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Turn off Pumps for Feeding - Necessary? (1 Viewer)

deneed4spd

deneed4spd

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Is it beneficial to turn off return pump for feedings?

I dont run filter socks because they are a pain. So I tend to turn off return pump for feedings.

Thoughts?

For feeding reef chili and feeding pellets i try to turn off pump because i want as much to stay circulating in tank instead of flowing into sump.

Since I turn off my return pump alot, my ato wreaks havoc.
 
Pete, I think you already answered your questions. If you want confirmation, my answer is "yes" turn off pump and ATO and leave your circulating pump :beerchug:
 
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If you have LPS dominate tank I would shut off all pumps including circulating pumps, but with softies and SPS I would leave the circulating pumps. My reasons:

LPS eats slow and takes time to open up and food can float away from its mouth w/flow. Typically a good 30 mins of no flow is good enough for them. I especially love to see acans/scolys eat.

SPS and softies will stretch out its polyps and grab from your water column. No flow no food.
 
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RaysReef said:
If you have LPS dominate tank I would shut off all pumps including circulating pumps, but with softies and SPS I would leave the circulating pumps. My reasons:

LPS eats slow and takes time to open up and food can float away from its mouth w/flow. Typically a good 30 mins of no flow is good enough for them. I especially love to see acans/scolys eat.

SPS and softies will stretch out its polyps and grab from your water column. No flow no food.
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Makes perfect sense. I shoulda added that I am a lazy reefkeeper :) I directly feed my scollys and then I put Tupperware container over them for about 30 min to let them eat in peace at their slow pace.
 
Neil said:
Makes perfect sense. I shoulda added that I am a lazy reefkeeper :) I directly feed my scollys and then I put Tupperware container over them for about 30 min to let them eat in peace at their slow pace.
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if you have peppermints, crabs, fish, etc...watch out, they will grab food right out of their mouths and can injury your LPS by clawing, nipping and climb on them.
 
The answer is relative to your tank size and your return pump size. My flow through is slow enough ( only 2X tank size ) so it doesn't matter much. It pretty much all gets eaten the moment I drop the food in. I personally just avoid corals that require special feedings, only hungry fish. I also prefer that my return pump not be on a controller in case a fuse or something else goes wrong with the controller powerbar.
 
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I've stopped turning off my pumps. It's a pain and sometimes, I forget to turn them back on. I just leave them on and let the fish work for their food. I usually feed from the opposite end of the overflow box, so less food is wasted. I don't ever feed the corals. I let the light do the work; however, I do like to target feed the corals once in a long while.
 
never had a problem target feeding anything and i never turned down any pumps.

every once in awhile id have to chase off the cleaner shrimp so he didnt take food away from LPS.

the Lord (or Poseidon, depends on your background i suppose) doesnt shut off the waves when food is present in the ocean!
 
yes, but there's constant food source all the time so the inverts don't need to fight for food :beerchug: :gay1:
 
data_loss said:
I want to take a behind the scenes tour of the oceans' overflow and sump system :)
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the ocean has both, and im sure you could get a tour if you wanted :D

the ocean also has natural skimmers, and filtration, your powerheads should blow the food around enough so everything gets a chance for a nibble.

i have a 1017 GPH return pump and i rarely see food dump over into my sump. When it does i have a skimmer, a filter sock, and some snails down there to take care of it. Almost all of our corals also feed off of light, we dont need to heavily feed them organics. I fed my corals once a week, sometimes once every other week. They get left over fish food and organics in the water column along with light nums every day on their own.
 
I would whats the flow rate in the ocean? The earth is square right? Should have a overflow somewhere. :beerchug:
 
RaysReef said:
I would whats the flow rate in the ocean? The earth is square right? Should have a overflow somewhere. :beerchug:
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I remember reading this really old book about that time when the overflow siphon failed. It created a big flood.
 
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RaysReef said:
I would whats the flow rate in the ocean? The earth is square right? Should have a overflow somewhere. :beerchug:
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earth might be square, not sure if we have solid evidence on that yet ;)

the overflow is a means of transport for water to flow into a lower current area where it can get filtered and skimmed and eventually through flow end up back where it came from. Kind of like the Red Sea, or Arabian Sea, or Gulf of Mexico... although mankind ruins that area daily. Guess ive always thought of the Sea's and Gulfs as the areas the ocean sends its left overs. The shorelines and current changes then do the skimming!
 
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