Question about how much to feed a new tank

[peterat33rpm]

Hi all - I have a 32 gallon thats been running for about three months, and has been doing pretty well, except that I’ve basically never registered any nitrates or phos except for maybe 0.25 phos, but I don’t know that I trust the API kit (planning to get proper testers in the coming days or weeks).

I have a handful of lps/softies (Xenia, gsp, hammer, Duncan, candy cane, and a brain added yesterday) all of which seem to be doing well (read: not dying). I’ve read lots of things saying “feed more” to get some nitrates and phos but my question is how much food should I actually expect to feed? I bumped from daily to twice a day, and I do a (what I think is a) healthy pinch of flakes and some frozen mysis shrimp (though it takes me several days to get through a cube to give an idea of how much). Should i do like, a quarter of a cube a day? More? I’d like to get to a more desirable level of nitrates of 10 or so. I guess the other question would be should I even chase these numbers if I’m not having outbreaks of dinos or cyano or anything, and the coral is doing ok. Attached some pics of the tank just for fun. Thanks for any advice!

 

[TehBrainz]

I wouldn't change anything in your feeding habits until you get reliable test kits (which you've already stated)

Get those, test, and then enjoy the tank. I wouldn't try to elevate parameters if everything is happy at this point. Your tank is young still so it'll go through it's various maturing stages over the next 8-10 months and needs stability from you

 

[peterat33rpm]

Sounds reasonable, thanks!

 

[Uncle99]

Hi all - I have a 32 gallon thats been running for about three months, and has been doing pretty well, except that I’ve basically never registered any nitrates or phos except for maybe 0.25 phos, but I don’t know that I trust the API kit (planning to get proper testers in the coming days or weeks).

I have a handful of lps/softies (Xenia, gsp, hammer, Duncan, candy cane, and a brain added yesterday) all of which seem to be doing well (read: not dying). I’ve read lots of things saying “feed more” to get some nitrates and phos but my question is how much food should I actually expect to feed? I bumped from daily to twice a day, and I do a (what I think is a) healthy pinch of flakes and some frozen mysis shrimp (though it takes me several days to get through a cube to give an idea of how much). Should i do like, a quarter of a cube a day? More? I’d like to get to a more desirable level of nitrates of 10 or so. I guess the other question would be should I even chase these numbers if I’m not having outbreaks of dinos or cyano or anything, and the coral is doing ok. Attached some pics of the tank just for fun. Thanks for any advice!

Would be faster to raise them to your desired levels with dosing. Increased food does work but takes time to affect the levels.

Or if phosphate is higher than the desired level bind it to some GFO in a reactor.

Without the Hanna, very very hard to get a good read.

I’ve ran anywhere in the .1ppm to .3ppm phosphate level with no green algae anywhere.

 

[TehBrainz]

Also, what is your bioload? I only saw 2 clowns in the pictures.

I started with 1/2 cubes when I only had a small handful of fish. I "overfeed" and do 2 cubes a day, plus some auto feeding of pellets (I'd recommend pellets over flake, personally)

 

[peterat33rpm]

Sorry thought I had included that but hadn’t - two clowns, a bengai, a firefish, handful of hermits and snails, and a strawberry conch. Sounds like you feed way more than I do maybe thats why I can’t register any nutrients. I have pellets as well but they’re a little too big for the mouths of my current fish which is why I had been doing flakes.

 

[TehBrainz]

Sorry thought I had included that but hadn’t - two clowns, a bengai, a firefish, handful of hermits and snails, and a strawberry conch. Sounds like you feed way more than I do maybe thats why I can’t register any nutrients. I have pellets as well but they’re a little too big for the mouths of my current fish which is why I had been doing flakes.

I also have a much larger bioload and tank lol

16 fish, two of which are 6 inches long and PHAT.

When I had about 4 or 5 smaller fish I was doing a half cube to a whole (depending on which cube was being fed)

Makes sense about the flakes. TDO pellets from Reef Nutrition is great pellet food and comes in various sizes you can choose from for your needs

 

[peterat33rpm]

Ok cool I’ll look into those. Thanks!