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Frozen Food...good or bad?


TheTikiGecko

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TheTikiGecko

Hello i just acquired a well established Oceanic Biocube 14 on Craigslist, it came fully equipped with stand, powerhead, heater, filtration components, and the necessary stock lighting with an added blue LED strip. It also came with 6 pounds of live rock and a thin bed of live sand. The owner also gave me a clownfish that was already in the tank. Should i feed this clown frozen food or flakes? Ive heard that frozen food can disturb the biological filtration and that flakes are a better alternative. Please let me know your thoughts on this subject.

 

 

Just ordered upgraded lighting from stock to: 12 Inch Current USA TrueLumen Pro 12,000K Diamond White LED StripLight, and 12 Inch Current USA TrueLumen Pro Marine Fusion 12K/453nm Blue LED StripLight.

 

I ordered some inverts as well: -Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab x5

- Astraea Turbo Snail x8

-Bumble Bee Snail x4

-Dwarf Yellow Tip Hermit Crab x4

 

Watch my tank on YouTube!

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It actually depends on the frozen food. I use Larry's Reef Frenzy and don't have any problems if you prefer to use dry food I would suggest New Life Spectrum.

 

Looking at the snails you ordered make sure your bumble bee snails have enough food they can be predators

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Good.

 

Flakes float, and float right out the tank and into the filter.

 

For fish, dry. Hikari and NLS small sinking pellets.

 

And they eat all the leftover frozen shrimp and Rods, I feed my corals. Sometimes I give nori to the tang, but it grows green film algae.

 

I use a 1 inch clear tube for pellets, even sinking pellets float for like a minute. Stick tube in water by the powerhead, pinch of pellets in tube until they sink, powrhead blows them around so the tang don't eat them all herself.

 

I think the Hikari is better, the NLS has a bunch of terrestrial foods like grains and carrots and junk in it. My fingers smell seafoody after feeding the Hikari. But I alternate for variety.

 

The refridge foods are good too, like the ArctiPods, RotaFeast, OVAwhatever. The $20 a bottle stuff, in the fridge at your LFS (youll know it when you see it). Variety is better than even the best one brand.

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I do a mix of frozen and occasionally pellets. No flakes because they go down the overflow. I usually mix up some Rod's with some frozen Mysis or maybe brine shrimp or squid. Just depends. I sometimes leave out the Rod's and do Mysis and some veggie thing. I just try to give my fish different stuff because I want them to get a full spectrum of nutrients. I also feed nori for my Tomini. I allow natural foods to grow in the tank and refugium. I occasionally add pods to the tank to replenish the population. Variety is really the best thing.

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It actually depends on the frozen food. I use Larry's Reef Frenzy and don't have any problems if you prefer to use dry food I would suggest New Life Spectrum.

 

Looking at the snails you ordered make sure your bumble bee snails have enough food they can be predators

 

Yep, Larry's and PE Mysis shrimp.

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Hikari Mysis shrimp are smaller, than PE Mysis.

 

Better for feeding smaller polyps and NPS corals.

 

I use tweezers for PE Mysis. Baster coral feeder for Hikari, 500% faster than tweezers.

 

I would buy Larrys, no one has his stuff out here.

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I have bee

 

Hikari Mysis shrimp are smaller, than PE Mysis.

Better for feeding smaller polyps and NPS corals.

I use tweezers for PE Mysis. Baster coral feeder for Hikari, 500% faster than tweezers.

I would buy Larrys, no one has his stuff out here.

I have been using Larry's since he first started had to drive over an hour to get it I talked to him and a lfs and now I have a supply much closer. Contact your favorite store and mention it maybe they can get a small shipment in to try out.

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NirvanaandTool

All frozen here for the most part. Hikari Jumbo mysis for the predators and reg Hikari mysis for coral. Then your average selection from the seafood counter for additional predator food - cod, salmon, shrimp, squid, etc - plus whatever fish I catch off the NJ coast.

