Newbie - feeding and bioload question

Hi all - set up my first tank 10/4/08 and am 100% addicted!! Trying to get a feel for how much I should be feeding my fish and how close to a full bioload I'm getting. (hopefully I'll be able to navigate my way back to this post LOL)

Feeding: I've heard/read to feed once a day, 2-3 times per day, 3-4 times per week, etc., etc. Can someone please de-mystify this for me? I'm currently feeding about 1/4 to 3/4 square inch of frozen mysis/brine shrimp per day and seaweed about 3-4 times per week with a veggie clip. (The tang probably gets 1/2 the shrimp and all of the seaweed):-/ Not much, if any, of the food ends up on the bottom.

Bioload: Tank stats below

90 gal
95 lbs LR
1 bag live sand (Aragonite - coarse)
T5 lighting (3 blue, 3 white)
Protein Skimmer
Sump (I guess - is that the 20 gal overflow tank under my stand that the protein skimmer is sitting in?)
I purchase all of my water and change out 20 gallons every other week

Current Inventory:
2 Blue damsels with yellow tails
2 Clown fish
1 Powder brown tang
1 Adult engineer gobie
1 Bicolor blennie
3 Bagahia cardinal fish
1 Copperband butterfly fish
1 Skunk cleaner shrimp
4 Peppermint shrimp
1 Sally lightfoot crab (had 2 but Sally 1 bit the limbs off of Sally 2)
1 Other small red colored crab
1 Orange seastar
1 Sandsifting seastar (although I've never seen him since I introduced him a month ago - not even when cleaning/vacuuming substrate)
Various snails and hermit crabs (Turbos/Astrea) - maybe a total of 15?
Leather coral
Crocea clam
Mushroom coral (watermelon and some other burgundy kind)
Birdsnest coral (frag)
Purple m-cap coral (frag)
Fungia coral
Torch coral
Green polyps (frag)
Pulsing Xenia (frag)
Pink Stylophora coral

 

This is my opinion and my exp.
Feeding all depends on how of a good filtration system(FS) you have. Your Nh3, No2 and No3 levels will dictate if your FS is dealing with your bioload or not. I will tell you that you stocked your tank fairly quickly for my taste. Your tank is only 2 months old and you have almost the same amount of livestock as I do and my tank is a 10 yrs old system. Come to think about it, you stocked that tank very fast. I wonder where your Nh3, No2 and No3 levels are? Luna

 

I agree with Luna, you did stock your tank very fast. I would slow down, check the parameters and go from there. Plus you are probably reaching the limits of your bioload.
As to your feeding question. I used to feed twice a day, every day. I began to have some problems with nuisance algae. I now feed every other day and add a pinch of "reef food" for the corals and inverts every other day. The fish will always want food and seem to be hungry, it's their nature. They may go for days or a week without food in the wild.
Also, your butterfly fish is not reef safe and I would watch it with your corals and clam.

 

About 3 weeks ago, nitrate, nitrite, phosphates were within "normal limits" according to my LFS (not sure what the third "N" in your response is), but point taken . . . I'll stop adding stuff and monitor the stats.

 

Karen, if I were you, I would get your own testing kits. Who knows what your LFS considers "normal limits". In fact......what does that mean??????
Nh3 = Ammonia. I dont know what your exp. or knowledge level is, but try to go through this web site, it just might help you understand this hobby a little better. www.slatwater101.com

Remember that your LFS will try to sell you anything and everything they can. Good luck and keep us posted.

[SCROLL]Luna[/SCROLL]

 

(take your time) read, read and, read. ill never stop reading. you got the rest of your life to fill it. unless your 90 and have heart trouble. now im a coral addict been for years but the last 5 years ive been buying more and have had and wanted to set up more tanks. ive got the experience, time,the room and not to sure about the money but i do it anyway. dont call my self getinpora for nothing. good luck and slow down till you get more experience and,keep on reefing

 

my lfs will do that to newbie's hes bad for any creature sad, sad ,sad i read for 14 months before i switched to salt water

 

Hello Karen, As far as bio load, as the others have stated and I concur, you are at the edge. What you should know is, your tank will continue to experience mini (sometimes not so mini) cycles up to 8 mos. to a year. So now, stay on top of everything and get good test kits (if you haven't already) to test for Magnesium, Calcium, Alkalinity (DKH) and a good Refractometer for you SG. Keeping these parameters steady is the key to successful reef keeping.
I would also suggest a good 5 stage RO/DI unit and make your own water. I don't like relying on anyone for pure water. Too many on this and other forums have told the story of the time the LFS wasn't on top of changing their filters or what have you and WHAM! Major algae out break or worse! I have not found better prices or better personal service from anyone than I have gotten from "The Filter Guys". Tank looks great by the way! Good reef keeping to you.......

 

whats the filter guys web address????

 

Try googling it. luna