Blending Coral Food

ReefsandGeeks · 02/09/2015, 08:47 AM

So I took my first stab at making DIY coral food yesterday. Got a hand full of shrimp, hand full of octopus tubes, a few oysters and a few clams and blended them together in my blender till it was a sticky mushy goo. Added in a little saltwater so it wasn't so think and put in bags to freeze into a few thin sheets, while keeping out a small dropper bottle full to feed with for now.

I went to feed with a syring, and the food is kind of chunky, much larger peices than the oyster feast I had used previously. not that I was expecting something as small as the oyster feast, but I would like smaller particals. Is there a good way I can make the particals smaller so I can more easily spot feed? The coral didn't seem to take this food as well as the oyster feast I have used. Should I just keep taking the frozen sheets and blend them again/ freeze, blend again...etc untill I get small enough particals?

Cabo2008 · 02/09/2015, 09:15 AM

When I used to make my own blended food I'd use one of those Magic Bullet blenders..........it cut everything up pretty darn small. Oh and I'd add in some cyclopeeze with the meaty bits too.

ReefsandGeeks · 02/09/2015, 11:04 AM

I don't have one of those blenders but I do have a nija blender, which is pretty powerful. How long do you blend for? I blended for about a minute or 90 seconds I think, then added some saltwater because it seemed to thick and blended again. I could dilute with more saltwater, don't know if that helps or not though. Maybe I just need to let it blend for a long time and see what happens. I just want to try to do it right because the blender is kinda large, so I realy cant blend less than about 16 oz or it woujn't blend right. even that is a bit low.

Pife · 02/09/2015, 12:04 PM

Don't blend for to long as you'll literally cook the food. Add Rodi and blend it runny.

ReefsandGeeks · 02/09/2015, 12:31 PM

Alright, I was planning on blending for a few minutes, then either refrigorating the mix for 30-60 minutes before blending again tso it doens't cook, or freeze in sheets and blend those sheets. Repeat unill acceptabley small. I'll probably have ot add a decent bit of RODI to get it runny. Right now my mix has the consistancy of a blended bannana. Smooth and thick like a smoothy.

Once I have it finished, can I break off a peice of the sheet and keep it thawed in my refrigorator for like a week at a time, or does it have to stay frozen and me thaw out one day's worth at a time?

FraggledRock · 02/09/2015, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devastator007

Alright, I was planning on blending for a few minutes, then either refrigorating the mix for 30-60 minutes before blending again tso it doens't cook, or freeze in sheets and blend those sheets. Repeat unill acceptabley small. I'll probably have ot add a decent bit of RODI to get it runny. Right now my mix has the consistancy of a blended bannana. Smooth and thick like a smoothy.

Once I have it finished, can I break off a peice of the sheet and keep it thawed in my refrigorator for like a week at a time, or does it have to stay frozen and me thaw out one day's worth at a time?

after about a week it starts to smell if not frozen....

i will withhold the details or comparisons, but its not easy on the nose.

ReefsandGeeks · 02/09/2015, 12:58 PM

alright, Maybe I'll thaw out like 3 or 4 days worth at a time to keep t good. or maybe I'll cut it into single serving sized squares and thaw one out just before lights out every time I feed. I could just pre-cut all of the sheets and have a baggie of small cubes ready to thaw. Probably wouldn't be too incomviniant that way. I didn't want to have to get out the knife and cutting board every time I go to feed the coral.

coralsnaked · 02/09/2015, 01:07 PM

infuse w small amounts of garlic oil to enhance the desirability to your fish. Also improves their immune system.

ReefsandGeeks · 02/09/2015, 01:30 PM

Alright, I have a bottle of garlic oil, I can add some of that. Any other sugestions to add? do the coral need any kind of plant matter? I have some frozen food for herbivors that I bought a few months ago that I never use because the peices after thawing are too small for my fish to eat. I could add those in. I'm mainly making the food for the coral. Right now I've been feeding the fish frozen mysis and pellets. Funny they seem to actualy perfer the pellets. My foxface who is a pig used to go nuts for thawed out mysis, but I had used an automaic feeder when I went on vacation and since then he doen't realy care about the mysis anymore, but loves the little pellets.

I also have some flake foor I can mix in, or some of the food pellets.

FraggledRock · 02/09/2015, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devastator007

Alright, I have a bottle of garlic oil, I can add some of that. Any other sugestions to add? do the coral need any kind of plant matter? I have some frozen food for herbivors that I bought a few months ago that I never use because the peices after thawing are too small for my fish to eat. I could add those in. I'm mainly making the food for the coral. Right now I've been feeding the fish frozen mysis and pellets. Funny they seem to actualy perfer the pellets. My foxface who is a pig used to go nuts for thawed out mysis, but I had used an automaic feeder when I went on vacation and since then he doen't realy care about the mysis anymore, but loves the little pellets.

I also have some flake foor I can mix in, or some of the food pellets.

not food garlic oil, but marine specific garlic extract.

probably the same ish, but the oil may contain something that can throw of your water chemistry.

ReefsandGeeks · 02/09/2015, 01:36 PM

yeah, should have clarified. It's the garlicguard from seachem. Does the garlic do anything for the coral, or is that more of a fish thing?

FraggledRock · 02/09/2015, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by devastator007

yeah, should have clarified. It's the garlicguard from seachem. Does the garlic do anything for the coral, or is that more of a fish thing?

It is believed it helps fish. It wont kill anything though lol

cloak · 02/09/2015, 01:56 PM

Check this out.

http://melevsreef.com/food.html

HTH.

ReefsandGeeks · 02/18/2015, 10:17 AM

I seem to have successfully blended food fine enough for SPS coral. It's a bit time consuming, but I think the results will be good. I'll have to give more time to see how the feeings affect the SPS and other coral, but they do eat it readily.

I started with the usual mix of fresh seafoods, a handful of shrimp, handful of squid tubes and tenticals, couple of clams, and an oyster. Put in blender and blended for a minute untill it was a thick mush. I tried mixing some with some tank water and feeding. Although it seemed to be a smooth much, upon putting in the aquarium it was actualy kinda chunky, with some peices barly able to get through my syringe. So I added some tank water to the blender as well as some guarlicguard and blended for another minute or so. Tryed putting some in a shotglas of water to see how it looked. A little better but still kinda chunky.

At this point I was getting discuraged that a blender just couldn't get food blended down to SPS size. I was looking for something comparable to the oyster feast I had used before. I froze what I had in thin sheets, and then once frozen, I blended them again with some more tank water added. I blended for about 5 minutes, monitoring the temp to make sure the much wasn't going to cook in the blender. Never got above 40 degrees. I tried feeding with this, thawed some more in tank water. Low and behold, it was a cloud of tiny food particals similar to oyster feast. All of my coral readily accepted it and looked good the next day. Feed again the next day and the same thing.

I've taken one sheet and cut it into easy to grab squares so at feeding time I can just open the freezer bag, grab a square or two, and add to a shotglass of some tank water. mix with my finger and it becomes a thicker liquid with no destinguishable particals to the touch. Suck it up and spot feed with my syringe. It would be easy to use if you're a broadcast feeder, as you could probably just put the frozen cube in the tank and let it thaw out and spread when it gets near the powerhead. or hold in front of the powerhead to thaw, or even thaw and dump in the DT.

I'll update this thread after I've used the food for a while and see how it compares to oysterfeast.

Mishri · 02/18/2015, 10:27 AM

There really is no good substitute for oyster feast as you can't find oysters with eggs in it at a store, people don't eat them, they'd be mushy and gross.. If you want to have a "catch all" food i'd put the oyster eggs in with the rest of the fish food, along with phytoplankton.

