How much food is too much?

[optical]

ok. i have a 90gal tank. and 7 fish all medium to small size. i feed them twice a day with about a tsp of mysis and a drop of garlic extreme. every other day i feed one tsp of mysis and a piece of sprungs green seaweed. sometimes i'll feed some pellets in between. they usually eat everything in a few minutes.
is that too much? could this be the reason i keep getting that nasty maroon algae on my substrate because of high phosphates? everyone tells me different advice at my LFS.

dumb question #2- my green carpet anemone fell behind the rockwork at the back of the tank a few days ago. can he move out of that spot if hes not comfortable there-he gets no light, or do i have to move him?
sheesh!

[James]

I have a 50gal with 7 fish in it, and i feed them once a day. It really all depends on what kind of fish you have, their size, and what your feeding them. Everyone has different tanks, fish, and setups (hence the differing advice your getting).
Ideally you want to feed small portions 3 times a day, but most of us don't have the free time to do that. "General" rule of thumb, is to feed only enough food they can consume in about 1 minute.
The garlic extreme your feeding really has no benefit to it, usually its used to attract fish to food, when feeding a new brand or kind of food, to get them used to eating it.

If your wondering about your phosphates, you can buy test kits. Keep in mind that feedings are only one way phosphates enter you tank. If your using tap water to top off or to do your water changes, and what kind of filtration are you running?, these are other ways they build up.

Buy a phosphate test kit and check it, if it reads high phosphates, then here are some things you can try.
1) cut back on the portions of food.
2) check that your skimmer (if you have one) is operating properly. most models you can adjust to skim more or less.
3) do more frequent water changes (once a week).

I noticed that you said "a tsp of mysis". Fozen or live, the water they come in is very high in phosphates. Try to filter out the water before you add them to your tank.

Try to give us more info on your filtration system, this will help us help you.

As for your carpet anemone, i would try get it out from back there. Most anemone can move about by themselves, but Carpet anemones are very slow if they move at all and may die of starvation before long, ( be carefull!, most carpet anemones pack quite a punch when they sting).

[BubbaWPB]

I agree, that how often you feed is dependent on the type of fish you have (some fish like anthias need to eat several times a day - other fish do well with twice a week feeding). It's my personal opinion that feeding up to three times a day is not too often - the problem with feeding often is feeding too much at each "meal".

The amount you feed varies with the type and number of your fish, too... but a good rule of thumb.... if you're growing Cyanobacter all over your substrate, you're feeding too much. Cut back on the amount. Rinsing some of the frozen foods helps with phosphates, too, but will not compensate for overfeeding.

[optical]

thanks for the advice guys!

as far as the filtration...i use live rock (130lbs.) as my main filter device. the intake flows to the sump through the overflow and into a micro filter bag with no carbon or anything. i usually clean it about once a week. the skimmer is in the sump too, and basically it just gets pumped back up to the tank. really simple. water is crystal clear besides the cyano on the substrate. i do a 10 gal ro/di water change a week.
do you think this is sufficient enough filtration? seems to be goin good since october when i started it up.
i also drain the excess liquid from the frozen mysis before i feed it.
i was using the garlic because some of the fish had ich and finrot and cloudy eyes, but their much healthier now, i just use it because i heard it may help prevent it again.
i'll try and feed half tsp twice a day instead of once, and see what happens.
i think i might wait a few more days and see if the anemone moves into a better spot, if he doesnt, i guess i'll have to dismantle the whole reef to move em. thats gonna suck!
i touched it before and he didnt sting, but a buddy of mine was stung on the wrist and he actually has a scar from it!
check my tank info for livestock.
Thanks for the info once again-that really helped.

[BubbaWPB]

Filtration sounds adequate... you might want to cut back on the total daily amount of food instead of just splitting it...

I hear those carpet anemones stick to your hands like bubble gum sticks to your shoe on a hot sidewalk....

[James]

OOOOO!!! I'm sorry we may have misdiagnosed your problem. Sounds like you have a cyano problem, not a brown algae problem. Cyano mostly appears in "dead spots" or in places where there is not enough water movement in your tank, though it is brought about initially by high phosphates.

The best way to get rid of Cyano is to syphon it out of your tank with an airline. Don't blow it around or off any live rock or any other place it may be, because it will just spread to other places in your tank and start to grow there. Then use "Chemi-clean" a product made by Boyd Enterprises to nuke any remaining cyano bacteria you may have missed. This stuff works great.

Keep in mind you need to be feeding your carpet anemone, if you leave it back behind your live rock, and it dies, its going to fowl your tank big time.

[showfish]

Your Cyano bacteria outbreak could also be caused by excessive nutrient buildup. Controlling algae is all about controlling nutrients. You may want to try an aggressive water change routine for a couple of weeks, this has worked for me several times effectively, and without having to add expensive chemicals. You might also cut back on the feedings, small portions just enough that the animals will consume within a minute or so. If you do use “Chemi Clean”, make sure you turn your skimmer off, or it will go nuts.

[optical]

that cyano is nasty stuff. in the am when the lights first go on, it looks like its dying off, then after only a few hours, it completely covers any substrate that light gets to (doesnt grow under rock ledges though).
sweet! i'll try the chemi clean - i already follow a really tight regiment of water changes.
thanks guys.