John D Hirsch MD

Experienced Reefer
Location
St.Louis
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For those aquarists, like me, who overfeed, and are willing to come out of the closet and face the reality that overfeeding has consequences, some good, but many not so much, this is for you. For starters, what is overfeeding? And why the emphasis on overfeeding? Remember you are ?Mother Nature? for your ecosystem and consistency is an integral part of that success. Fluctuations is the waste removal systems or just overwhelming the waste disposal systems leads to elevated nutrients for the growth of nuisance and destructive algae, aptasias, etc. They are the weeds of our hobby and like all weeds they seem to thrive on our inconsistency. So my definition of overfeeding is when you overwhelm your waste disposal capacity. In the oceans blooms occur when nutrient levels are high. In your ecosystem, blooms occur when nutrient levels are too high. Who among us has never had that problem? I think after failing at ?patience is a virtue? and early losses, overfeeding is likely one of the most important reasons for frustration amongst hobbyist. To be fair, there are a few good things about overfeeding. If you are diligent and fastidiously control waste removal, many of your reef inhabitants will thrive. We will investigate ?dieting? and its consequences in other threads. Since this is a forum and we are all here to learn, help us understand. For those of you who never have a problem, tell us about your feeding habits. For those of you who overfeed what mechanisms do you employ to control those fluctuations. In my first thread for over feeders, I show one mechanism that was a game changer for my personal home tank.

Overfeeding or tank obesity is a form of malnutrition. More than one third of the US human population are considered obese. It is a national health issue. So, if you extrapolate without basis, do a third of all hobbyist overfeed?

It would be interesting to know collectively who we are? I know we are all dedicated hobbyist. I wonder how many of us are card carrying members of Over Feeders Anonymous. I am interested in your opinions and more importantly if you would be willing to participate in a reefs.com confidential database of feeding habits. Sharing personal information is very helpful, sharing data is knowledge. It could help many be better and more successful hobbyist. Let me hear from you. Much more to follow on this topic.

When I reviewed my past threads, the thread on overfeeding had the most interest. My associates think it was because I posted a photo, I think not. So attached is a short video from a card carrying member of Over Feeders Anonymous. So much for the two-minute rule. I look forward to hearing from you.

https://youtu.be/20by6YOxfnk

Doc
 
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