# Issue when feeding- NEED HELP!



## kenadian07 (Oct 27, 2010)

Hello, this is my first post as I am a newbie.

I bought a house with a 90 gallon marine tank with some coral and livestock, I had a pump, skimmer installed in my sump yesterday. 

I now have an issue when having to feed my fish, as all the water with flakes quickly end up in the water outlet that feeds the sump.

What can I do to correct this?

I also am having issues with white snow ball looking particles in my water, looks like its snowing in my tank, I plan to do a water change over the weekend, however would adding a sponge element to my sump besides the sock I have help? 

Looking forward to the replies.


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## slipstream (Apr 25, 2010)

A sponge/or mechanical filter media would filter out any large particles floating around your tank
And for the flak food, you could turn of your pump to feed, than turn it back on, or put something to block off the top layer of water from moving into the water outlet. Making the water have to go up from below the break and than down into the outlet. This would make it so the flakes stay floating linger in the tank. This wouldn't be a permanent solution, but would work during feeding times.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

soak the flakes in water first so they dont float theyl go straight into the water column
or similiarly take ur pinch of flakes and release it under the water

as for the snow is your substrate white? is there anything creating an upwelling? i had an airstone resting on my live sand/aragonite once and it caused the snow effect, it was kinda neat except all the food got sucked under the airstone so i had to raise it up


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I usually agitate or tap the water surface with a wooden spoon after adding flakes to help them start dropping faster


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

someone suggested presoaking your flakes that is a good suggestion, Although flakes that dont get eaten in your sump can foul up your tank pretty quick.

If you can presoak your flakes and turn off the return pump and other powerheads in the tank when you feed the food in, put small amounts at a time and make sure not to over feed. I use to use pellets that sink slowly and the fish always got it before it hit the ground!


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## MadgicBug (Apr 22, 2010)

The have this floating thing you can buy and JL aquaitcs for 3 or 4 bucks that corrals the food so it doesn't go into the overflow.

Not sure what the floating white things are....would it old food with fugus on it? Depending on your sump, you can put some foam in one of the compartmets or filter bags in the end of the down spout.

You can perhaps change up your food to the meaty type (pe mysis, etc) and get an algae clip with algae leaf on it.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

1. As Kevin suggested - use feeding ring.
2. If set up right, you should have pumps at opposite ends of the tank. Turn off pump opposite the overflow. But this really depends on what your pump set up.
3. My preferred solution - use sinking pellets.

I hope it is not snow "balls". Little white particles likely from overfeeding.


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## piusma (Apr 29, 2010)

*Feeding issue*

Althought turning off the return pump would be fairly easy to do, I do however had a fried who lost everything in his tank because he forgot to turn the pump back on and went away for a couple days.

The heaters were in the sump and he lost all his livestock due to temperature drops too far. A feeding ring will probably be your best bet, place it in a good spot in your tank slowly train your fish to feed from it. Add a small quantity at a time and eventually they all know where to look. I also feed pellets instead of flakes combined with a feeding station it completely solved the problem.

Steven


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## fkshiu (Apr 22, 2010)

The "snow" could be precipitating calcium and/or magnesium. What are your Ca/Alk/Mg levels? What are you doing to replenish these levels? Do you have any stony corals or clams? Is your sand clumping? What are you using for flow?


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