Only stuff that gets NLS pellets here are my hermits/nassarius snails and the feeder ghost shrimp.

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I feed a mix of frozen and dry food. I believe frozen to be more nutritious so I feed it more often but flake or pellets is convenient a couple times a week. Frozen is not hard on the biological filter if its not overdone. The fish should consume the food in 2 minutes.

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Rinse it and rinse it again. I feed almost exclusively frozen foods in my 30 gallon skimmer-less tank an have no issues. The key is to rinse it in either RO or tank water first. This helps keep the excess nutrients down. I also turn my power heads on full blast for a few minutes after the fish are done eating as well to lift any uneaten food into the water column and to the overflow and filter floss.

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Do you know how much a bottle of KZ Amino Acids costs?

 

Thats what youre rinsing away, all that shrimp juice is prime coral food.

 

You doubt me. Just squirt some of the juice only on your SPS.

 

Polyp Extension and mesenterial filaments.

 

Squirt some on a closed up chalice, youll have tentacles out looking for more, mouths wide open..

 

Acans, blastos, favias, micros, etc, all the same thing.

 

Extreme Feeding Behavior.

 

Most of these animals can transport these long nutrient molecules directly across their cell membrane.

 

Rinse=Waste

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I have one food that I don't rinse that feeds my corals. Its a mix made by my LFS filled with all sorts of goodies. But straight blood worms, mysis, and brine shrimp tend to be packed in nothing but phosphate juice.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have one food that I don't rinse that feeds my corals. Its a mix made by my LFS filled with all sorts of goodies. But straight blood worms, mysis, and brine shrimp tend to be packed in nothing but phosphate juice.

 

Rinsing is a waste of time. The amount of phosphate is miniscule. It may read "off the charts" but dump it into a larger body of water and it is well below target levels of phosphate in a reef tank. Most of the phosphate is still in the food and not what you rinsed away. Since most of the phosphate remains in the food, nutrient problems can come from overfeeding but rinsing won't have a noticeable impact.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry

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Thank you Tamberav for that link.

 

I had a post written, a few days ago, about where phosphate is found in living animal tissue, but I deleted it. Thought it was a waste of time, actually.

 

It makes up the cell membranes in all animals. Cell membranes are made of phospholipid bilayers.

Its in the DNA and RNA, that most cells contain.

Its in the mitochondria, in the ATP, ADP, and AMP molecules that allow all cells to do things.

 

It is futile to rinse your Mysis Shrimp, for it is a million times more concentrated in the rinsed shrimp you are putting into your system, than in the shrimp juice. Its in the shrimp, from where do you think the shrimp juice got it?

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ClownTriggerDude

I and our fish love, Larry's !

I called a friend of mine and had Jim of Ne. Aquatic Supply, become a dealer.

 

Larry's vs Rod's ?

 

Rod's leaved a cloud in the tank and don't like that. I don't know how much would be taken up by filter feeders, but I would rather feed them with a specific food anyway. In our quarantine tank, I got some cyno bacteria shortly after using rods. After I stopped, the bacteria went away. hum...... :rolleyes: I will never use his again.

 

Larry's is very,....clean, and also hand feed it to our blood shrimp. Like his foods very much.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I do feed flakes but I will probably stop after my current bottle is done. I agree that most of it is wasted and all you're actually doing is feeding your nitrogen cycle instead of your fish because it goes right down the overflow.

 

But I just started using a new frozen and I love it. Frozen is such a pain I feel, in general... You have to pop it out of those packets without tearing four more spaces around the one you're trying to pop out, then thaw it in a bowl (or something), maybe rinse it (I was a rinser), and finally you can feed. The new frozen I have is individual packets, thaws in it's little pod, and then you just peel back the foil and throw it in. It's got both meaty foods and algae so I don't have to worry about feeding some of this and some of that to get everyone what they need. One packet and then a few drops of phyto every couple days and feeding is a breeze.

