Only time I ever shut off the pumps or power heads is for cleaning them otherwise they always run.

Don't worry about your crabs and snails they will always find stuff to eat

Same here
I never turn off my powerheads other than for cleaning

The food will spread around well enough for everyone to find some with the powerheads on

Vortech and Tunze controlled units have a feed mode, but I never turn down my MP10s. It gives everyone a workout chasing the food

Sorry about your fish :sad:
Hate to say it, but it probably won't be your last loss. I've been at this for under a year and have lost 4 already. It's just part of the hobby :wink:

I also turn it off because the food just gets brought down to my sump through the overflow if I don't turn off my return pump

I normally just hit the standby mode on my reef keeper and radions which puts the mp10's in feed mode and seems to work really well for me. Reason why I turn the return pump off is so the food doesn't get sucked in the sump, and at the same time the reefkeeper also shuts off the skimmer (flooding issues) and shuts of the ato so the alarm doesn't get tripped from all.the water in the sump... Walk away and 10 min later it all turns on automatically.

I never turn the mp10's pumps completely off though.