying I don't rinse my food. I defrost and put it in. I read something once which convinced me that the phosphate I add in this way across my tank is miniscule compared to the amount that's actually in the food.

I only feed 1/4 to 1/2 a cube a day for 6 fish so maybethats why but phosphates are 0. The older members will know better than me though
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
My daily feedings: 120g mixed reef, 7 fish.

1 cube frozen
1 healthy pinch of algae sheet
7-8 drops of phytoplankton
1 small pinch of granulated coral food

All of it gets mixed in a cup of tank water to thaw and marinade together. Pour about half in then feed the other half later.

Without adequate filtration this might otherwise cause severe algae outbreaks rather quickly. In my case if I don't feed heavy my system would probably be too clean. My macro algae would die and corals would lose color.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
2quills said:
My daily feedings: 120g mixed reef, 7 fish.

1 cube frozen
1 healthy pinch of algae sheet
7-8 drops of phytoplankton
1 small pinch of granulated coral food

All of it gets mixed in a cup of tank water to thaw and marinade together. Pour about half in then feed the other half later.

Without adequate filtration this might otherwise cause severe algae outbreaks rather quickly. In my case if I don't feed heavy my system would probably be too clean. My macro algae would die and corals would lose color.
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Your right quills...I too also worry a little bit about the system being to clean...I kind of judge by the coloration of my rocks if they get to clean I worry my urchins may not be getting enough food...I try to keep them with a nice thin film of algae lol
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
That's all it is. If I start seeing too much color then that's my que to back off on some of the food for a little bit. Or visa versa depending on the situation.

Shilpan, I'm suprised those fish aren't starving lol. Once you begin to actually feed your tank you may have to step up your filtration game.

My trigger is beginning to put on some size and eating like fish on a mission. Probably be going to 1.5 cubes a day here pretty soon.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
This is getting way off topic but the other benefit from feeding with the net is the fish become very immune to the net and makes it much easier to snatch one up if needed :~}

And yeah I feed one and a half cubes 2 times a day
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
FWIW, I believe this was tested a while back and found that the so called nasties (extra phosphate) from thawing the food was extremely negligible compared how much is in the actual food itself.
 
iidylii

iidylii

Active Member
Luanne said:
I just add my cubes frozen. I figure it helps trim beaks and teeth
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I have tried this and it doesn't go that well in my case lol a lot of the fish will grab and inhale like half the cube at once which means no food for others lol

A quick update though...since we last posted about this...I no longer dump it in a net, I just dump the cup of water and food right in and since then haven't noticed any algae growth so who knows
 
Luanne

Luanne

Member
iidylii said:
I have tried this and it doesn't go that well in my case lol a lot of the fish will grab and inhale like half the cube at once which means no food for others lol

A quick update though...since we last posted about this...I no longer dump it in a net, I just dump the cup of water and food right in and since then haven't noticed any algae growth so who knows
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Really? I have algae. Wonder if I try that and also give some shelled stuff now again for their beaks
 
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