Do you strain your frozen foods??

Meant to add, one thing I don't strain is the cyclop-eeze. Any cube foods I strain.

 

I don't use this method to feed less. Just to get the excess phosphates, etc out of the frozen foods.

 

Exactly.

 

You heard right, seabass1.



Just to clarify two points stated by a few above:

1. Frozen foods very often contain phosphates as Inwall states, that were added for "quality control" purposes when originally frozen. It doesn't hurt us, but it's not good for our tanks. Also, as Curt says, you won't see this in the ingredient list. This is why straining is good.

2. To strain, I grab a small glass bowl of tank water (holds about 6 ounces of water), then I drape my brine-shrimp net above this bowl so the net is in the water, and the wire frame is sitting on the counter outside the bowl. Sort of like a tarp would look on top of a swimming pool when the tarp is full of rainwater, except the "tarp" in this case is the net, and water CAN pass through it. I drop a cube of whatever frozen food into the net, and after it's thawed, I simply lift the net out of the bowl. What remains in the bowl is just the "juice" that held the cube together--and hopefully almost all the phosphates that was in the cube. I then quickly whip the net back and forth in the DT until all the food is released from the net.
As others have said, I too have noticed a difference in the amount of nuisance algae since I started to thaw/drain my frozen food.
From what I've heard, Rod's food has "no phosphates" as the label claims that only fresh, and NEVER frozen foods are used in its production. At $20 for a 6 oz. package, it BETTER be phosphate free!! They say you really do get what you pay for in this hobby.
There's another thread floating around where somebody talks about preparing their own foods. If I recall correctly, they used frozen. I've read more than a few times that this is not a good practice, and if you attempt to make your own food, you should do your darndest to make absolutely sure every ingredient has never been frozen.

 

GOOD stuff guys, thank you!!! Started "straining" today. Using a brine net. Cyclops stay in this net, no problem.8)