Frozen food choice and have you had any issues?

[Darkxerox]

Vote below with what frozen foods you currently feed then comment with more detail and if you've noticed you've had any fish or coral death after switching to a new brand or batch. I realize this is not super scientific, but we did seem to notice trends here in the past: https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/fed-rods-food-and-a-bunch-of-lps-died.38542/

Also comment on why you've landed with your current mix.

 

[Slingfox]

Bren Shrimp Direct. Their brine shrimp and mysis rinse out very clean and have the the same or lower level of particulates I have seen relative to the various other brands available in stores. Price also cannot be beat, albeit it has been a while since I did comparison shopping. I place an order once a year, usually during the winter months to reduce chance of shipping mishaps.

I also use TDO pellets but not much since frozen keeps nutrients lower more easily. Bloodworms from SF Bay are super clean—I use that once in a while for but may phase out due to cost (ie, mysis is cheaper). I only had the bloodworms around since I used it to train my Copperband. Have used LRS (still have some) but it has some large chunks which don’t always get eaten by the fish but is eventually consumers by the CUC. I also have frozen clams—I put one into the tank once a week for my Copperband.

 

[MichaelB]

Was super cheap from group buy.

I Feed mix of Roe, mysis, sometimes brine and baby Krill.

I've mostly only ever feed once a day.

I also feed reef nutrition phytofeast and oystersfeast for clams and the acros 1-2 times a week.

Mostly mysis just varries by what cubesmI decide to use that day.

I also feed tdo pellets/ mixed with some alage pellets (maybe only once a week, even though the fish are more crazy about tdo pellets than frozen)

I Strongly been wanting to try out the vitals food based on recommendations from youtubers. Though I never got the nerve to pay for the shipping.

 

[MichaelB]

Bren Shrimp Direct. Their brine shrimp and mysis rinse out very clean and have the the same or lower level of particulates I have seen relative to the various other brands available in stores. Price also cannot be beat, albeit it has been a while since I did comparison shopping. I place an order once a year, usually during the winter months to reduce chance of shipping mishaps.

You risne food out?
I just thaw in tank water and use squeeze thing for different tanks.

 

[Slingfox]

You risne food out?
I just thaw in tank water and use squeeze thing for different tanks.

I have been rinsing my food for the last 1.5 years. I did so because I was dealing with a massive outbreak of vermitids and wanted to reduce particulates in the water. Eventually I starved out the vermitids (primarily via using DIY coral snow daily and shifting from less pellets to rinsed frozen). I will likely stop rinsing my frozen soon since I plan to switch to the AF4 frozen fish feeder so I travel for work a decent amount.

If you feed by hand then rinsing the frozen is not a bad idea. Very easy to do (I use a small handheld fine mesh strainer) The rinse off is high is phosphates (dissolve some cubes in RODI and test the phosphate levels). If you have high phosphate issues then rinsing can help. I have pretty low nutrient levels currently so that isn’t a concern for now. That said, I used to have very high phosphates (ie, above 1.0 ppm during my first year in the hobby).

For reference, I feed per day: 3.5 cubes of frozen, one sheet of nori, and three small feedings of TDO pellets. Also one clam a week and one cube of bloodworms to a scoly (split into two feedings). I have a 110 gallon display tank (125 gallln total system volume) and my phosphates are 0.04ppm and nitrates at 2.7ppm. I have a low coral load since I did a tank reset two months ago (replaced all of the rockscape and removed most of the old coral). Total biomass of my coral, including skeleton, could easily fit in a half gallon container—maybe even in a quart sized container. My fish are full bodied but the nutrients low. I was dosing ammonia for a bit when my nitrates became undetectable.

 

[MichaelB]

I have been rinsing my food for the last 1.5 years. I did so because I was dealing with a massive outbreak of vermitids and wanted to reduce particulates in the water. Eventually I starved out the vermitids (primarily via using DIY coral snow daily and shifting from less pellets to rinsed frozen). I will likely stop rinsing my frozen soon since I plan to switch to the AF4 frozen fish feeder so I travel for work a decent amount.

If you feed by hand then rinsing the frozen is not a bad idea. Very easy to do (I use a small handheld fine mesh strainer) The rinse off is high is phosphates (dissolve some cubes in RODI and test the phosphate levels). If you have high phosphate issues then rinsing can help. I have pretty low nutrient levels currently so that isn’t a concern for now. That said, I used to have very high phosphates (ie, above 1.0 ppm during my first year in the hobby).

