How much to feed????

[bek]

Can someone give me and idea of whether or not I am over feeding or underfeeding????
My tank gets fed once a day....It is a 30 gallon that has lots of critter and only 2 fish.
I use a tube syrenge and spot feed the feather duster and polyps and sunflower and while I do this my crabs and shrimp all come out for a nibble off the end of the tube. It is very funny to see them come running for their dinner. I use a combination of shrimp pellets, brine shrimp, blood worms, plankton, and regular fish food. This all goes into a small food processer and gets turned to a fine powder (easy to digest).....then fed through the tube feeder.
I use a measuring spoon - "1/2 tsp" is all they get.
Then, because the crumbs as so small I go back and give the fish a pinch of fish food or some brine shrimp.
Everything acts like it's still hungry but my nitrates are up when I test the water......what am I doing wrong ???

 

[sinner's girl]

I'd try not making the food a fine powder. Some pieces may be too small for the fish to find, thus what they are not eatting is turned into nirtates.
Maybe try not mixing the food together. feed blood worms one day, brine the next, and so on. but don't grind the food so it's too small for the fish.
or try feeding less but more than once a day. What fish do you have?
how long does it take the fish to eat the food you give them?
just an idea
OR
High Nitrates can be cause by things other than over feeding.
So you can't assume, overfeeding is the problem.
How long has your tank been set up? Did it complet the cycle before you added fish/inverts? do you have a ugf? cc? ls? how much lr (basicly what is your filtration method). How often do you do wc?
hth

 

[beaslbob]

Bek
If you do not have plant life in the tank then you are doing nothing wrong. It is the combination of your bioload and plant life the determines the levels for nitrAtes. More plant life less ntirates.

 

[bek]

Originally posted by beaslbob
Bek
If you do not have plant life in the tank then you are doing nothing wrong. It is the combination of your bioload and plant life the determines the levels for nitrAtes. More plant life less ntirates.
When you say "plant life" do you mean "plants" or do you mean soft corals and invertibates???

 

[bek]

Originally posted by Sinner's Girl
I'd try not making the food a fine powder. Some pieces may be too small for the fish to find, thus what they are not eatting is turned into nirtates.
Maybe try not mixing the food together. feed blood worms one day, brine the next, and so on. but don't grind the food so it's too small for the fish.
or try feeding less but more than once a day. What fish do you have?
how long does it take the fish to eat the food you give them?
just an idea
OR
High Nitrates can be cause by things other than over feeding.
So you can't assume, overfeeding is the problem.
How long has your tank been set up? Did it complet the cycle before you added fish/inverts? do you have a ugf? cc? ls? how much lr (basicly what is your filtration method). How often do you do wc?
hth
It's a 30 gallon - up and running for almost 9 months. 1 purple tank and 1 coral beauty. They eat up the particles in less than 5 minutes.
There is no filter on the tank at all.....
I have never done a water change - only top off for evaporation.
Basically - I started mixing the food after reading that I should give plankton.....but all it did was float on top.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by Bek
When you say "plant life" do you mean "plants" or do you mean soft corals and invertibates???
Some corals do have that green plant stuff in it I can't spell (cloriphil or colorphyl or choloryphin or chlorophyll) and they would provide some of the same effect.
I meant plant life such as corraline algae and more specifically marco algaes or the true marine plants such as turtle grass.
edit: your fish especially the tang would enjoy having some live plants to munch on. So you may need a refugium or culture macros in another container. Basically, the fish food becomes nitrates, the nitrates grow the macros, the fish eat the macros. Basically a more closed system. And meanwhile nitrates are low to non existant.