Food in tank?

Nando7 · 02-27-2007, 02:19 PM

Should I clean out the pellets that I am feeding my clownfish that fall to the sand? It seems once the food falls to the sand the clownfish want nothing to do with it. The pellets are very small and I am only feeding them a tiny bit, being they are still getting acclimated to my tank. I think I should get a net and get the food that they don't eat out, but I wanted to get some of your opinions first. Sorry I am a super newbie, thanks.

mattgeezer · 02-27-2007, 02:37 PM

yes you should take out any excess food . maybe you should invest in some cleaner shrimp or some hermits , they will clean up the left overs . Stop any bad nitrates starting ... you dont want that

matt

Nando7 · 02-27-2007, 02:42 PM

Thanks, yeah i have one hermit but he seems to stay on the LR... I will def. get the excess out.

Nando7 · 02-27-2007, 02:56 PM

Well that didn't work to well. I tried to get the old food out with a net and of course it disintegrated into tiny particles and went all over the tank. A lot of it went into the filter as well as the clowns ate a little of it. Also how often should I be feeding the clowns? They are tank bred clowns by the way. So are the pellets my only option?

djnzlab1 · 02-27-2007, 04:47 PM

HI,
I am new to saltwater too, but the one thing I keep reading is phos/bio load, this occur when fish eat and filters eat and snails eat and the bacteria in the sand eats.
So everything we put in the water goes away either as it dissolves or biological waste as food for bacteria/crabs/snails. this all adds up to waste.
If you have a good skiimmer you help pull out dissolved waste or NOC thats mostly dissolved waste not protein.. any food that makes it to the sand is poo for ths system even if you have hermits.
One thng that seems to work for many is the ratio of protein to phos, many pellets/flakes have more phos per once than say frozen live foods.
Some of the frozen foods in small amounts is easier to clear than those concentrated high protein phos loaded foodslike pellets and flakes.
Doug

JustPhish · 02-27-2007, 06:29 PM

Don't worry about it unless it's an insane amount of food. The worms, pods, mini stars, etc that live in the sand and rock will all need food as well and will quickly take care of it.

I often mash up cubes of frozen formula foods to feed my sand bed after dark. The amount of life in my rock and sand is absolutely amazing.

Brandon1023 · 02-27-2007, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustPhish

I often mash up cubes of frozen formula foods to feed my sand bed after dark. The amount of life in my rock and sand is absolutely amazing.

What?!

Haha I never heard of anything like that! Guess it's not such a horrible thing as long as it's being consumed but wow, how are your nitrates? I never thought of my sand bed as its own living organism that required feedings.

Nando7 · 02-27-2007, 06:55 PM

Wow thanks for all the good info. everyone!

coral reefer · 02-27-2007, 07:12 PM

I would cut down on the amount of food and decrease the chance of it accumulating on the substrate! Pellets are very high in nitrates and phosphates!!! Your water quality will diminish over time by this!! If you don't have shrimp, snails etc. to clean up this excess food it will cause your water to falter some!
Skimmers will help but not if you aren't able to suspend the excess food into your water column for it to be removed by the filtration!

JustPhish · 02-27-2007, 08:01 PM

My nitrates are just fine. I don't over feed anything. As a matter of fact I only feed once every other day and that's for my fish. But how exactly do you think you're going to get any biodiversity if there's not enough food to go around? I could look in any spot in my tanks and find countless mini brittles, pods, worms, asterinas, etc.

A tiny bit of pellets hitting this guys sand bed after his feedings is not going to cause the world to stop rotating nor hair algae to overcome him in his sleep. Everything needs food.