tankwater in food?

[blueboy]

sometimes when i am mixing together several different kinds of food i mix in a little tankwater to thaw the frozen faster, and dillute the food a little so i can feed smaller amounts more easilly. when i do this i generally have enough mix to last me a couple of days. so what i'm wondering is, could micrfauna in the tankwater be affecting the quality of the food by processing it into waste(at least partly) before i ever even put it in my tank? mabe this is being overly cautious, but just a thought i had the other day. :huh

[Reef69]

there is probably no micro fauna, since its just tank tank water, i do the same thing..in case there is any, it would probably die in the cup..

[GaryP]

I mix mine up with some zoecon and garlic added to the water.

Before feeding, I filter the water through a fine fish net so that I'm not adding a lot of extra nutrients to the tank. I usually make up several days worth at one time.

[captexas]

I also like to mix several frozen foods together like that, but do it with fresh RO/DI water instead of tank water. I figured that would be better as it sits in then fridge for a few days.

[GaryP]

I catually have 3 foods I make up.

1. Brine, mysids, bloodworms with garlic and zoecon in the salt water.

2. Krill to feed anemones and some macros.

3. Coral foos - cyclopeeze, daphnia, baby brine, oyster eggs

4. I also feed Tahitian blend (phytoplankton) but I make that up as I need it.

[brewercm]

I use RO/DI to thaw, but like Joshua I use all that I make at a time.

[DeletedAccount]

I mix lots together and use tank or RO/DI (whatever is handy) but I use it all. Always made me leery to store, plus it makes the milk taste like fish food. Yuck!

[dow]

Well, I use tank water to thaw it out in a styrofoam cup. Then I put what's left (usually about half a cup of food/water mix) in the freezer and feed the frozen plug the next day. Just knock it out of the cup int your hand, and drop it in the tank. As it melts, the fish feed. However, you might have problems with this method. I've only been testing it for about 2 years, :D :D

BTW, this is also a GREAT way to help people feed for you when you have to leave town. Just make up a bunch of plugs ahead of time, and label the cup with the day so they can't mess it up.

[Instar]

I use clean tank water to make it more fluid and I don't store it in the milk so milk taste is not an issue. I don't use RO/DI because the ionic difference will drain some of the nutrition from the food into the RO due to the osmotic potential created by that method and fill some of the food items with just water. On occassion that should be good for the fishes kindneys and liver to do that though.
I do keep the mixed/thawed food in the frig sometimes for several days in a tightly sealed tupperware thing. If I ever forget and leave it out, I throw it out. My clowns, tangs and copperbands seem to like it either fresh or stored. Never any garlic, sometimes selcon.

[CD]

I use a small plastic cup with tank water to thaw the frozen stuff. Feed half of what I mixed up in the morning (turkey baster), and put the other half in the 'fridge for the evening feeding. I don't filter the food through a fish net like GaryP does because I figured the filter feeders could enjoy it that way, plus I've been putting cyclop-eeze in the mix lately to feed the corals too, which would probably go right through the net. I was thinking that whatever the corals and fish don't scarf up would end up in skimmer anyway....should I not be doing this? :unsure

Wendy

[blueboy]

i don't drain mine either. figured it feeds the filter feeders too. anyway i haven't had any water quality issues so "if it aint broke"