Nori as food?

[Brent F]

I have a tank with invertebrates that I need to suplement feed because there isn't enough algae. I have heard mixed opinions about using Nori from a grocery store. Some say it is great for feeding algae eaters, others say don't use because phosphates will go up. Also, are dried sheets or the natural dried nori better?

Any suggestions for feeding algae eaters?

[Delphinus]

I feed nori more or less every day, about 1/6 of a sheet (2"x3" approx). I do so primarily for my tang and rabbits but most everyone picks at it, including urchins and abalones. It does seem to be a source of PO4, but .. well, I think the benefits of feeding it outweigh the negatives of PO4 because you can remove PO4 by GFO in a Phosban reactor, or grow macro algae in a refugium, or go Zeovit and so on.

I don't know about "dried" or "natural dried" - everytime I buy nori the choices appear to be dried, roasted, or seasoned or something like that. I stay away from seasoned and roasted. I figure the less complicated the preparation, the better.

[Brent F]

Yes, it is unlikely seasoning is good for the tank.

If you go to Chinatown they have the dried nori not made into sheets for adding to soups. Maybe that is the same "roasted" you are talking about.

[Delphinus]

Not sure. The packages at Co-Op usually just say dried and that's good enough for me. Sometimes I'll notice the exact same looking package but it will say roasted, so I just opt for the ones that say dried. If I'm by T&T or Shun Fat I might look for a package but I'm usually set, one package usually lasts me a good couple of months so I'm rarely needing more when I'm by those places. Nevertheless I'm amazed at how many different varieties there are at T&T and the range of colours even, but since I can't read what the package says I end up just buying the simple ones at Co-Op. :lol: I need to go to T&T with someone who can read the stuff to explain to me what the choices all are. :lol: