rinsing frozen food????

[jfeva0049]

could someone help me out with this tip. i hear people say you should rinse your frozen food before putting into tank. this may sound dumb but how do you guys go about this. i feed my tank frozen food (many different kinds) and most are very small and are hard to separate from the original defrosting water. any advice to help with this? thanks.

[sirreal63]

Don't bother, you are not rinsing much of the po4 away. It is a hassle not worth it. Randy did an excellent article where he studied this and found it to be of little use.

[jfeva0049]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

Don't bother, you are not rinsing much of the po4 away. It is a hassle not worth it. Randy did an excellent article where he studied this and found it to be of little use.

oh ok very good to know, cause i have been unable to do so. i have tried a few ways but none really worked for me. i tried the double cup thing but it all ends up in the bottom cup anyways,lol.

[scarface70706]

grab a small shallow container, put some tank water in it, then use a net and put it over the container and push the middle of the net in water, then put your frozen cube of food and let it sit. when defrosted grab the net and there you go. rinsed frozen food. i do this every time when i feed my tank and its not a hassle at all imo. reason why i rinse mine is because i dont like the cloudy cr*p floating around when i feed.

[solitude127]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

Don't bother, you are not rinsing much of the po4 away. It is a hassle not worth it. Randy did an excellent article where he studied this and found it to be of little use.

Do you have a link to that article by chance?

[sirreal63]

I think this is it on my iPad and isn't always easy for an old geezer to operate, lol.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012...aign=clickthru

[aandfsoccr04]

One of the more experienced people commented on this one time a while back and said it's not worth your time. Therefore, I haven't done it in the past year and the tank is fine.

[solitude127]

Originally Posted by sirreal63

I think this is it on my iPad and isn't always easy for an old geezer to operate, lol.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012...aign=clickthru

Thank you for the link

[Chronicj7]

thaw in a cup, strain into brine shrimp net, rinse with tank water, add to tank.

But again, read the article and it states that rinsing is only removing about 1% of the phosphate from the frozen food.

[zvonmonet]

+1 on don't bother rinsing it out. Not much benefit from doing it.

[Allmost]

while randy's article is great, and points out some important facts, rinsing food still removes the preservatives and extra oils which kick skimmer off for hours if not rinsed.

it will also wash off the EXTRA po4 ... yes, the po4 in the water, is MUCH less than po4 in the food itself, BUT, the water po4 would just be added to tank for no reason, as where the po4 inside the shrimp or whatever is targeteed at feeding the fish that takes it ....

I rinse all my food, in a mesh net, rinse with RO/DI water till thawed. and then feed the tank.

[geaux xman]

i only rinse PE mysis.

[blackthunda77]

I rinse it in the regular green fish nets. The extra small one. I agree with Allmost, i can attest that if i dont rinse my skimmer will lose efficiency for a couple hours. When i rinse the food the skimmer doesn't miss a beat.

[Cryptoblennie]

water, coffee filter, tupperware. easy peasy.

[jfeva0049]

Originally Posted by Cryptoblennie

water, coffee filter, tupperware. easy peasy.

coffee filter.... good idea.

[jfeva0049]

i feed rofiers and coral food mix from time to time. the matter is so small that i dont believe anything can filter that stuff out, any ideas???

[Allmost]

Originally Posted by jfeva0049

i feed rofiers and coral food mix from time to time. the matter is so small that i dont believe anything can filter that stuff out, any ideas???

what I posted, was with regards to FISH FOOD.

not coral food.

coral foods include phyto for example, which would be a waste to wash off.

for rotifers, try the brine shrimp nets. from brineshrimpdirect.

[Subw00er]

I sort of disagree about not washing mysis. I cant see what good that extra fine particulate does for your system other than entice algae to grow. Unless you have a tank full of filter feeders or something, why add that extra nutrient?!

I used a coffee filter too, and still do once in a while. I cut about 1" off the big side of the filter, poke some TINY holes in it to aid in filtering larger stuff, and i wrap it over a specimen cup. Add water, wait a few minutes and its ready to go.

If I'm in a rush, I grab a little Rubbermaid container, put a cup of tank water in, dissolve it quickly, swish around, then pour as much water off as I can into the toilet.

That net idea seems good too - just keep the big stuff, but then isn't it all stuck in the net? I like to hand feed corals with a long pipette, I dont just dump it in.

[mwilliams62]

I use the coffee filter basket for the brine shrimp and mysis when rinsing.

[Bugger]

Have you ever used coral snow its been proven to grow corals faster. Its like a slury of these foods in a liquid state.

[SushiGirl]

I use the water to baste my corals, they love it. We have phosphates & nitrates, and no nuisance algae.

[sirreal63]

Originally Posted by SushiGirl

I use the water to baste my corals, they love it. We have phosphates & nitrates, and no nuisance algae.

I get a much better feeding response when I don't rinse, so I understand that. I stopped rinsing about a year or so ago. I enjoy the feeding frenzy in the tank.

[Subw00er]

mwilliams, are you talking one of those metal ones? Oh, thats a good idea.

FWIW, and to Sirreal's point, I do spit a little juice into the tank before shutting down the pumps and feeding so all the corals can get their tentacles out to feed.