How much to feed my tank

[guitareefs]

In all, I have two turbo snails and I just put a peppermint shrimp in.

I read somewhere on the forums that it's best to feed a new tank without livestock even if it's cycled. How much and how often do I feed?

Thanks

 

[DaveJ]

@guitareefs wrote:

Those should find plenty of food without feeding... snails will have plenty of algae and the shrimp will have plenty of LR to pick on. No need to feed the tank anything at this point.

 

[guitareefs]

I had read a post from Ashlar, I believe, and he told someone who had a newly cycled tank that even thought a tank is cycled, it's best to add bacteria by adding food before adding livestock.

Ring any bells on what he was suggesting?

Thanks

 

[DaveJ]

@guitareefs wrote:

Nope, you'd have to ask him. People cycle tanks with shrimp and such, but there is plenty of stuff dying off on LR to generate/feed bacteria and worms/pods etc. Sometimes people 'feed' their sandbeds when establishing a DSB after cycling, that may be what he was referring to. I've never done that though, I just my beds develop on their own and there is always plenty of 'crud' falling off the LR to feed the bed critters. I think the only time I would actually feed the bed would be in a refuge situation or if I was starting the bed without any LR over it.

I adhere to a low nutrient cycle to keep the algae down to a minimum... your going to get diatoms, hair algae, cyno and lord knows what other kinds over the next several months anyway so there will plenty for snails and shrimp to eat.

 

[BigJay]

@guitareefs wrote:

Ashlar suggested that to me, because my tank is still empty.

You have life in your setup. Those animals are eating and constantly producing waste that gets converted into Ammonia->Nitrite->Nitrate.

Mine doesn't have a constant source of ammonia, so he suggested that I add a little food to keep it going. I'm waiting another week or two before adding any livestock because I am not sure if my PH levels are stable enough yet to support life. I'll get a controller/data logger and PH probe setup this weekend and I'll start checking. If everything looks good, I'll add a cleanup crew at the end of next week.