PDA

View Full Version : Home blended coral food, (used to be $5)



SantaMonica
03-05-2011, 02:53 PM
Cheap and easy liquid coral food:

1 cup or small bottle/can of fresh oysters.
4 cups or bottles/cans of water.
1/4 teaspoon (NOT tablespoon) of Sodium Alginate (http://willpowder.com/sodiumAlginate.html). This will be about 1.2 ml

Blend for 5 minutes (this may overheat your blender).

Keep very cold (almost freezing), in a clear container so you can see if it separates.

If after a few days it separates, then put back into blender and add another 1/4 teaspoon and blend for a few seconds.

If it instead turns into a gel "block", then you put too much Sodium Alginate. Put back into blender and add another cup of water.

This makes about the same amount of food as a 32 ounce size of Oyster Feast ($65) for about $5.

Floyd R Turbo
03-05-2011, 05:24 PM
That is totally awesome.

spideybry
03-10-2011, 11:43 AM
Does it really equate to Oyster Feast? Doesn't Oyster Feast have oyster eggs in them as well as ovarian tissue?

ShanGo
03-10-2011, 02:54 PM
is this ok http://www.creamsupplies.co.uk/index.ph ... 0&refer=GB (http://www.creamsupplies.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1520&refer=GB)

SantaMonica
03-18-2011, 11:38 AM
It will have whatever is in the oysters in it. Maybe eggs. The issue is trying to get large amounts of liquid food, that stays suspended, for cheap.

Yes that sodium alginate looks to be the same.

spideybry
03-21-2011, 07:22 AM
I hope you don't mind me reposting this on another site :)

SantaMonica
03-21-2011, 09:28 AM
Go ahead.

bucks448
05-29-2011, 08:31 AM
Any idea what the shelf life of the sodium alginate is, or if it has one? It costs the same to ship the 3oz and the 1lb, $10 shipping for me, but it's going to take me a really long time to go through 1lb of it.

SantaMonica
05-29-2011, 11:28 AM
It's a powder, so it's probably a long time.

My new recipie is

1 cup raw oysters
5 cups water
2 tablespoons (not teaspoons) sodium alginate powder

...stays blended and in suspension seeming forever, and goes right through the medical dosing pump.

ShanGo
06-03-2011, 10:19 AM
It's a powder, so it's probably a long time.

My new recipie is

1 cup raw oysters
5 cups water
2 tablespoons (not teaspoons) sodium alginate powder

...stays blended and in suspension seeming forever, and goes right through the medical dosing pump.
Can you plz define in ounces or ml as a cup could be any size please

SantaMonica
06-03-2011, 08:32 PM
However big the cup of oysters is, that is how big the cup of water is.

Marksfish
06-05-2011, 06:52 AM
Finding it extremely difficult to get tinned oysters in the UK, only fresh which is an expensive way of doing it.

SantaMonica
06-06-2011, 05:12 PM
Well just one big oyster is about a half cup, so that would make several cups of food, which would last a month for smaller tanks.

felps
06-11-2011, 03:40 PM
Is this food supposed to look like snot floating in the tank :roll:

SantaMonica
06-12-2011, 09:48 PM
Nope, just dust particles.

SantaMonica
06-18-2011, 07:17 PM
New amounts:

4 onces raw oysters in water (about 2 big oysters)
16 onces water
1 teaspoon (not tablespoon) sodium alginate powder

...makes enough to fill the wine cooler.

pyrocide
06-23-2011, 01:48 PM
i did a recent blend of foods that both my fresh and reef tanks go nuts over.

3x3" squid steak
1/4 lb of fresh raw scallap
1/4 lb of raw bay shrimp
good portion of spirulina
couple teaspoons of NLS small fish formula and large formula
10-12 cubes of brine, and PE mysis
cup of RO

Couple tablespoons of marine snow (for the reef tank packs)

Frozen in flat packs, soon as it hits the water, when defrosted, polyp extension is insane. I feed a small chunk, still frozen to my meatcoral, kyrpotnites, candy canes, and squirt some from a pipette or turkey baster directly in the center of my frogspawn, and hammer corals. Fish love it, corals are growing phenomenally, all around a great source of food.

SantaMonica
07-13-2011, 05:02 PM
New amounts:

4 onces raw oysters in water (about 2 big oysters)
20 onces water
1 teaspoon (not tablespoon) sodium alginate powder

...makes more than enough to fill the wine cooler, and if you blend it for 3 or 4 minutes it will stay thin and not clog the feeder.

simon wright
07-19-2011, 10:53 AM
did this recipe myself last week , very good stuff , fish and corals love it . went a bit mad with it like ended up with around 2 ltrs of it :shock: ,
used fresh oysters of a supermarket fish deli , only 60p each .
must say great recipe . would like to pass this on in another forum if i may , will link it straight to this site .

SantaMonica
07-30-2011, 06:44 PM
New amounts:

4 ounces raw oysters or mussels, water drained (about 2 big oysters)
20 ounces water
1/2 teaspoon (not tablespoon) sodium alginate powder
20 cubes of rotifers

SantaMonica
08-04-2011, 09:03 AM
Now feeding this 72 ml per day, plus 20 square inches of nori a day, plus one whole silverside a week for the eel.

vk999
08-07-2011, 12:26 PM
I wonder, if I blend oysters as prescribed, poor into ice cube form and freeze it, would I need to add sodium alginate at all ? Certainly this would not work for continuous feeding, but if adding a cube a day manually is ok, then this seems to be an easier way. Am I mistaken ? Thanks!
Vadim

SantaMonica
08-07-2011, 01:47 PM
Correct, the sodium alginate is only to keep it from settling after many days. If you are going to just blend it and put it in, you don't need it.

But, coral food does not do very good when you add it all at once. Coral polyps can only eat once, then they have to digest before they come out and eat again. So only the first amount of food gets eaten; the rest goes to waste. Coral polyps have adjusted to the constant amount of food particles in the ocean, especially at night.

vk999
08-07-2011, 05:17 PM
you are right, but I need to get my SM100 first :-) Then I'll be able to consider continuous feeding.

simon wright
08-08-2011, 12:49 PM
thought about just freezing it myself without the powder , easier and will keep longer frozen .
but say you put it in a drip feeder type of feeder mixed in with phytoplankton and oyster eggs , think it would all just settle to bottom of feeder without an airater or sumthing to keep it circulating .
any thoughts on this before i waste some food to see if it works just drip fed over a day .
i have read the food chiller feeder on here but i am trying to cut down on plugs and power usage , any ideas ?

SantaMonica
08-09-2011, 10:32 AM
The why you use sodium alginate; it keeps everything in suspension so it can be pumped out.

simon wright
08-09-2011, 11:23 AM
yes i agree with that but it has to be put in near some flow of water to disperse it , if you put it in tank that is totaly still it goes like stringy snot , marine snow of the shelf does the same thing if not put into the flow of a powerhead .

SantaMonica
08-09-2011, 05:33 PM
You need to blend it more then. It won't do that if you blend it enough.

SantaMonica
08-11-2011, 07:07 PM
Note: 72 ml/day = 22 frozen cubes/day

SantaMonica
08-12-2011, 04:19 PM
Note 2: Real reefs have been measured to be fed 1 pound of food particles per day, per cubic meter (264 gal). This would be 144 cubes of food per day, or:

65 cubes in a 120 gal
49 cubes in a 90 gal
30 cubes in a 55 gal
22 cubes in a 40 gal
13 cubes in a 24 gal nano
6 cubes in a 12 gal nano

Reefkeeper82
08-31-2011, 11:07 AM
SM, do you turn off the return pump when you feed?

Nmcgrawj
08-31-2011, 04:43 PM
SM,

Do they still sell your wine cooler and dosage pump?

SantaMonica
08-31-2011, 05:46 PM
Yes.

I just saw a pump on craigslist for $200. Search for "zevex infinity pump"

Nmcgrawj
09-01-2011, 07:06 AM
Thanks.


How long does this mix stay fresh when kept cold?


Regular fresh fish store bought will go bad within a week from my experience....

SantaMonica
09-01-2011, 10:43 AM
I've kept it for 6 weeks. Maybe the sodium alginate helped.

kerry
09-22-2011, 11:58 AM
I use a similar mix for my freshwater and saltwater fish. I use a can of peas with the liquid (heated), about a 1/2 pound of medium shrimp (after I peel them of course), and about 20 oz of filtered hot water (I have added some flake food at times and have done half carrots/peas). Put all this into your blender for about 30-60 seconds then add about 2 table spoons of gelatin ( 2 packets) and blend for about 30-60 more seconds. You can pour this into any convenient container with a lid. Put into the refrigerator for about 3-4 hours. When you are ready to feed just spoon out the portion/size you wish to drop into the tank. I spoon in several marble sized portions until they all have had their fill. The anemones seem to like it as well when missed portions drift their way.

RkyRickstr
10-23-2011, 11:27 AM
I dont have the cash right now to get a dosing pump.. has anyone tried hooking an aqualifter up to the ATO?..

joelespinoza
03-20-2012, 08:09 PM
Anyone had issues with cloudy water when feeding blended oysters?

