kriswaters Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 I just had an eye opening expierence. I want to thank Travis from Upscales a ton for helping me figure this out. I have had a heck of a time with Algae. It has been mostly brown slime junk with a bit of hair algae. Now we all know that phosphates are the key to having or not having, and after testing my water coming out of the RO/DI and having zero, and after testing my WC water and having zero, I was at a loss. Today I found the answer....pellet food. The test (done right before my eyes) proved it all! 10-12 pellets shot the phosphates way up! Imagine feeding that daily or every other day! No wonder my tank is slimed! I have since tossed all of the "processed" food, pellets, flakes etc, and have switched to cyclopeeze. I will keep you updated on the process. I also replaced my clowns that I lost back in december and bought a fox face and a duncan head! It was a merry (belated) christmas for me! Kris 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted January 24, 2009 Share Posted January 24, 2009 Very nice! if you can feed the duncan, it will make it grow really fast. I had two heads of duncan a few months ago. Once I started feeding them, each one started growing 4 baby heads from the base. Now I have 10 heads of duncan!!! I just gotta let them grow out so they can be chopped up dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriswaters Posted January 24, 2009 Author Share Posted January 24, 2009 I already target feed the sun corals and the anemone (yes the RBTA that we force split at your place) twice a week. I will add the duncan on the list! Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 rbta like silversides Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I love feeding my duncan's. They will even take Krill, and after feeding them that a few times I saw some pretty decent changes. I don't know if they grew but they started opening twice as large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Hey Kris, what pellets did you test for phosphates? I feel my clowns Ora-Glo sometimes!! yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Hey Kris, what pellets did you test for phosphates? I would like to know also! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriswaters Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 Blaine-the rbta gets silver sides once to twice bi-weekly. Mark-we tested the hikari marine-s. I was informed that phosphate are used as a binder in most flake and pellet food. Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I'm going to go test my pellets...back in a few Update: WOW....my Ora-GLo pellets that I feed my clowns from time to time are LOADED with Phosphates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 What kinda test did you two use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Just curious, what happens when you test a decent frozen food? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadReefer Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Until I see a pest algae problem, I'll still use pellets. I do believe that frozen is best, and it's best to let them thaw on a paper towel before use, but it's not as easy as pellets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I just used an el-cheapo API kit....as my api kits run out I am replacing them with Elos. I will test some good quality frozen food tomorrow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowman Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 You also have to watch some frozen foods. The preservatives used in some of them are a phosphate. I always soak my food in fresh ro/di water before feeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreenthumb Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 Phosphates are even in pe mysis, there is no real getting around it they are in any and all foods. Some definitely have more than others though. Get a phosphate reactor and solve the problem, they are relatively inexpensive but extremely valuable for the function they preform. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriswaters Posted January 25, 2009 Author Share Posted January 25, 2009 True that phosphates are found in a variety of foods. It is a common binder. I soak all of my frozen food in RO/DI water then siphon out the thaw. I am not sure of the actual test that Travis used but it looked like an Elos. Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I alwasy de-thaw my frozen in RO/DI water. Hopefully that dilutes down the phosphates enough to make them negligable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 I'm just the opposite -- I use the thaw-broth to stimulate feeding responses from my LPS... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 25, 2009 Share Posted January 25, 2009 So if I only feed enough pellets for my fish to suck up immediately, will this be a problem? My orange spot goby is a cow and comes right out and catches the pellets on their way down to the bottom. Do they release enough phosphate into the water that I may have an issue in the short time they're in there before being hoovered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 If you defrost frozen onto paper towel how do you get the brine\mysis shrimp off? they are hard to see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAVES Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Everything has phosphates in it as far as food, but certainly some have alot more than others. It comes from reactor media, food, water (non RODI) and dead stuff like snails or whatever might have died in your tank. Keep in mind too, just because your tank doesnt show phosphates in a test kit, thats simply because the algae is consuming it. If you have an algae problem, you have a phosphate problem, there is pretty much no way around it. Algae must have phosphates (I think bubble algae would be the only exception, as it needs very little phos) to grow, so if you have algae growth, you have phosphates. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriswaters Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 So if I only feed enough pellets for my fish to suck up immediately' date=' will this be a problem? My orange spot goby is a cow and comes right out and catches the pellets on their way down to the bottom. Do they release enough phosphate into the water that I may have an issue in the short time they're in there before being hoovered?[/quote'] Fish can't metabolize phosphates...the just shoot them out in waste! A portion of the phosphates still end up in the water column. Kris PS...I have a serious algae problem but hope to watch that go away. I just redirected my flow and the foxface is munching away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 go foxface go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barelycuda Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Thanks Kris. I want to go test some of my foods now. I go through approx 2 kilo of dry foods a month in the clown house. Will let you know the outcome. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriswaters Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 More info I am still working on this whole thing about phosphates. I was at Waves to day and Joel and I tested a few things as well. He makes a valid argument that phosphates are present in nearly every type of protein food out there...the question is the concentration. Now true that it may be, using a small container used to test the sample, houses a large amount of food, and this will in fact cause the phosphates to show up quickly and in large amounts. Yet does that same sample in 75 or 100 gallons produce the same amount of phosphates? Perphaps not as instantaneously, but over time...I believe what you feed will make an impact. Both the cyclopeeze and the mysis shrimp tested had very little phosphates in the "control" test (the same small container) as the pellets and the flakes. Regardless of the "volume" tested...to me it shows a higher concentration of phosphates. What does this all mean? Food can be problematic...no matter what. Some is worse then others, but I feel that I have seen proof enough that flake and pellets are not for me. Joel also mentioned, as did Travis and mrgreenthumb (and countless others I am sure) that the sure fire way to control phosphates was through a reactor. Joel also discussed the importance of filtration. Your RO/DI unit is only as good as its filters and of its overall output! I will now start researching DIY reactors, as I can only control a percentage of my water quality, a reactor will help with that I can't control. Kris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.