The best MUST HAVE tank food?

[speg]

What's some of the better additives that people have discovered that really seem to bring out the best in the corals/inverts/fish of your tank?
Marine snow? Any good?
I heard of a new one recently "Reef Fuel"
Regular phytoplankton/zooplankton?
Cyclops?
What does everyone really think is the best? or at least given really good results to them?

 

[btldreef]

Tank/Coral Food: Regular Phyto and "Coral Frenzy" in SMALL quantities
Fish/Invert Food (and corals too I guess): PE Mysis, Emerald Entree, Cyclops
Most bottled garbage like Two Little Fishies Marine Snow is just that, garbage.
With fish food, it depends on what you're trying to feed. I have quite the assortment of food and mix it up. I do not feed flake or pellet to any of my fish and always add vitamins to the food.

 

[spanko]

Frozen Cyclopeeze is fish and coral crack. Best thing out there. You should have a variety though. Frozen Mysis, Cyclops, some pellets, and some flake. Oh yeah and some Rod's Food.

 

[btldreef]

I've heard great things about Rod's Food, but no one carries it near me and I don't want to order it online

 

[speg]

So marine snow isn't good? Nice.. a lot of people seem to blow smoke up the *** of that product.
I always liked cyclops.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3248724
So marine snow isn't good? Nice.. a lot of people seem to blow smoke up the *** of that product.
I always liked cyclops.
Marine Snow is awful. Is bottled toxin for your tank basically. You have no way of telling how old it is, how it was shipped, etc. Put the recommended amount in a 5G bucket and do some nitrate/ammonia tests, you'll be so horrified that you'll throw it out immediately.

 

[speg]

Has anybody tried the product "reef bugs" ? Apparently it's something that hatches inside your aquarium.. was wondering about this and if it's any good. It looks like a pretty new product.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Speg
http:///forum/post/3249578
Has anybody tried the product "reef bugs" ? Apparently it's something that hatches inside your aquarium.. was wondering about this and if it's any good. It looks like a pretty new product.
Another bottle/box of garbage.

 

[mfoley]

I remember at one time we got some sample products of a new product that was a bottle full of baby copepods, and they seemed to do OK... It might have been Reef Bugs???

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by mfoley
http:///forum/post/3254372
I remember at one time we got some sample products of a new product that was a bottle full of baby copepods, and they seemed to do OK... It might have been Reef Bugs???

Reef Bugs comes in a box. You probably had a bottle of ArctiPods.

 

[mfoley]

Maybe

 

[ibanez]

I have never had marine snow foul my water. It may not be the best product out there, but it isn't as bad as you make it sound.

 

[speg]

Keep an eye on the reef forum for the new product that swf.com is helping to push. Phytoplankton with zooplankton in one 'squeeze'. May be the next best thing.
Worth a look.

 

[jstdv8]

I dose DT's phyto (becuase I'm too broke to make my own [figure that one out]) coral frenzy once a week, a couple shrimp pellets every third day for the inverts.

 

[mrdc]

I heard frozen cyclopeeze was very good. I use the flakes but my LFSs never get in the frozen stuff. I have the Marine Snow and some of you are worrying me about using it.

 

[speg]

Originally Posted by mrdc
http:///forum/post/3255167
I heard frozen cyclopeeze was very good. I use the flakes but my LFSs never get in the frozen stuff. I have the Marine Snow and some of you are worrying me about using it.

I like the whole cyclops that are freeze dried. Everything in my tank used to love that stuff. Never tried the flakes.

 

[bla403]

I use New life spectrum for pellet and feed a bit in the mornings.
I use seaweed attached to a piece of PVC for the grazers that I get at the asian market.
As for Frozens, Mysis, frozen cyclops mostly. I also have some frozen scallops & silverslides to feed an anemone once and a while but I like Mysis the most.
I also have bottle oyster eggs that I use to feed corals once a week.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by IbanEz
http:///forum/post/3254458
I have never had marine snow foul my water. It may not be the best product out there, but it isn't as bad as you make it sound.
If you dose in small quantities it won't destroy your tank. The issue is, do you notice it making any difference? Most people don't when they really start to pay attention to it and in that aspect, it makes the product just another pollutant in the tank. There are far better, more effective, less pollutant products on the market. With the bottled products such as Marine Snow, there is no way to know what the conditions of the product were during shipping, ie, cold weather freezing the snow, then thawing it will make the product pure garbage in a bottle, same with high heat. Since these types of products are usually shipped general freight, there is no temperature control to make sure these sorts of issues do not arise and general freight compartments are usually very, VERY cold. The other issue that comes into play is how old it is. You have no way of knowing when it was made and how long it's been sitting on the shelf at the LFS before you bring it home and dump it in your tank.
Seriously, do the 5gal test as I listed above. 5 gal of water and a cap full of Marine Snow, test levels. Not so nice

 

[cranberry]

I dose live phytoplankton. It doesn't add extra nutrients and actually keeps the water cleaner by consuming nutrients already there.
Filter feeders use it directly and it feeds the pods which the other corals consume.
Spot feeding is pretty useless, IMO because it's not how a coral is meant to feed. Generalized feeding of a dead product adds to the bioload unnecessarily.

 

[mrdc]

Originally Posted by BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3248711
"Coral Frenzy" in SMALL quantities
So what is your opinion on coral frenzy? I have some but haven't used it yet since I was trying to finish up the marine snow.