WHAT is a CUBE?

[like-fish]

I have hunted high and low.

What unit of measure is this infamous "CUBE".

It would be a great sticky or addition to the FAQ section.

Can someone please quantify "CUBE" in its various manifestations.

Thanks!

[Ace25]

I am guessing you have never bought frozen fish food, they come in packs with 'cubes' of food in them you pop out.

http://i03.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/024/609/262/1281941824129_hz-myalibaba-web12_9499.jpg

[SantaMonica]

Frozen cube of food, about 3 grams (3 cc) each...

3681

[kaskiles]

One cubic centimeter equals one milliliter, and one cubic centimeter of water weighs one gram.

[like-fish]

Thank you x 3........

[Pulse]

I plan on writing an article analizing the dry weight and protein content of different cubes if nobody beets me to it. I think it is time for a more universal unit lof measure for food. (Grams Protein? Total Nitrogen? Not sure yet.) If anyone else has any ideas on this subject I would love to hear them. (Garf?)

[Garf]

I plan on writing an article analizing the dry weight and protein content of different cubes if nobody beets me to it. I think it is time for a more universal unit lof measure for food. (Grams Protein? Total Nitrogen? Not sure yet.) If anyone else has any ideas on this subject I would love to hear them. (Garf?)

Did some quick calculations when I saw this thread on Floyds site but came up with a number nearly double the rated size of my screen, so figured I've made some silly errors.

Ive used 45 grammes flake @ 6% moisture, 28 grammes nori (guessed about same moisture as flake) and 10 cubes frozen food all in a period of 5 weeks. I figured 1 gramme flake or nori is equivalent to about 4 cubes of frozen food. All this adds up to 330 cubes of food in 35 days, ie nearly 10 cubes a day on a 5 cube scrubber, and tests indicate slight reductions in N & P.

My screen grows 1.5kgs algae in the same 5 week period, and if we apply the 15% solids, rest water guess, then my screen has a dry weight of approx 225grammes dry weight growth in the Same timeframe.

[Garf]

Ok, so nobody noticed that SM has based the guidelines on MASSIVE cubes, ie 3cc. (post 3). So converting this factor into my usage info it has now turned into a 3 cube scrubber, when it's actually sized for 5.

[Floyd R Turbo]

3 cc? Have I been wrong for the whole time on this? That's about 1.45 cm per side - 1.45 cm ^3 = 3 cc

[Garf]

Not just you Floyd. It's rather strange that you and many others haven't been corrected though. It makes a massive difference, as my figures show.

[Garf]

Also on the sizing guidelines for 1 frozen cube equivalent it states;

0.1 dry ounce (2.8 grams) of pellet food per day (2-sided screen)
Which is quite obviously not right because it doesn't allow for 85% or so water content, in a frozen cube.

[Floyd R Turbo]

Well actually, this means that the amounts of dry food as cube equivalents are actually more in line. I guess I never took the time to actually measure a cube tray cube, but I've always directed people to use this as a reference. So we're not all completely off base here, but saying it's 1x1x1 cm was indeed wrong.

Now, using this (incorrect) measurement (1cc) and tripling it, the dry weight of that food (subtract 85% water weight) is now probably closer to the touted equivalent amounts of dry food.

[SantaMonica]

I mean 3 grams.

[Garf]

In essence, everyone who has calculated their screen size on the 1cm frozen cube, is running a screen 3 or 4 times to big. And those who calculated 2.8grammes dry food as 1 cube of 3 grammes frozen, is running 3 or 4 times too small. And those that calculated 2.8grammes dry food as 1 cube of 1cm frozen, is running a screen 9 to 16 times too small. What a mess.

[SantaMonica]

No the sizes are based on observation, not conversions.

[KevinZ]

For what it's worth, I recently opened a new 300-gram jar of NLS 1mm pellets and started scooping them out 1 level teaspoon at a time into a bowl. I ended up with 112 teaspoons, which equals about 2.7 grams per teaspoon. So allowing for some error and differences in measuring spoons, we can say a teaspoon of the 1mm pellets is between 2.5 and 3 grams.

I just purchased a HOG .5, and I was a little surprised at how much food 1.4 grams is. It makes me a little worried that I'm not feeding my screen enough to grow properly.

[data_loss]

I'm completely confused, perhaps because I'm reading this before coffee, is a cube in a standard blister pack the cube we are supposed to be basing our feeding off of or not?

[Garf]

I'm completely confused, perhaps because I'm reading this before coffee, is a cube in a standard blister pack the cube we are supposed to be basing our feeding off of or not?

Depends on the cube weight. 1 cube (for sizing purposes) is about 3 grammes.

[data_loss]

Just looked at each of my blister packs. All are 100 grams, most have 35 cubes in them, some have 32, so close to 3 grams. So if I'm understanding everything correctly I should be more careful with pellets however as 2.7 grams of pellets is really far more nutrients going into the tank than 3 grams of frozen, which is mostly water.

[Garf]

Just looked at each of my blister packs. All are 100 grams, most have 35 cubes in them, some have 32, so close to 3 grams. So if I'm understanding everything correctly I should be more careful with pellets however as 2.7 grams of pellets is really far more nutrients going into the tank than 3 grams of frozen, which is mostly water.

Sounds right to me.

[Floyd R Turbo]

This is a recent discussion but yes, dry-weight food is NOT equivalent, the best way to measure this is to figure that the frozen food is 85% water, so 3g frozen x 15% = 0.45g "dehydrated", call it 1/2 gram, and that is the cube-equivalent dry food.

[SantaMonica]

But since pellets are dry and compressed, they tend to get eaten whole before they disperse, and thus they can have less impact on the water.

[Floyd R Turbo]

That makes no sense if we are talking about long-term (weekly) average, which is all that really matters. Everything has to be broken down anyways to N and P for the algae to grow, whether that is done by a fish in the form of expelled waste from the previous time he ate or from the food that is currently added to the system and not immediately eaten this makes no difference. This is why I don't test my water right before I feed and then 20 minutes after - because it is the average which matters, and as long as food inserted = waste produced = algae growth is balanced, then that's all that matters.

The fact of the matter in discussion here is that you must reduce all matter to the dry form to equalize amounts. Beyond that, composition of the now dry amount will have varying impacts on the water column.

[Garf]

SM - you could dry out one of your cubes, then weigh it. Then at least we would know.

[kerry]

I am not sure if this is right but I always assumed that 2-3 frozen cubes would be about SM one cube if the water was removed. Since I have gone LED's with Red and Blue I dont even worry about what I feed. I feed until the fish dont seem to want anymore. I have been doing this for MONTHS!!!! Some weeks the screen looks like mop other times its only an inch thick. I just dont worry about it any more since I am on the BLUE's LOL.

[walleyefisher]

It seems to me that the important part of the equation is protein. If the food you are feeding has %50 protein and you feed 1 gram then you have fed 0.5 gram of protein. This should be taken into consideration for your calculations instead of physical measurements. There are too many variables for physical measurement, but protein is a consistent measurement across frozen and dry foods.

[Garf]

Due to the variance in uptake, growth rate and affinity for N & P evident with different strains of algae that reside on the screens (ie you can't control what algae your gonna get), I think being this accurate may be a waste of time. For what it's worth I'm pretty certain that the 1cm x 1cm x 1 cm cube is closer to the mark. So the L2, L3 and L4 don't need a name change.