Rc-Although I agree with not over feeding your livestock, I don't know if I agree with everything your saying. You may be taking things to a bit of an extreme. I hope some others with more experience will chime in here. I don't agree with starving your animals. If that is the intent then why put them in your aquarium in the first place? I think sometimes we all go to extremes when we think things are working but sometimes what works short term is not best long term. To me it sounds like even your fish are not getting enough food. Just 2 drops? Do you feed them every hour? On the other hand it sounds like your tank is sparkling! My tank is certainly not and it drives me crazy. I have way too much detritus and that DOES lead to problems. I am conflicted! :frustrat::shock::?
Clarification:
Only 1 very small clown fish in the 30g tank. And only 1 small 6-line in the 10g frag tank. I was going to put the 6-line back in the 30g tank, but he tried to kill Nemo once before, so I'm hesitant to return him. Nemo has gotten aggressive enough to nip at my hands and fingers when I put them in the tank, so maybe he will hold his own against the wrasse? Not really ready to try it again.......... that wrasse
(Striper) is a mean A-hole and he's got more teeth than nemo. Nemo is about 2" long and so is Striper.
I am trying to lower the levels of excess nutrients in the tank. I don't even WANT a cleaning crew. IMHO a cleaning crew is there to eat up left over food and waste that falls to the bottom. I don't want any food falling to the bottom, so I'm only feeding my fish as much as they will eat in 30 seconds.
My tank is NOT sparkling. Not even close. But I'm working HARD to get there.
I'm not trying to starve my fish. Just trying to lower my excess nutrient levels in the tank to the point where I only need a bare bones cleaning crew. I'm completely against the idea that you need 1 snail per gallon and 1 crab per 2g of tank. Thats what I was told when I started this adventure and it seamed to work. But I soon had algae problems. The hermits don't eat algae like I was told they would. The snails don't eat hair algae either. The snails sorta keep the front glass clean, but not enough to really be of any benefit. I still have to scrub the glass weekly.
I'm NOT an expert. I'm just trying something and hoping it will work in my situation. I'm beginning to realize most of my algae problems in the past were plain and simple...... too much food and waste in the tank. As I have reduced food and therefor waste in the tank, it has started to look significantly better. It's still not anything I want to take pictures of and brag about. I have a long ways to go.