I bought a can of oysters and blended it with some enrinched brine shrimp, plankton cubes and prawn roe. The fish like it, but ever since I started feeding it the water is very cloudy. Just to be sure it was the food I gave it to my freshwater tank a few times (Tetras go nuts over it) and it started clouding up there too.

Is there anything I can do to prevent this?

SantaMonica
03-21-2012, 04:09 AM
Corals and periphyton should consume it within a few minutes. How much are you feeding?

joelespinoza
03-21-2012, 05:37 AM
Corals and periphyton should consume it within a few minutes. How much are you feeding?

About 1 frozen cube per day. However, it is a little more concentrated than yours since I did not add water to my mix. I put the cube in a condiment bottle full of tank water in the morning, and then I squirt in a small amount several times throughout the day.

Keep in mind I have a 55 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump, the sump is lit but completely empty. All I have in this system is 2 baggy cardinals, 1 small damsel and a green mandrin dragonet. For corals I have a few spots of xenia spread around the tank, a tiny bubble coral (less than the size of a quarter), a tiny purple fan gorgonian, a fist sized rock covered in zoanthids, and 1 small rock anemone (maybe the size of a 50 cent piece).

Other thank all this all thats in my tank is a fairly large CUC, made up of about 10+ hermit crabs, 3 turbo snails (sump) 12-15 narcissus snails, 10 black nerites snails, 7 florida cerith snails and a ton (more than 100 probably) of dwarf cerith snails, which are tiny little guys that seem to be basically the saltwater equivelent of malaysian trumpet snails.

Floyd R Turbo
03-21-2012, 07:15 AM
I guess my understanding was that this food was a coral only food. So should you be feeding that much of it to your tank when you don't really have that many corals?

SantaMonica
03-21-2012, 09:56 AM
I cube is 3 ml, not much for one day, but a lot for one dosing. Try doing 1/3 at a time.

joelespinoza
03-22-2012, 06:12 AM
I dose in about 1/3-1/4 increments throughout the day.

I was just looking for reasonably cheap food to feed the tank, and the fish do eat it too.

joelespinoza
04-01-2012, 12:32 PM
Maybe I should just toss all these guys in the blender and call it frozen food:

(Click to watch the video)
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b124/JoelEspinoza/th_GulfShrimp.jpg (http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b124/JoelEspinoza/?action=view&current=GulfShrimp.mp4)

CHOMPERS
12-25-2012, 02:46 AM
Here's my recipe for oyster based coral food:

one cup fresh, frozen, or canned oysters (check for preservatives)
half cup of frozen copepods, cyclopeeze, mysis, etc. (optional)
four cups cold RODI water
1/2 teaspoon of Sodium Ascorbate (vitamin C) (reef safe preservative)
1/4 teaspoon of Sodium Alginate

and

one Goodwill blender

The Goodwill blender is so you don't have to buy forgiveness from your significant other (for burning up/stinking up the one in the kitchen). By the way, when you are blending this up, it will smell like oysters. To the rest of the family, it will stink like hell. I have learned that it is best to keep the "bait blender" in the garage and blend up the coral food outside.

So far, I have found three sources of oysters. Winn Dixie's seafood counter has fresh live oysters when in season for six dollars for a dozen oysters. Walmart has frozen farm grown oysters for eight dollars per pint. Walmart also has Bumble Bee canned oysters with no preservatives (8 oz. /one cup) (don't remember the price). Any of these will do just fine.

The Sodium Ascorbate will keep the food fresh in the refrigerator for up to three weeks. My brother threw it away at three weeks, and so ending the experiment...

SantaMonica
02-13-2013, 07:38 PM
Current:

30 ml dried copepods ($)
10 ml dried phyto ($$)
10 ml dried arctipods ($$)
10 ml dried rotifers ($$)
1/2 teaspoon sodium alginate powder ($)
16 ounces water

Blend, refrigerate overnight, blend again, and put in chiller

I get the pods from AquacultureNurseryFarms.com, and the alginate from WillPowder.com/sodiumAlginate.html (alginate is from algae). I've found the big advantage of powdered foods compared to liquid foods is that it almost does not smell at all (only a bit like hay), and it does not seem to ever go bad in the chiller, even after 6 weeks. Just have to stir it every few days.

BearHill
02-14-2013, 06:02 AM
Note 2: Real reefs have been measured to be fed 1 pound of food particles per day, per cubic meter (264 gal). This would be 144 cubes of food per day, or:

65 cubes in a 120 gal
49 cubes in a 90 gal
30 cubes in a 55 gal
22 cubes in a 40 gal
13 cubes in a 24 gal nano
6 cubes in a 12 gal nano

HOLY COW!! does anyone really feed this much? This I have to know! :)

Floyd R Turbo
02-14-2013, 07:23 AM
Pics of your tank??