how much should I feed 75 gallon mixed reef?

[rwb500]

I have a 75 gallon mixed reef. I think I don't feed enough, so there's not enough nutrients in the water for the corals.

How much do you feed your tank? Would it be crazy for me to feed 3 cubes of frozen food per day? I switch between many different frozen foods so don't worry about specifics.

I have been feeding one-cube per day (and often skipping days) for about a year. Then I went on vacation and the tank got grossly overfed by the auto feeder (with huge piles of rotting pellets in my sump!) and the corals looked better than ever :lmao:

I run GFO, have a nice skimmer, lots of live rock, and just added some chaeto as well (as preparation for my increased feedings).

thanks! let me know how your feeding amounts would scale to my 75g reef.


edit-i have a pair of melanurus wrasses, 6 small ocellaris (siblings, will split up when the time comes), and a small bristletooth tang. could definitely eat 3 cubes per day if i split it up.

[sirreal63]

I feed more but it depends on what you feed and how well your tank processes it. I have three small fish, a medium yellow tang and a medium mono and feed the equivalent of about 5-6 cubes of frozen usually every other day. I spread it out over the course of the day from 1:00 to 8:00 so that just a teaspoon at a time enters the tank. I feed my own mix and of that about a 1/4 of is finely pureed seafood and the rest is chopped into bite size pieces. The puree is for the corals and the chopped bits for the fish.

If you feed more, spread it out over a longer period so that it is all eaten and ramp it up slowly so the tank's processing ability can catch up with it. Watch your parameters and how much is left uneaten at a time.

[sirreal63]

Oh, I have about 120 gallons twv.

[rwb500]

thanks! making my own food is definitely on my list of things to do. I really like your idea of 1/4 pureed, 3/4 bite size.

any other opinions?