Frozen vs Freeze Dried

[kennyman]

I am considering switching to freeze dried food. It is mostly because of the extra crap going into my tank from the juice frozen stuff is packed in. I read about excess phosphates getting into the tank this way and I do not want to soak and strain frozen food every day to get around it. Is the freeze dried krill or pacific plankton good enough nutritional wise to use everyday? Presently I alternate between frozen Brine Shrimp and Daphnia cubes. I can raise live Artemia but am too lazy to keep the breeder clean. Can the Big All's brand dry stuff replace the frozen stuff?

Also I have been thinking about using an auto feeder so my fish can get fed a couple of times a day. Will freeze dried food run through an auto feeder well?

[Julie]

IMO the freeze dried is horrible stuff.
When you defrost your mysis etc....use a paper towel, all the gunk is then absorbed by the towel.

[az]

for fish or corals?

i feed my corals freeze dried cyclopeze....no problem at all!

i can see a difference, fish love it too, they go nuts tobe honest, which is why i am thinking about switching from regular flakes to cyclopeze flakes.

[kennyman]

Food is for the fish. I use the cyclop-ez, reef mist and Coral-Vitea for the inverts.

[nelson]

I feed my tank critters Optimun flakes, freeze dried Mysis and Cyclopeze, in no particular order.  They absolutely love all three.  I haven't really given much thought to the liquid that comes with the Mysis since I first thaw it in a small container of tank water then feed the corals and fish with a baster. For the time it takes I may start straining the mysis - sounds like a reasonable precaution.

[ToX]

I just take the mysis cude and hold it in front of the seio and off go all the food. Never had any problem with the juice

[az]

I just take the mysis cude and hold it in front of the seio and off go all the food. Never had any problem with the juice

same here! not saying its the right thing though!

[Julie]

No doubt the pump would work but in the larger tanks it's irrelevant, these are smaller reefs.

[kennyman]

The reason for my concern was reading some info on AC. A guy was having phosphate issues and when he tested the juice from a glass of frozen food the phosphate was off the chart. Since I don't have much invested in equipment  I need to be careful what I put in my tank. I am afraid I could easily overload my little reef with crud from food juice

I was hoping that I could cut down on excess nutrients to reduce the growth of some pesky red slime. But perhaps it is not food related anyway.