That link cloak sent out is good, because it really depends on what you are feeding for what you should be using and what consistency you want. Personally I use different foods for feeding different things, it's more time consuming but at least I know I'm feeding everything correctly.

I'd try to mimic Rod's Food (or another that is similar), put all the ingredients he has in one package, problem can be getting a hold of all the stuff in there... I guess that's why you are paying $20 for a small package... rotifers and baby brine shrimp both seem like good additions, you'd just likely need to grow them yourself.

02/09/2015, 08:47 AM	#1
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	Blending Coral Food So I took my first stab at making DIY coral food yesterday. Got a hand full of shrimp, hand full of octopus tubes, a few oysters and a few clams and blended them together in my blender till it was a sticky mushy goo. Added in a little saltwater so it wasn't so think and put in bags to freeze into a few thin sheets, while keeping out a small dropper bottle full to feed with for now. I went to feed with a syring, and the food is kind of chunky, much larger peices than the oyster feast I had used previously. not that I was expecting something as small as the oyster feast, but I would like smaller particals. Is there a good way I can make the particals smaller so I can more easily spot feed? The coral didn't seem to take this food as well as the oyster feast I have used. Should I just keep taking the frozen sheets and blend them again/ freeze, blend again...etc untill I get small enough particals?

02/09/2015, 12:04 PM	#4
Pife Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 7,408	Don't blend for to long as you'll literally cook the food. Add Rodi and blend it runny. __________________ Brandon I'm not saying let's get rid of all the stupid people.* I'm just saying let's remove all the warning labels and let the problem work itself out. Current Tank Info: 150g DT plumbed to an 80g frag tank and 220g sump in the basement. ~6-MP40s ~ 12 ATI powered t5s ~ Reefbrites and Radions supplementing ~ Custom GEO Skimmer ~ GEO CA Reactor 6x24~ Iwaki 70 Return ~

02/09/2015, 01:07 PM	#8
coralsnaked Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Austin / Port Aransas, TX Posts: 1,479	infuse w small amounts of garlic oil to enhance the desirability to your fish. Also improves their immune system. __________________ Merry Skerry Current Tank Info: 1 G Nano jellyfish to 1200 G Bull Nose FOWLR featuring large Holacanthus and Pomacanthus

02/18/2015, 10:27 AM	#15
Mishri Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Great Falls, MT Posts: 1,404	There really is no good substitute for oyster feast as you can't find oysters with eggs in it at a store, people don't eat them, they'd be mushy and gross.. If you want to have a "catch all" food i'd put the oyster eggs in with the rest of the fish food, along with phytoplankton. That link cloak sent out is good, because it really depends on what you are feeding for what you should be using and what consistency you want. Personally I use different foods for feeding different things, it's more time consuming but at least I know I'm feeding everything correctly. I'd try to mimic Rod's Food (or another that is similar), put all the ingredients he has in one package, problem can be getting a hold of all the stuff in there... I guess that's why you are paying $20 for a small package... rotifers and baby brine shrimp both seem like good additions, you'd just likely need to grow them yourself. __________________ 300 gallon 8ft long, 2x xf250 gyre, reef octopus 250-int - work in progress Aquarist since 1986

02/09/2015, 09:15 AM	#2
Cabo2008 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 248	When I used to make my own blended food I'd use one of those Magic Bullet blenders..........it cut everything up pretty darn small. Oh and I'd add in some cyclopeeze with the meaty bits too.

02/09/2015, 11:04 AM	#3
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	I don't have one of those blenders but I do have a nija blender, which is pretty powerful. How long do you blend for? I blended for about a minute or 90 seconds I think, then added some saltwater because it seemed to thick and blended again. I could dilute with more saltwater, don't know if that helps or not though. Maybe I just need to let it blend for a long time and see what happens. I just want to try to do it right because the blender is kinda large, so I realy cant blend less than about 16 oz or it woujn't blend right. even that is a bit low.

