Feeding and photoperiod?

[RustyRocket]

Hi, just want to ask how do I know how much to feed and also photo period?

 

For feeding I've been feed several times a day bt I found that my nirate rises and I end up getting algae bloom at the end of the week, so I've done more water changes and reduce the feeding, bt this resulted in my inverts now out and about the entire day searching for food...I have 2 percula clowns, so how often shud I feed?

 

Now I don't have much coral so far, I have a mushroom and a colonie of zoos that came with the LR bt I want to get into a routine so I wen I get more corals it'll be more constant. Atm my main cool white LEDs come on at 10 and goes off at 7 while my blue LED it goes on from 3 to 11. How do I know if its enough or not??

[igotreefermadness]

Start feeding every two to three days. Your fish will look hungry but they are fine. They will appreciate the good water quality. Remember that even if fish eat food, it still translates into waste. So the more you feed the more polluted your water quality.

 

The invertebrates are fine, their bioload is so minute that their food supply is negligible. If they are out looking for food that means they are out cleaning your tank vs. sitting on their fat ass

 

If I was you and would run both blue and white LEDs on the same schedule. Ten to twelve hours is the norm.

[peasofme]

feed according to their care instructions. most fish need to be fed 2+ times a day.

[duderubble]

every other day for feeding. I use an 8 hour light schedule. If I was doing a two part I would do 7 hours main with a 2 hour bracket on each side.

[RustyRocket]

ok yeh here is where it gets confusing...i dont no how much to give it...some say few times everyday, some say few times every week. bt im guessing igotreefermadness does make a fair point. Cos tbh, wen i feed its suppose to be however much the fish would eat for 2 or 3 minutes, so i dump food in. or is that a wrong method? cos if i dump some in they eat, then i dump some more they still eat, at the end of the 3 minutes im like dumping a spoonful of flakes in and 2 clowns manages to demolish everything...

 

now you say 12 hour days and 8 hour days, is that depending on the intensity or what? cos i have a fuzzy mushroom and hes near the top of the tank, well buecause his LR is there...and hes grown tonnes!!! but my zoos at the bottom of the tank seems to be losing color... and just going brown, what should i go with?

[peasofme]

you should feed as much as they will eat

[duderubble]

1/8- 1/4 tsp. every other day, in myopinion. As for your light, I don't know what your brightness or depth of penetration is. But longer photopreriods with insufficient light won't help your corals if they have insufficient light even though it will encourage nuisance algae.

[altolamprologus]

The best advice I can give you for feeding is to keep it as natural as possible. In the wild, there are 2 plankton surges a day (morning and night) plus fish find small morsels of food all day. So optimally, you should be feeding small amounts a few times a day. If you can't manage that, 1-2 feedings a day is ok. People mistake low nutrient waters around reefs as low-food waters, when in fact reefs go through a crapton of food daily (and even that is a gross understatement). Tanks also have a tendency to "acclimate" to the conditions you keep them at and if you feed consistently, your tank should build up the necessary mirobes and micro-fauna to remain balanced. If you continue to have nutrient problems, you can increase water changes (20% a week is a good start) and run something to remove the nutrients, like purigen.

 

 

edit: I also noticed you said youhave 2 clowns, but you don't say how big they are or what size tank you have. You may be overstocked.

 

And for light: 12 hours a day is optimum, but until your algae subsides, 8 hours a day is fine.

[mmcguffi]

feed according to their care instructions. most fish need to be fed 2+ times a day.

ummm... I feed my tank ~2x a month. maybe.

 

2 clowns, cleaner shrimp, NPS gorg, LPS, SPS, and softies

 

you should feed as much as they will eat

probably not a good course of action. this is what caused the 'trates to rise in the first place

[altolamprologus]

ummm... I feed my tank ~2x a month. maybe.

 

2 clowns, cleaner shrimp, NPS gorg, LPS, SPS, and softies

Your tank is very well established though right? I believe this guy's tank is fairly new so he doesn't have the natural populations of micro-fauna to sustain the fish. I must say, however, that it is awesome your tank gets natural food; this is something every reefer should strive to do.

[RustyRocket]

oh yeah...lols i really should be more specific shouldnt i,

 

ok my tank, its the fluval edge 6 gallons, atm it house 2 juvenile clowns (1 inch and 1.2inch)

ive been told im overstocking and should remove, i shall wen the clowns get bigger.

 

in terms of CUC, i have 4 scarlet hermits, 2 narsauius snails, 2 astras snails, 1 urchin, 1 cleaner shrimp

 

also 1 pom pom crab and 1 hitch hiker crab.

 

yeah...well ive been told im over stocked and tbh im not having much problem so far apart from lack of knowledge, there is algae bloom 10% water change every 3 to 4 days sorted that out. so atm its algae clean apart from some hair algae and those hard to reach places.

 

i see my narsaurius snails always wondering around....so i thought they looked hungry...

 

my feeding so far, i feed around a teaspoon full each session, its a small hard flake that is too big for the clowns mouth, so most of the time they end up chewing until the food softens up and the cleaner shrimp gets the missed food, so i keep feeding droping bout 3 to 4 flakes at a time, and majority of the food goes to the clowns and shrimp, havent seen any on the floor...unless i feed frozen, then the frozen goes EVERYWHERE and i cnt stop it... do you guys turn the pump off first?

[mmcguffi]

when I do the frozen stuff I usually shut em off