New to the Nano reef

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KF,

I have this pellet food called Boyds VitaDiet. I throw a pinch of them in and the clowns eat it and spit it back out. So, I started giving them Formula A, a frozen food made up of a ton of stuff (shrimp, krill, clam, crab, squid, etc.) And the Gren Flower Pot hass been getting a marine plankton meal with plankton, cyclopeeze, etc.
 
Is it Formula A or Formula One?

This is one of the foods I use:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8159&N=2004+6120

I always found most of my fish are not that interested in pellets or flake so I stick with frozen.

I use a razor and cut a cube of mysis, a cube of formula one, a cube of dwarf angel food and a cube of bloodworms into fourths. Then I feed the tank with a little cube of each every day. Sometimes I mix it up and substitute Brine for the bloodworms.
Now 1 total cube is to much for just a couple clowns.

Get some frozen mysis. Cut it in half. Thaw it however you like (tank water or rinse it like KF). Feed half to the clowns maybe half hour before lights out. Wait about 15 minutes after lights out and see if the feeding tentacles come out of the candycane. If so spot feed the remaining mysis into the tentacles with your baster. Whatever the candycane doesn't get your clowns or cleanup crew will. I would only do this 2 times a week though (candycanes don't need to eat a lot).
 
I have been feeding everything in the morning. I will change to evenings starting tomorrow.

It is formula A. But it looks like the formula 1 stuff, except its in the shape of triangles. I cut them into fourths and feed it to the clowns. As for the flower pot, I use a little squirt of the marine plankton and spot feed it with a baster, just squirt it a little above the tentacles and let it drift down onto them. semms to be working. But i feed the flower pot every day. Same with the clowns.
 
If you want you can keep feeding them in the morning and save a half of the mysis for the candycane in the evening.

I found a cool little automatic frozen food dispenser, it releases frozen food over several hours in the tank. I ordered it and hope to get it going asap to see how it works.
 
Let me know how the auto feeder works. That sounds pretty cool.

What is mysis? Is that the same thing as the frozen formula A?
 
Mysis is probaby the best, or at least one of the best, marine foods out there...it does have by far the best nutritional value of any other frozen food...it contains more of the "good stuff" than the others (like fatty acids, etc.)...it comes frozen in about 1/4" by 1/2" cubes and they come in a sheet of like 30 cubes for about $7...for 2 clowns in my nano, a full sheet of mysis can feed them for up to 3 months... :D
 
So mysis is mainly shrimp. Where as the formula A is a mix of several different types of food.

I will pick some of the mysis up for my calustrea.
 
How much of a portion of my frozen "cubes" should I feed the two clowns? I cut it into quarters or thirds and mix it with water from a tank. Then I squirt it into the tank via a turkey baster. The fish eat but they look like they want more. They kind of swim in the vicinity after the food is gone. I then feel guilty and drop a few pellets of the VitaDiet in. The fish then eat the pellets and then spit them out, and eat the pellets and spit them out.

What should I be doing/not doing to keep them happy? They seem fine, but I want to be sure they are getting enough to eat.
 
Steve, I target feed the flower pot every 3 days, it something I followed when I fed the LPS I had, Colin has them now.

Colin, I have GOT to see the feeder the frozen food feeder! That way the clowns get fed on time, they usually let me know I am late.

King, great shot of the emerald crab! I only see mine when I doing maintenace and usually it is a suprise!

Sulkatch, I feed the equivalent of a whole cube. I soak in RO and drain then add selcon and feed. With coral and cleaners in the tank they should eat the rest of the food if in supension. With proper maintenance it should not be a problem. If you get heavy algae outbreaks then you know it is too much. I always underfed when I started, the more I read the more I fed. I think I have a good balance now.
 
Colin, I would like to see it. It looks pretty ingenious. Can I get that live sand from you? How the flame angel behaving?

Tom
 
Hey Tom,

When do you want to get the LS? Anytime is fine with me.

Flame is perfect. 2 of my blasto welsi's crapped out on me (The red and the mint green centered one). I think he nipped them since they were the fleshiest things in the tank.

Stop by soon and I'll give you the red and you might still be able to save it (It was perfect yesterday, tonight it is retracted).

Check out Uber in the SPS forum, I upgraded my hood and am taking the plunge and have some questions :)
 
Thanks guys. I have actually noticed that the cleaners (a bunch of them) get in the front of the tank in the morning and whatever falls to the ground after I put it in the tank, they go to town on.

So, fish every day, and corals, every three days?
 
I feed the tank daily, clowns twice flake in the am, and target feed every 3 days, about twice a week. I believe in feeding the tank. I never used to feed at all, after the tank was established. One of my early mentors told me that an established tank should have all the nutrients for all. My fish and coral thrived and grew. After more study, I started to feed the tank, with ALL inhabitants in mind. WOW what a difference in color and growth. The tank got dirtier faster but, with good husbandry it never became a problem.

I will post a pic of my flower pot tommorrow when it was full. I did notice alot of recession today, I trimmed alot of macro algae in the frag tank and did some fragging this weekend. I also redid my 10 gallon totally. Like starting over practically.

Tom
 
Fish and cleaners definitely become creatures of habit...my snails and hermits definitely know the second the food hits the water and they all scurry about claiming their little bits and pieces...

My clowns have become so adjusted to my feeding method in such a short about of timet that they will actually nip at the end of the turkey baster if I'm not putting enough in the tank quickly enough for them...they'll gulp down what is floating in front of them and immediately go up to the end of the turkey baster and try to eat what is coming out of the end before it's even out of the end... :lmao:
 
Checked with nanotuners about the hood from the JBJ 28g Nano Cube HQI for the 24g JBJ and they say it should be available mid march and the hood and ballast should run about 350.
 
Guys,

I think I am going to throw up. I was in the kitchen getting some water, whe I thought I heard water and a whooshing behind me. I go into the living room and there is bubbles coming out of the pump return and water coming out OF THE BOTTOM of the cube. No cracked glass, but it looked like it was coming out of where the black back met the glass. Out of nowhere, its just pouring out. I had two empty buckets I use for water changes, so I grabbed the clowns and the corals and a few pieces of LR and put them in one with a heater and pump, and threw the rest of the LR in another, with the other heater and pump (thank you Colin, for telling em to grab extras).

I called JBJ freaking out. They told me as soon as I mailed them a copy of the receipt and pictures they would send me another one. I told them I have livestock and LR in buckets and that I was going out tomorrow to get another one if they didn't send one. I have no idea where the woman has the receipt, and I did take pics (being the attorney that I am), but I have a ton of cleaning up to do. He says the UPS truck is coming in 15 minutes and I told him he needs to send me one or pay me for the one I buy tomorrow. So, his name is Borite, he agrees to send me another one overnight, and let me get the receipt and pics out when I get a chance.

Definitely a nice guy.

Thank god. I am freaking out. Do you guys think the fish and corals will be OK? I have the heater and pump going and the temp is within where it should be. The cleaning crew and LR is the same way. Borite told me to unhinge the canopy and put it on top of the bucket to give the coral light, but there is water dripping out of the ballast, so I won't be doing that. I told them that they got a whole day full of light and it was almost time where I would be turning them off anyway and he said they should be alright.

UGH!!!!!!!!!! Thoughts, anyone, on anything else I can do to keep the corals and fish OK?
 
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