02/09/2015, 12:31 PM	#5
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	Alright, I was planning on blending for a few minutes, then either refrigorating the mix for 30-60 minutes before blending again tso it doens't cook, or freeze in sheets and blend those sheets. Repeat unill acceptabley small. I'll probably have ot add a decent bit of RODI to get it runny. Right now my mix has the consistancy of a blended bannana. Smooth and thick like a smoothy. Once I have it finished, can I break off a peice of the sheet and keep it thawed in my refrigorator for like a week at a time, or does it have to stay frozen and me thaw out one day's worth at a time?

02/09/2015, 12:58 PM	#7
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	alright, Maybe I'll thaw out like 3 or 4 days worth at a time to keep t good. or maybe I'll cut it into single serving sized squares and thaw one out just before lights out every time I feed. I could just pre-cut all of the sheets and have a baggie of small cubes ready to thaw. Probably wouldn't be too incomviniant that way. I didn't want to have to get out the knife and cutting board every time I go to feed the coral.

02/09/2015, 01:30 PM	#9
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	Alright, I have a bottle of garlic oil, I can add some of that. Any other sugestions to add? do the coral need any kind of plant matter? I have some frozen food for herbivors that I bought a few months ago that I never use because the peices after thawing are too small for my fish to eat. I could add those in. I'm mainly making the food for the coral. Right now I've been feeding the fish frozen mysis and pellets. Funny they seem to actualy perfer the pellets. My foxface who is a pig used to go nuts for thawed out mysis, but I had used an automaic feeder when I went on vacation and since then he doen't realy care about the mysis anymore, but loves the little pellets. I also have some flake foor I can mix in, or some of the food pellets.

02/09/2015, 01:36 PM	#11
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	yeah, should have clarified. It's the garlicguard from seachem. Does the garlic do anything for the coral, or is that more of a fish thing?

02/09/2015, 01:56 PM	#13
cloak Moved On Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Stockton, CA Posts: 14,854	Check this out. http://melevsreef.com/food.html HTH.

02/18/2015, 10:17 AM	#14
ReefsandGeeks Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,708	I seem to have successfully blended food fine enough for SPS coral. It's a bit time consuming, but I think the results will be good. I'll have to give more time to see how the feeings affect the SPS and other coral, but they do eat it readily. I started with the usual mix of fresh seafoods, a handful of shrimp, handful of squid tubes and tenticals, couple of clams, and an oyster. Put in blender and blended for a minute untill it was a thick mush. I tried mixing some with some tank water and feeding. Although it seemed to be a smooth much, upon putting in the aquarium it was actualy kinda chunky, with some peices barly able to get through my syringe. So I added some tank water to the blender as well as some guarlicguard and blended for another minute or so. Tryed putting some in a shotglas of water to see how it looked. A little better but still kinda chunky. At this point I was getting discuraged that a blender just couldn't get food blended down to SPS size. I was looking for something comparable to the oyster feast I had used before. I froze what I had in thin sheets, and then once frozen, I blended them again with some more tank water added. I blended for about 5 minutes, monitoring the temp to make sure the much wasn't going to cook in the blender. Never got above 40 degrees. I tried feeding with this, thawed some more in tank water. Low and behold, it was a cloud of tiny food particals similar to oyster feast. All of my coral readily accepted it and looked good the next day. Feed again the next day and the same thing. I've taken one sheet and cut it into easy to grab squares so at feeding time I can just open the freezer bag, grab a square or two, and add to a shotglass of some tank water. mix with my finger and it becomes a thicker liquid with no destinguishable particals to the touch. Suck it up and spot feed with my syringe. It would be easy to use if you're a broadcast feeder, as you could probably just put the frozen cube in the tank and let it thaw out and spread when it gets near the powerhead. or hold in front of the powerhead to thaw, or even thaw and dump in the DT. I'll update this thread after I've used the food for a while and see how it compares to oysterfeast.