Cali Kid Corals

[Jun 14, 2014] June BAR Meeting (Hayward, CA)

FeliciaLynn

FeliciaLynn

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Thank you everyone for your feedback! It seems like there is a decent amount of interest, so we're officially on for the potluck and make your own frozen food party! Please make sure to RSVP using the feature at the beginning of this post. I need to be able to get a head count for buying seafood and supplies! This is really important so that club funds don't go to waste.

Tentative schedule:
12:00-12:45 pm - Potluck
12:45-2:15 pm - Make our own frozen food
2:15-3:00 pm - Clean up, hang out, and eat dessert while our food freezes on dry ice

Potluck
Please post what you'll be bringing so that we don't get repeats of the same thing. We'll need some entrees, sides, and desserts. BAR will provide the beverages, paper plates, cups, napkins, and utensils.

Food Making
What to bring:
  1. A cooler to transport your food home with you.
  2. BAR will be providing quart sized Ziploc bags to make frozen flats of food. If you'd prefer to make cubes, please bring some ice cube trays in the cube size that is appropriate for your tank. For example, regular sized ice cube trays will make food cubes that are way too big for most smaller tanks. They make some nice mini ice cube trays :)
BAR will be providing a variety of seafood, algae, and supplements (Selcon, Garlic Xtreme, etc). You'll be able to decide on your own recipe based on the inhabitants of your tank and then have fun blending it all up! This is a great option since you can tailor your food to herbivores, carnivores, or both! You can even make a couple different blends. Everyone will get to go home with a flat or two of their own frozen food blend! BAR will be providing dry ice to quickly freeze everyone's food and to put in your cooler for transport home.

Please remember to RSVP! This is very important! If you end up not being able to make it, please change your RSVP or let me know. I don't want a ton of seafood to go to waste.
 
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Fish mush parties are always fun. Luis Rocha, Matt Wandell, Rich Ross, or Charles Delbeek of the Steinhart Aquarium are all good local speakers to tap into. I think Jake Adams will be speaking at SCMAS in June (with all the latest lowdown on the newest aquarium gear) on a Friday night..you could piggy back a Saturday speaking gig.
 
rygh said:
Sounds like fun.
Although potluck + fish mush, somehow seems ... wrong. (A good thing)
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We would definitely keep them separate. I'm thinking we eat first (before everyone is grossed out by mushed up seafood) and then after we eat we can bust out the food making supplies.
 
Sorry for my ignorance but what does "seafood and supplies" include? Are trays for making the cubes included?! Do we just pick out the foods we want, put it in a baggie for transport home, and then put it in the trays in the freezer?!

My fish (tangs, angels, clowns, etc.) eat only dried food (pellets, flakes) now but this sounds like a tasty treat for them and a fun thing to do so I would be interested in coming to the event.
 
Probably can't make it unfortunately. I would have loved to bring some home make goldfish crackers (recent fun cooking project).
 
Geneva Wong said:
Sorry for my ignorance but what does "seafood and supplies" include? Are trays for making the cubes included?! Do we just pick out the foods we want, put it in a baggie for transport home, and then put it in the trays in the freezer?!

My fish (tangs, angels, clowns, etc.) eat only dried food (pellets, flakes) now but this sounds like a tasty treat for them and a fun thing to do so I would be interested in coming to the event.
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We'd supply the fresh seafood, nori, and lots of other ingredients. We'd also have a blender and trays for everyone to use. Then everyone could just pick out their ingredients and blend them up and then take them home in a tray in their cooler to freeze.
 
Hmmm, I think I might be interested in this. Although I do have to say the smell of seafood does make me quite queasy. When I took my wife to Fisherman's Wharf she said I turned quite green when I walked buy one of the outdoor crab boiling pots :D

If anything I'd be interested in seeing what goes into a seafood nugget.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Hmmm, I think I might be interested in this. Although I do have to say the smell of seafood does make me quite queasy. When I took my wife to Fisherman's Wharf she said I turned quite green when I walked buy one of the outdoor crab boiling pots :D

If anything I'd be interested in seeing what goes into a seafood nugget.
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Luckily with the room we have at Chabot, you can easily step outside to get some fresh air. We could even move some tables outside to do it if the smell is too intense.
 
