Need a diet for my 155G bow. apparently they're fat

well.. my nitrates are through the roof and i'm not having much luck finding a source.. SOMEONE.. has brought to my attention that i may be overfeeding a bit.. so heres my stock list and setup.. and what i feed... I'm hoping to get some feedback on what I should be feeding food, amount, and schedule wise.. thanks for everyones help ahead of time.. 3reef rocks my socks.. fyi

Orange Shoulder Tang 11+ Inches
B/W Heniochus Butterfly 8+ Inches
Lemon Butterfly 5+ Inches
Bristle Tooth Tomini Tang 5+ Inches
Yellow Kole Tang 5+ Inches
2 False Perc Orange Clowns
2 False Perc B/W Clowns
Clown Gobie
Mandarin Dragonet 3 Inches
Skunk Shrimp..
Fire Shrimp..
2 Peppermint shrimp..
numerous crabs and snails and a couple other random inverts..


I'm currently feeding a cube of frozen brime dosed with garlic twice a day,
along with small pellets as well as large pellets twice a day..

Brimes gone before it reachs about half way down the tank.. and the pellets are gone within 30 mins.. some fish will only eat brime at this point.. most will eat both though..

tank is 155g bowfront with a 40? g sump and 12 g fuge with 2 balls of chaeto in it.. about a 3-4" sandbed all throughout the tank and probably 120lbs of live rock.. red sea skimmer which is skimming well.. and some freshly washed bio balls in the sump.. Nitrates are.. pretty high.. tested my ro/di topoff system and thats not the source..

 

First off I would try to eliminate the brine shrimp and go with mysid shrimp instead (more nutrients).
Pellets tend to cause less problems on your water parameters, so slowly try getting your fish to eat pellets (this can take over a month to do, start with mostly frozen food and a few pellets and gradually eliminate the frozen foods from the daily meal. The frozen food will then become a weekly treat).
If your tank is established I would remove the bio balls, as the lr should be doing a good job and then you don't have to always worry about when to clean the bio balls.
When you feed fish they will always want more, the key is to know that and not continue to feed them. You are good with 2 feedings a day.
Pellets should never be visible in the tank 30 minutes later. You should feed enough pellets as to have none in the tank when you are done feeding (this should be 2-3 minutes tops)
For me with more fish but smaller sized this means 2-3 pinches of pellets per feeding, so for you that would mean 4-5 pinches tops per feeding.

 

Are you feeding those tangs and butterflies any veggie matter? I always say feed less than you think you should and then divide that amount by half. Brine shrimp is like candy, not very nutritious so the advice to feed something like mysis is right on, but again your tangs need some veggie. Try Formula Two Marine Flakes by Ocean Nutrition. If a fish won't eat that it won't eat much.

Ginny

 

sounds good i'll try some flake and mysid shrimp instead of the brine.. thanks for the ideas..

the pellets stick around a bit as they're the larger ones and a lot of the fish seem to nibble on them until they're soft enough to eat.. atleast thats what i've gathered from watching them.. plus the shrimp usually grab a larger one and snack on it

 

maybe go with a smaller sized pellet then or soak it in tank water for a bit before putting it in the tank.