For reference, I feed per day: 3.5 cubes of frozen, one sheet of nori, and three small feedings of TDO pellets. Also one clam a week and one cube of bloodworms to a scoly (split into two feedings). I have a 110 gallon display tank (125 gallln total system volume) and my phosphates are 0.04ppm and nitrates at 2.7ppm. I have a low coral load since I did a tank reset two months ago (replaced all of the rockscape and removed most of the old coral). Total biomass of my coral, including skeleton, could easily fit in a half gallon container—maybe even in a quart sized container. My fish are full bodied but the nutrients low. I was dosing ammonia for a bit when my nitrates became undetectable.

Do u rinse with rodi or tank water?
A small metal strainer? Not a issue with saltwater

or would something like this be more ideal didn't see any smaller ones in a quick search.

I mainly feed once to keep po4 down so I will consider it.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

ALL of the above feeds are used!
No one food has all nutritional ingredients and IF it did, and you were unable to acquire it.
Therefore I feed a mix of ALL of them
A cube of each plus a finger worth of each of the various flats into each f the squirt bottles
This does not include the various flakes and pellets I feed too

 

[Slingfox]

Do u rinse with rodi or tank water?
A small metal strainer? Not a issue with saltwater

I mainly feed once to keep po4 down so I will consider it.

I use a chemical wash bottle filled with RODI. That way you don’t have to deal with salt creep:

Amazon.com

I currently use a metal strainer but may switch to plastic since the metal strainer is rusting a bit.

I don’t believe the rinsing has a huge impact on phosphates but is helpful. I mostly use rinsing now to quickly thaw out the frozen food.

Frozen food and phosphates

Does anyone defrost their frozen food cubes in tank water and store in the fridge? I place 2 days worth of food (krill, mysis, brine, Copepods and fish eggs) into a small tomato ketchup bottle and then half it during feeding time. If so do you sieve the food to get rid of the waste water. I’ve...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[psidriven]

was mostly rods but it seems to fuel vermitid explosion so switched to hikari mysis which seems to reduce vermitid. I’ll try rinsing like @Slingfox , thanks for the idea.

 

[Alexander1312]

Same - I rinse various types of LRS food (4 types), plus PE Mysis, with RODI, then soak the rinsed food in selcon, FM Food energizer, and Captiv8 garlic for at least 15 minutes.

My vermetid snails love that stuff.

I do not believe rinsing LRS food matters at all. I test my nutrients weekly and when I started rinsing the food nothing has changed/improved. Still, I do it mainly because I can feed it quicker.

Also, I think LRS is better than rods food, but I have never tried it myself. Purely my impression when preparing both rods and LRS and feeding it.

CORRECTION - I am feeding PE Mysis, not Hikari Mysis.

 

[FinalPhaze987]

I use Rods when I need to get my PO4 up. It's been a while, but still have it. The chunky pieces go to my nems, although I have experienced issues with that after using the herbivore blend.

I feed my CBB daily with piscine mysis. Drop in a chunk to a feeding cup and let it thaw in tank. He usually sees it coming and picks at it still frozen. The AF4 is looking real attractive right about now, since I can't get him to switch to freeze dried.

 

[Slingfox]

I use Rods when I need to get my PO4 up. It's been a while, but still have it. The chunky pieces go to my nems, although I have experienced issues with that after using the herbivore blend.

I feed my CBB daily with piscine mysis. Drop in a chunk to a feeding cup and let it thaw in tank. He usually sees it coming and picks at it still frozen. The AF4 is looking real attractive right about now, since I can't get him to switch to freeze dried.

I got a Copperband two moths ago. He eats really well. I previously just let my fish feed on pellets while I was away (sometimes for 1-2 weeks at a time). With the Copperband I am going to get the AF4 to help reduce the risk of the fish getting stressed. Several fish don’t compete well for the pellets due to how aggressive some of the fish are (ie, the chromis in particular ensure all food of any sort is consumed quickly).

 

[FinalPhaze987]

I got a Copperband two moths ago. He eats really well. I previously just let my fish feed on pellets while I was away (sometimes for 1-2 weeks at a time). With the Copperband I am going to get the AF4 to help reduce the risk of the fish getting stressed. Several fish don’t compete well for the pellets due to how aggressive some of the fish are (ie, the chromis in particular ensure all food of any sort is consumed quickly).

My CBB is in a tank full of greedy A holes. Anthias and a couple tangs make short work of anything that goes through the feeders, so my window of feeding the CBB is fairly slim and when the others are already stuffed.

Hopefully the price on the AF4 drops tomorrow.