WTB frozen DIY food

Any food you feed will eventually break down to nitrates from consumption. All life contains phosphate in one form or another within the cellular structure, the only thing you can do is avoid adding anything with excess P. I've had good luck with the DIY food.

Putting the food in a net in front of a power head will make it difficult for the fish to get at the food as the net would scare them, and if they were used to it and it didn't scare them, they would be forced to swim in and out of the net and flow. I would not do this. Just take a chunk and hold it under the surface and they will come. Especially once they get used to the food - they will rush to the surface when you approach.

 

Also I should note that the DIY Food event was an official regional event, and if you want to buy some of the food, you really should become a member because it's considered a member benefit, and if you wanted to attend the event or had inquired about it prior to the event, you would have had to become a member to get any bags. I think that anyone willing to part with a bag or two would want to know that you are a member also, because it's quite a bit of work to make this stuff /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default//emoticons/smile.gif

If anyone wants to sell you their food, that is their prerogative I suppose, but there were no extra bags left over.

 

What I'm envisioning is that if the powerhead is pushing water through the net, and the fish have to swim directly into the flow stream of the power head, they're going to have to dart in and out of that stream in order to get to the food. They also might get pushed into the net in the process, and some fish can get snagged.

I guess I should ask the question though, why do you feel that placing the food in a net is necessary? Are you trying to keep the food from going right down the overflow before the fish get to it?

Sent you a PM as well

 

I know now everyone can do it, but a lot of people use a simple controller with a "feed" cycle that shuts the return pump off for 10 minutes during feeding to minimize overflow waste.

Feeding the "right" amount can help too. But inevitably it all ends up as waste, and you can't control everything. Keeping tank parameters stable over the long term is more important, IMO. That includes not moving rocks or changing flow patterns.

Your ideas might change after using the DIY food, once you figure out the right amount, and the fish get used to having it, they might eat most of what you give them within a few minutes and settled food will not be as much of a problem.

Also having an adequate clean-up crew will take care of settled food. IMO you don't need a big crew, just an adequate one.