Is frozen food higher in nutrients?

[Sophie"s mom]

Good morning everyone! So I went out of town for 5 days. I usually feed frozen at night, but while gone, things were on auto, so flake food only. Usually I need to clean the glass every other day. But when I got home after 5 days, the glass was not too bad, where I expected it to be horrible. So the only thing different, is the lack of frozen food. Does anyone know anything about this? Of have a similar experience?

 

[MoshJosh]

Do you normally feed both flake and frozen? Or exclusively frozen?

I don’t have any hard evidence but I venture to guess the answer is no, at least in terms of nutrients per relative volume (lots of water in frozen food), though I image people are feeding these types of food at relatively different volumes anyway. . . Anecdotally, I feed exclusively frozen and my nutrients are usually ultra low. . . But I do clean my glass a lot so maybe there is more to the equation than just nutrient density of the food?

 

[Lasse]

Which colour do you get by the microorganisms that normally attach to your windows?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[VintageReefer]

I fed fish almost exclusively frozen or refrigerated food (copepods) and switched to a freeze dry food in an auto feeder and in a week my phosphate went from .05 to .98

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Do you normally feed both flake and frozen? Or exclusively frozen?

I don’t have any hard evidence but I venture to guess the answer is no, at least in terms of nutrients per relative volume (lots of water in frozen food), though I image people are feeding these types of food at relatively different volumes anyway. . . Anecdotally, I feed exclusively frozen and my nutrients are usually ultra low. . . But I do clean my glass a lot so maybe there is more to the equation than just nutrient density of the food?

Thank you for the reply! I usually feed Ocean Nutrition formula two flake in the morning and a mixture of frozen in the evening. And I couldn’t help but notice how much clearer the glass stayed with just flake. So just curious as to why. I will of course keep up the frozen no matter cuz my fish LOVE IT. I am curious to see if anyone else has had this experience, or may know.

 

[Lasse]

You did not answer the question of the colour the growth have when you only feed with frozen compared with only dry. The normal is that dry food content (per weight) around 7-10 times more nutrients compared with frozen - 1 g dry content around 7-10 time more than 1 gr frozen. IME if nutrients is low - the microbial film on the glass leans towards the brown side and grows much faster than the green film which is usually the result of a slightly higher nutritional value.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Sophie"s mom]

You did not answer the question of the colour the growth have when you only feed with frozen compared with only dry. The normal is that dry food content (per weight) around 7-10 times more nutrients compared with frozen - 1 g dry content around 7-10 time more than 1 gr frozen. IME if nutrients is low - the microbial film on the glass leans towards the brown side and grows much faster than the green film which is usually the result of a slightly higher nutritional value.

Sincerely Lasse

Sorry, I am just now seeing your question of color. I usually get a little of the green, mixed with a bit more of the reddish brown.

 

[Lasse]

Was it more green after the "only flake food" event?

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Sophie"s mom]

No, actually the opposite. But it was very little. I don’t know if my snails just did a better job than normal or what.

 

[Lasse]

Interesting. In my case I have noted sometimes that it will be more green and slow growing if PO4 is higher. This contradict that theory a little.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[VintageReefer]

In my experience brown film algae is high nutrient water. Green film algae is lower nutrient

 

[MissMolly]

In my experience brown film algae is high nutrient water. Green film algae is lower nutrient

I run a very high nutrition well fed tank, and when I scrape the glass it's light brown algae that comes off. I have never had green.

 

[Lasse]

Not in my aquarium - my PO4 is above 1 mg/L (yes 1 mg/L) and the film is slow growing and green. When it was around 0.05 - the film was brown and fast growing (NO3 around 2-3)

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Interesting. In my case I have noted sometimes that it will be more green and slow growing if PO4 is higher. This contradict that theory a little.

Sincerely Lasse

My PO4 usually stays around.03 to .05. I will test everything today and let you know what I find.

 

[MissMolly]

Not in my aquarium - my PO4 is above 1 mg/L (yes 1 mg/L) and the film is slow growing and green. When it was around 0.05 - the film was brown and fast growing (NO3 around 2-3)

Sincerely Lasse

Hmm. My NO3 is around 25-30 at all times. I don't test my PO4 since I don't have any corals yet and never really had an algae problem (not even uglies when I started, only a little brown film on my glasss that I scrape off once a week) but my guess is that my phospate is high since I really do feed heavily three times a day and all them fishes are super fat

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good morning everyone! So I went out of town for 5 days. I usually feed frozen at night, but while gone, things were on auto, so flake food only. Usually I need to clean the glass every other day. But when I got home after 5 days, the glass was not too bad, where I expected it to be horrible. So the only thing different, is the lack of frozen food. Does anyone know anything about this? Of have a similar experience?

Most foods have their own nutritional analysis and balance. I feel frozen is more natural with added vitamins and aminos as I feed a variety to my fish

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

In my experience brown film algae is high nutrient water. Green film algae is lower nutrient

Thats so interesting, I've always honestly thought the complete opposite. I'll try to find some reading about that

 

[Lasse]

Thats so interesting, I've always honestly thought the complete opposite. I'll try to find some reading about that

Its logical because the brown film many times consists of diatoms. Diatoms are known to be able to utilize very low PO4 concentrations and become outcompeted when PO4 is higher. And that is what I have seen in my aquarias.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Most foods have their own nutritional analysis and balance. I feel frozen is more natural with added vitamins and aminos as I feed a variety to my fish

Thank you for commenting on this. I am seriously considering once all my flakes are gone, switching to just frozen. Currently, for frozen I take several different cubes, thaw them in RO water, add Selcon, then put in the fridge. That lasts 2 or 3 days, with just evening feeding of frozen.