Hello~
I had originally posted this in the New Reefkeeper forum, but it probably should have gone here. *hehehehe* I'm such a n00b~ 8O Anyhow, I'm pretty new to the reef-keeping hobby in practice, although it has been a research obsession of mine for the last couple of years. I had bought and set up an 12 gallon NanoCube (deluxe) in Toronto a year and a half ago, but wound up taking everything apart and giving it away when I moved out of the country. I just bought another 12g NanoCube from someone else (who was moving out of the state) and it has been up and running for about 2 years. When I got the tank home I changed the light (the previous owner had 10000K daylight, I replaced it with 50/50...since it's the older model nano, that's only 24W), added a some more sand, and moved things around a bit (to make some new hiding places for the maroon clown that came with it and to increase water flow). Sofar everything has been fine in terms of levels and pH. The inhabitants include: 3 blue-leg hermits, 1 red-leg hermit, 5 astrea snails, 1 bumblebee snail, lots of tube-worms (both small and large), a few small bristle worms, 2 red anemones (and a few of their offspring), a large colony of zooanthids, miscelaneous sponges and a large maroon clownfish. You can see a pic of the setup and the zoos in the new reefkeeper forum, or I can repost them here if you'd like~
Anyhow, I just have a couple of questions that hopefully you(all) can help me with!:
i. When I first got the zoos, they were pretty much just brown. Since then they have looked more golden (with pinkish edges), but now they look green~ish in the morning and grey~ish by the afternoon. I'm just wondering if they're okay or if I should be worried about them. They're in an area with good flow (there's an extra Rio 600 pump in the tank), and I have been feeding them. The original owner said they were green at one time and I am just wondering if the grey look is just the transition back to green or if there might be something else wrong with them. Have any of you experienced zoo colourchange in your nano setup? other thoughts?
ii. JBJ has a 'surface skimmer' attachment that you can buy for the NanoCubes, is it worth getting one?
iii. I have taken the bioballs out of the back and it was suggested that I should try making the back compartment into a mini refugium. Have any of you done this? What about lighting?
I could really use some advice and I would appreciate any input you can give!
Cheers,
Cat.
I had originally posted this in the New Reefkeeper forum, but it probably should have gone here. *hehehehe* I'm such a n00b~ 8O Anyhow, I'm pretty new to the reef-keeping hobby in practice, although it has been a research obsession of mine for the last couple of years. I had bought and set up an 12 gallon NanoCube (deluxe) in Toronto a year and a half ago, but wound up taking everything apart and giving it away when I moved out of the country. I just bought another 12g NanoCube from someone else (who was moving out of the state) and it has been up and running for about 2 years. When I got the tank home I changed the light (the previous owner had 10000K daylight, I replaced it with 50/50...since it's the older model nano, that's only 24W), added a some more sand, and moved things around a bit (to make some new hiding places for the maroon clown that came with it and to increase water flow). Sofar everything has been fine in terms of levels and pH. The inhabitants include: 3 blue-leg hermits, 1 red-leg hermit, 5 astrea snails, 1 bumblebee snail, lots of tube-worms (both small and large), a few small bristle worms, 2 red anemones (and a few of their offspring), a large colony of zooanthids, miscelaneous sponges and a large maroon clownfish. You can see a pic of the setup and the zoos in the new reefkeeper forum, or I can repost them here if you'd like~
Anyhow, I just have a couple of questions that hopefully you(all) can help me with!:
i. When I first got the zoos, they were pretty much just brown. Since then they have looked more golden (with pinkish edges), but now they look green~ish in the morning and grey~ish by the afternoon. I'm just wondering if they're okay or if I should be worried about them. They're in an area with good flow (there's an extra Rio 600 pump in the tank), and I have been feeding them. The original owner said they were green at one time and I am just wondering if the grey look is just the transition back to green or if there might be something else wrong with them. Have any of you experienced zoo colourchange in your nano setup? other thoughts?
ii. JBJ has a 'surface skimmer' attachment that you can buy for the NanoCubes, is it worth getting one?
iii. I have taken the bioballs out of the back and it was suggested that I should try making the back compartment into a mini refugium. Have any of you done this? What about lighting?
I could really use some advice and I would appreciate any input you can give!
Cheers,
Cat.
