Just saying hi with a few questions :)

[lvnlife23]

Hi everyone! I'm about 6 months new to the saltwater aquarium world I have a 120 gallon tank currently I have 7 pieces of live rock, sand, about 9 hermit crabs, 5 green chromis, 1 clownfish, 1 orange spotted blenny, and my new baby as of yesterday 1 diamond back goby. I want to eventually get LED lights and buy coral... and with that being said is it necessary to have my skimmer hooked up yet? I bought along with everything else when I initially set up the tank. All of my levels have been great! No Nitrites or Nitrates etc. Also when should I buy snails or conch's? I don't have much growth so don't want to get buy and they don't have much to eat... but I did read you can supplement with seaweed I believe.

 

[ThatNewFishGuy]

I would go ahead and start running the skimmer. It might not actually produce a lot of skimmate since your lightly stocked for a 120 but atleast you can brake it in and proceed foward with adding livestock.

You can add snails and conch whenever you want but like you mentioned, don't overdo it. Some of the cleaner packs that lfs and online retailers sell are way too many to add all at once for most systems IMO.

I haven't heard anything about supplementing with seaweed myself.

and welcome to the forum!

 

[greech]

Agree completely with running the skimmer. Assuming it is a good skimmer, no reason not to run it.

Not all snails eat algae or detritus. Nassarius snails will mostly go after left over foods but would definitely munch on an algae sheet. A conch or two will also be fine in a 120. Should be plenty of detritus for them. A half dozen small turbos or Astraea type snails should also be fine and you can increase from there as needed.

Does the tank have lights on it at all? I don't see you needing to feed anything to the snails in a 120 with only 9 hermits.

As mentioned, start small and add as you need to.