Golden Pearls

[rdnyva]

OK, now that I've got them (bought a few diferent sizes) what do I do with them. How do you feed - just sprinkle in the tank, and how much. They do not come with directions or suggested feeding methods.

[shred5]

I take a glass of tank water and mix them in glass and then poor the glass of water back in the tank... Be carefull with gp they go a really long way... Very easy to overfeed with them...


Dave

[Grits 'N Gravy]

i was just reading an article and it listed the trace elements in certain foods (about 1/3 of the way down in a table). anyway, it showed that there are 20 ppm of copper in gp. does that sound kind of high to anyone else?

it seems we go through such great extremes to make sure no copper gets in the water, but then the foods have it in what sounds to be a high concentration...granted you don't add much at a time, but if you feed it regularly...

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rhf/feature/index.htm

[Frick-n-Frags]

After reading that awesome article:

I use GP's and that does concern me. However, I don't feed all that much gramwise. A little goes a really long way. (I put the GP's in a half cup of fresh water then pour the water back and forth into another cup like ten times to break up any clumping. And the GP's are soaked with freshwater with the hope they float in the water column better being soaked in freshwater vs saltwater)

Continuing with the article, I was somewhat relieved to see the quantity of heavy metals that the algae pull out. I grow over 20 species of algae in my system of all three colors and harvest a boatload constantly, so I'm sleeping better knowing that algae doesn't just export fertilizer, but a whole bunch of other nasty stuff. And I'm assuming with the diversity of species, there should be a broader range of heavy metals pulled out vs any one alga which may just concentrate one metal more than other ones.

[MiddletonMark]

One more `a little GP's goes a long way' ... you need to very slowly build up to what you'll be feeding.

I use a salifert test-kit spoon [teeny one!] to measure mine out. We're talking that small to start with ... and likely for regular use.

[Frick-n-Frags]

that's agood idea. I've been using the tip of a little plastic picnic spoon to make enough for all 4 tanks that I feed. But it is pretty variable. That salifert spoon would be much more precise.

[MiddletonMark]

Yup, a pinch is far too much of one size.