Feeding and Overflows

[reeefraf]

I usually feed sinking food, like pellets. Lately I have been feeding more diverse foods like flakes and cyclopsese. My fish gooble these things up, but whatever they dont get in the first 20 seconds goes straight down the overflow and into my sump. Even when I feed tiny amounts then wait, a large portion go in the overflow.

What the trick to feeding foods that float on the top so they dont all just flow into the overflow.

Thanks

[Hal]

For foods that float, I always pinch it between my fingers and submerge the food an inch or two, then open up my fingers. This gets the food floating in the water column. Some will still get sucked into the overflow, but it's a lot less than if you just drop it onto the water's surface.

Some people shut off their pumps at feeding time. I think this is too much effort. I rationalize it that most of whatever goes into my sump will get shot back into the tank via the recirc pump anyway.

[LobsterOfJustice]

For flakes, put the pinch below the surface. You should do this anyway as a lot of saltwater fish wont eat off the surface as that is not where they usually find food. Sounds like the cyclopeeze is freeze dried, in which case you can soak it in some water, or switch to the frozen version.

[maynardjames]

mine eat it so fast nothing makes it to overflow! a very small amount if any, not enough where im wasting food or anything

[theyammieguy]

I shut off my pump and powerhead. My palys enjoy the flakes that sink on top of them.

[brubinfeld]

get a controller this will make it easy to shut off the pumps for feeding time
reefkeeper lite starts from 99.00 and up

[ludnix]

I let my food go down the overflow. I have a shared sump with my frag tank so the food ends up in all of the tanks after a few minutes if it goes down the overflow. I don't use filter socks and my skimmer is unlikely to catch the food immediately so I do not worry about it getting filtered out too early.

[joesfiddy]

they have those floating rings that u put the food in that is what i use

[lordofthereef]

You can try soaking the food if it is dry. I usually feed with one of those oversized infant medicine droppers for this very reason. Turning off your return and letting the water drain into the sump to the point that no more is reaching the overflow is also an option, but I find that to be cumbersome.