I crossed over 1st sw 29g from day 1.-

[apelaston]

K am starting to plan for my cleanup crew but am not sure what I need\want. I know I want a pistol shrimp and a cleaner shrimp and anything else that is reef friendly. Any suggestions? I have looked up prepackaged CUC on the web and they are all sooo different. I am open to all suggestions.

I have 6 hermit crabs now that came with my rocks... but what kind of snails, shrimps, crabs, urchins, stars? whatever. Help me out please.

 

[apelaston]

tests all down to zero today!!! I checked it twice!

Ok I took my water tests this morning to see how I was doing and nothing. Everything is zero and pH is still 8.3 6 hours later I checked again to see if I was crazy and 0 across the boards again.

So anyways I went to LPS and got a few more pieces of live rock, a small crab that I am going to need help Identifying(freebie from my friend that works there), 2 turbo snails, and also a lawnmower blenny. I know he wasn't in the plans, but he is pretty small and was only 7.00 and he batted his eyelashes at me I HAD TO! I was already checked out when I saw him...lol had to checkout again...erg. lol

I will post pictures later after my camera battery charges and the blenny gets more comfortable in his new home...he has been in for about an hour now and has explored about half of the tank so I am pretty pleased already...:hypnotized:

But can someone tell me what they feed there lawnmower? I know what the LPS guy said, but I want a few other opinions as well.....i was not thrilled with his answers..

 

[apelaston]

new pics of my rockscape and lawnmower blenny
(i think i am going to have to go buy a magfloat to get these walls clear..ugh just sand dust on them..)

The blenny has discovered the whole tank and does not seem timid at all....she ccomes out even if i am standing at the tank looking at her.@! woohoo

 

[kcress]

Is she eating?? What is she eating?

 

[apelaston]

Is she eating?? What is she eating?

The lawnmower blenny from everything that I read eats mainly off of the live rocks and glass, so I am going to let one side of my glass go without scraping it of algea or whatever--it doesn't have any on it yet....but she has been picking at the live rocks plenty and seems pretty comfortable in the tank. I dropped in some formula 1 last night just to try but she didn't show interest in it just like I figured but my hermits LOVED it....so I am going to get some seaweed sheets and anchor it against a rock ...it has to be on a flat surface, not floating for them to eat off of it and give that a try....

 

[Ace25]

I take it the word "patience" isn't in your vocabulary? Where in the "cycling" thread did it say that it would be ok to add fish after just 1 week (other than the "use damsel to cycle" method, which is highly frowned upon)? I wouldn't even think of adding a fish to a new tank until week 6.

IMO you have already messed up your tank. You should not have done that 5G water change until at least 21 days after setup. You broke the cycle doing so. You are supposed to watch the ammonia rise for about a week, then start to slowly drop and nitrites start to rise, then fall to zero and nitrates rise to around 20. That is the point you are supposed to do your FIRST water change.. at the point where you have zero ammonia/nitrites and nitrates are a little high. The water change will get rid of the nitrates. By doing the water change early, you have removed some of the ammonia and nitrites, which slows down the cycle to a crawl, making you just about have to start over again on the cycle.

 

[apelaston]

I take it the word "patience" isn't in your vocabulary? Where in the "cycling" thread did it say that it would be ok to add fish after just 1 week (other than the "use damsel to cycle" method, which is highly frowned upon)? I wouldn't even think of adding a fish to a new tank until week 6.

IMO you have already messed up your tank. You should not have done that 5G water change until at least 21 days after setup. You broke the cycle doing so. You are supposed to watch the ammonia rise for about a week, then start to slowly drop and nitrites start to rise, then fall to zero and nitrates rise to around 20. That is the point you are supposed to do your FIRST water change.. at the point where you have zero ammonia/nitrites and nitrates are a little high. The water change will get rid of the nitrates. By doing the water change early, you have removed some of the ammonia and nitrites, which slows down the cycle to a crawl, making you just about have to start over again on the cycle.

I am a stay at home mom and teeball coach so patience is my first name....
anyways I was taking the advice from ppl here at this site as how to cycle my tank, and I was told to do the water change IMMEDIATELY when my ammonia level spiked above 1.0 so I did...i did watch the trites and trates both rise and fall. I don't nkow if the fact that I was using already seeded sand(straight from someone else's tank all but 5lbs.) was the trick to why my tank has cycled so fast and that the only thing that would have die off was the live rock which was supposed to be already fully cured..

either way, sorry you feel that i didn't wait out the process, but i did not put the damsels in any harm. as soon as the levels rose I got rid of them to someone with a 125 gal reef. that has been up for 2yrs now..they are still alive and well in his tank.

I have not checked the water parems yet today because I have been PATIENTLY dealing with a very very sick 2yr old, but will do so now that he is napping. If for any reason the levels are high I will do a water change.

Glad you think that my tank is a failure.....thanks for taking the time to message me just to be negative, but thank you for typing out the cycling process for me, I will (honestly) put that to use once I get this tank set up and start my 55gal salt tank.

Ace I have seen pics from you and read your posts a ton and do greatly appreciate any help that you would have for me from here on out. *truce?

 

[kcress]

What are your water parms now?

 

[HaKs310]

Is this going to be a FOWLR or reef tank? Either way I would go ahead and get more LR, aim for having somewhere around 35-40lbs. Make sure it is compltely cured. This should be all the filtration you will need. I would keep that HOB filter and run some carbon and phosphate remover in it. When you head out go ahead and grab some brown algea for your Lawnmower blenny, they also sell it in sheets.

 

[apelaston]

Is this going to be a FOWLR or reef tank? Either way I would go ahead and get more LR, aim for having somewhere around 35-40lbs. Make sure it is compltely cured. This should be all the filtration you will need. I would keep that HOB filter and run some carbon and phosphate remover in it. When you head out go ahead and grab some brown algea for your Lawnmower blenny, they also sell it in sheets.

I am going to be getting more rock about 30lbs or so..i am going for a reef, but for awhile until i get the correct lighting and the rest of my rocks, clean up crew, etc...

I have carbon here that I am going to run a few days a week in one filter, but not going to leave it in all the time.

Thankks for your feedback.

As for the lawnmower ---The brown algea--can't i buy nori at the grocery store and give to him?