Feeding Inverts Frozen Food - How to keep it on the bottom?

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waitwut

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I have a fairly new tank (4 months old) that I've currently stocked with inverts and hardy soft corals only - no fish yet. My intent is to put most or all of my inverts into the tank before I start adding fish to reduce the need to quarantine new inverts / the duration of their quarantine as has been suggested in a few places on this forum.

I have plenty of algae going on (definitely in the ugly phase) but I still need to supplementally feed - I also have peppermint shrimp, nassarius snails and hermit crabs that need meaty foods. I've bought frozen food - cubes of mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, etc - but I find that when I add them to the tank (adding them to the bottom, not just dumping them in the water), even with the circulation off, they all float around and don't get eaten. The feeding pause ends and with no fish to clean it up they end up in my filtration or stuck somewhere else to rot (or I have to fish them out myself).

Anyone have any neat solutions for keeping the food down on the bottom of the tank? I tried putting it in a jar on its side in the sand which helped a bit but my shrimp are wary of going near it as they think it's a trap and it did still float away fairly quickly.

Alternatively, should I just give up on the small frozen food and drop half a clam in there or something?

EDIT: Should mention that I'm already feeding Formula One + Two sinking pellets which are great, I just want to supplement that with frozen food.
 
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LordofCinder

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when you "add them to the bottom", I assume you are thawing the frozen in rodi water, then use a baster to add it to the bottom? If this is what you do, then use saltwater from the tank to thaw the frozen. Rodi water 'lighter' or 'less dense' than saltwater, so it rises at first until it gets mixed into the saltwater. Use saltwater and the food won't rise anymore and will stay on the bottom.
 
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