Welcome to Moyes Reef

Husbandry & Maintenance:

I admit I tend to feed a lot. But with 15 Anthias, not to mention 12 assorted other fish and over forty coral colonies, I think you really have to. As far as variety, on any given day they may receive a combination of Ocean Nutrition's frozen Formula One, Formula Two, Enriched Brine, Prime Reef, or VHP. Other selections include frozen mysis (my staple), nori soaked in Selcon, Seaweed Selects, JHEMCO's Pure Spirulina Flakes, ISPF's 'Tang Heaven', fresh macro from the refugium, whatever 'pods wind their way over from the refugium, and Cyclop- eeZe. The corals receive Golden Pearls (the smallest 3 sizes), DT's Phytoplankton, and they also make use of the Cyclop- eeZE. Lately, I've been giving a lot of thought to going with a live culture as a coral food staple. But unlike the time I used her blender to whip up some home- made chow, think I'll ask the wife first.

Most days I'll feed the fish 3 times: In the mornings I'll thaw the equivalent of 1-2 cubes of mysis, along with 2-3 cubes of, say, an Ocean Nutrition product in tank water, mix and feed. At noontime, I'll wrap TWO FULL SHEETS of nori around an old dead Acropora branch and 'tie' it down with a rubber band.

If I add some refugium greens, I'll use only one nori sheet and wrap the greens up in it like an egg roll. Then I'll soak the thing in a small dish of Selcon and put it in the tank. On most days the treat is completely gone in 20 minutes. Then in the evening I'll basically repeat the morning feeding, only switching up the O.N. cubes . That's a total of 6 cubes a day PLUS mysis PLUSG nori! Is it no wonder I went with a skimmer the size of the Power Pro IV?

As for the corals, I use the plastic 1g measuring spoon from an old La Motte test kit and measure 1 spoonful each of the three smallest sizes of Golden Pearls from Brine Shrimp Direct. I'll mix these in some tank water for a moment, turn off the skimmer for about half an hour, and pour directly into the tank. This is usually done twice a week, late, after the lights have gone off. This is also when I'll add approximately 5 oz. of DT's Phytoplankton. The Cyclop-eeZe however, I'll feed like the Ocean Nutrition stuff. I almost never spot feed anything. Too lazy, basically. Speaking of lazy, I have mentioned on a few of the reef boards that I maintain a service contract with a LFS...(cont.)