From someone that makes aquarium feeds... If you make seafood blends, you'll want to freeze them the second you make it.... and you'll want to transport them frozen as well. Freezing it quick is the most ideal method, otherwise you'll have degradation of the protein, and other issues as well.
 
Perhaps using whatever grinding method used do so on partially frozen seafood so that you don't have to bring down the temperature too much to achieve a good solid freeze... of course if you use a meat grinder be careful about it breaking :D
 
Good points! I did read that a lot of people freeze all the seafood before processing it, so that it doesn't take long to freeze it. I could also look into getting some dry ice.

As an alternative, Dan that works at Neptunes got in touch with me to tell he's been making his own food and he uses vegetable glycerine in his food. Apparently it has a lower freezing point, so the food actually stays in liquid form in the fridge so you don't have to thaw it, which would be convenient. Anyone have any experience with that?
 
FeliciaLynn said:
Good points! I did read that a lot of people freeze all the seafood before processing it, so that it doesn't take long to freeze it. I could also look into getting some dry ice.

As an alternative, Dan that works at Neptunes got in touch with me to tell he's been making his own food and he uses vegetable glycerine in his food. Apparently it has a lower freezing point, so the food actually stays in liquid form in the fridge so you don't have to thaw it, which would be convenient. Anyone have any experience with that?
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Greetings fellow reefers! My name is Dan...I work at Neptune Aquatics in Milpitas, CA. I've probably met some of you at the shop...If not, I hope to meet you guys at future meetings. I've yet to attend but am trying to get more involved in reef clubs. I enjoy reefing for personal enrichment and pleasure...but what I really enjoy is getting together with my reefing buddys and geek out on corals and fish. Anyways, now that formalities are out of the way, back to the topic at hand.

Glycerin is used in many progressive reef foods...Some brands that I've found in Europe( Ocean Delight) and there's a plankton based food by Liquid Life that uses a blend of phyto and zooplankton and cyclops. However, these commercial foods are quite expensive...15€ or ~ 30$ US... but you can get a gallon of food grade glycerin online for 10-15$ and most other fresh ingredients at the seafood section or from most fish stores.

It's neat stuff. Like Felicia has mentioned it has a lower freezing point... so in the freezer it stays in a liquid state making it easier to feed(no thawing). It also acts as a preservative and a mild carbon source. Mild carbon dosing helps proliferate beneficial denitrifying bacteria that outcompetes nuisance bacterias (diatom, cyano, dinos etc) and nuisance algaes as well . One does need to be cautious of overfeeding, as overdosing carbon can cause a disruption in biological activity...but you shouldnt be overfeeding anyways...in fact, this might even provide some much needed discipline to all you heavy handed feeders! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Glycerin is also sugar based, so it actually triggers an impressive feeding response from corals and fish. Even fish and corals have a sweettooth!!

I havent found much comprehensive data on this subject online so I understand that this may leave some of you skeptical... but I have been using glycerin based foods for almost a year and have had great results. I have also provided a link to a european company that employs this same method.

http://www.phytoplus.co.uk/#!product/prd1/1510159085/marine-phytoplankton-algae-paste-ocean-delight

In conclusion, I hope this sheds some light on this topic. I'll be working on some various recipes in the following weeks, so I hope to bring some samples to the June meeting if its still happening. I look forward to meeting some of you guys!

Thanks,
Dan
 
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Hi Felicia - the time listed up in the right hand corner is 1-3. Would potluck be from 1-2 and then fish food from 2-3 for those who may not be able to do both (if that is allowed)? Thanks!
 
I smoke vegetable glycerin, haha no it's not a joke...

My experience with glycerin comes with my E-Cigarette habit, I kicked tobacco cigarettes 3 years ago and since I've been mixing my own "e-liquid" which goes into electronic cigarettes, it turns to harmless vapor and acts as a vehicle to deliver nicotine, I figure if it's safe for me to consume & inhale then it should be fine for my fishes. I know nothing about glycerin in fish food but that's my experience with it haha.
 
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