frozen food question

[Sophia]

have just watched this on Youtube - is it true what they say about the phosphates?

it's a 2 min clip, they say phosphates are caused by not defrosting the food outside the tank before feeding.

[Jennifer]

I didn't watch the video...but theoretically it is possible. Phosphates are inorganic salts and if the food is thawed AND rinsed, some phosphates may be removed (if they were abundant to begin with).

[Cricketman]

Would depend on the frozen food. I'm not sure how much phosphate would be in frozen mysis (from the video) but I dont think that it would be dire if you didn't do it like that. I feed alot of frozen foods straight from the freezer, since it gives the fish a chance to get into it before it falls to the bottom where they dont normally seem to find it before the plecos do.

Probably alot more relevant to saltwater than freshwater species though, too.

Personal preference. Experimentation is part of life.

EDIT:

Also, technically phosphates are strongly bonded to other particles and doesn't dissolve or suspend easily, hence why there is usually low amounts in river waters etc. But when there is phosphate enriched fertilisers used, the amount of dissolved Phosphate goes throughthe roof and then you get algal blooms.(think, lake rotoiti, and oter downstream lakes from large farming areas)

Which is what I'm guesssing they are trying to avoid in the video. but like Jenny said, there probably wasn't much to begin with anyway.

[Sophia]

I thought they were more likely to get phosphate from the size of the portion of food rotting later - it looked like raining shrimp in there and the fish weren't gobbling it up that quickly!

[Jennifer]

I couldn't agree more Sophia. I personally only feed as much as will be eaten before it falls to the ground. As soon as the fish begin to slow their eating, I stop (most bottom feeders are happy to come up for the fresh food and ones that aren't get sinking foods and veges). No excess food is left to rot (and presumably to release phosphates).

[land_lubber]

I didn't watch the video but I have owned a saltwater tank and always defrosted mysis shrimp before I feed because the phosphates are bad for corals.