It's called 'elive Reef Blend'. They have other blends. This one has: spirulina, brine, mysis, cyclops, and marine algae. AND it doesn't get freezer burnt because each packet is individually wrapped so no rips that expose other 'squares' of food.

 

EDIT: actually I take back the flake thing. I MAY end up still feeding dry foods because I see now that elive also makes a pellet where the bottle has a push button dispenser so that you get portion control. Nice. I may try that too.

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Try LRS Reef or Fish Frenzy, everyone will love it. IMO it's the best frozen food out there, look up the ingredients, and it's so clean when it's in the water. I can't say enough about it, fish, nems, everyone loves it.

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ClownTriggerDude

Like I stated above, Larry's is fantastic. I've never had a issue with frozen cube's, I also don't think tearing the foil packets next to the cube I'm using is an issue. If you're getting frost bite, place the pack somewhere else in the freezer or put the pack in a Ziploc baggie made not to frostbite.

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I do feed flakes but I will probably stop after my current bottle is done. I agree that most of it is wasted and all you're actually doing is feeding your nitrogen cycle instead of your fish because it goes right down the overflow.

 

But I just started using a new frozen and I love it. Frozen is such a pain I feel, in general... You have to pop it out of those packets without tearing four more spaces around the one you're trying to pop out, then thaw it in a bowl (or something), maybe rinse it (I was a rinser), and finally you can feed. The new frozen I have is individual packets, thaws in it's little pod, and then you just peel back the foil and throw it in. It's got both meaty foods and algae so I don't have to worry about feeding some of this and some of that to get everyone what they need. One packet and then a few drops of phyto every couple days and feeding is a breeze.

 

It's called 'elive Reef Blend'. They have other blends. This one has: spirulina, brine, mysis, cyclops, and marine algae. AND it doesn't get freezer burnt because each packet is individually wrapped so no rips that expose other 'squares' of food.

 

EDIT: actually I take back the flake thing. I MAY end up still feeding dry foods because I see now that elive also makes a pellet where the bottle has a push button dispenser so that you get portion control. Nice. I may try that too.

 

Way easier to just pop out the cube into a cup and squirt about 4oz of tank water overtop of the frozen cube (or chunk if it comes from a big bag like LRS) and let it sit for 30-60 seconds. Use your baster to mix it up for 5 or 10 seconds and it is ready to go. Of course it isn't as easy as dropping a pinch of pellets in, but it isn't exactly a chore either. Though, you can drop the frozen cube or chunk in with no thawing, and it is no different than feeding pellets.

 

I don't bother to cut up cubes since they are so cheap - I just flush what I don't use (which is ususally only a tiny bit, if any in a 20g). Putting my pumps into feed mode and shutting down the return is more work than preparing frozen.

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Andrew_Reef90g

I live off of mysis shrimp and frozen food. My anemones get fed frozen table shrimp. My fish get fed frozen mysis shrimp with occasional brine. I also feed cyclopeeze and pellets every once in a while. I think pellets and flakes have too much phosphates.

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ClownTriggerDude

I'm I missing something about the hassle of using cubes ?

 

I take the package out of the freezer, use a knife to cut a slice off, half, or what ever size I need at the time, put the slice in a glass jar, and either add some tank water, letting it thaw and then feed, or heat up the water a little for faster thaw and I'm done. Sometimes I'll just place a frozen cube in the glass jaw, put it in the refrigerator to thaw for the next day.

 

No problem for me anyway.

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The only thing I dont like with cubes is tearing the foil on the adjacent cube.

 

Its going to get freezer burn if I dont feed/use it now.

 

The PE Mysis package is worse than the Hikari brand package.

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I feed omega one or cobalt aquatics flakes, nls pellets, rods, larrys, San Francisco bay artemia brine and/or blood worms. Whatever i happen to feel like giving at the time and have on hand.

 

Shut off the pumps to keep food from going around the back like flakes tend to do.

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