New 30gal setup

[clown-lover]

Here is the latest update. Last night around midnight I decided to do a few water tests. Test them again this morning and this evening and came up with the same results.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20

Would it be safe to do my large water change and introduce a few snails and maybe a hermit or two?

Sounds like it to me.. Just make sure to slowly add whatever your going to add so you don't over tax your bio-load. (I made that mistake once).. As far as your cleanup crew goes I would add waste food eaters and possibly diatoms type critters for now. Hopefully you don't have any algae issues.. but you can add those types as those issues develop (hopefully not)..

You can probably even start adding a fish or two..

 

[Reefscape]

yes, i agree....all sounds good to me...i would give it a couple of day from the water change for all to settle, then you can slowly start to stock...

Niko

 

[Tikidude]

Unfortunately, I do have some hair algae that came on my tonga branch rock. It has continued to flourish in my tank and I'm gonna have to do something to get it under control.

I just don't know what I want to start with. I'm not really worried about the diatoms because they should go away on their own. I need to focus I guess on algae to start. I'm thinking a few small cerith snails (I have read they will eat hair algae and diatom) and a hermit crab to start.

What's your thoughts on this?

 

[clown-lover]

Unfortunately, I do have some hair algae that came on my tonga branch rock. It has continued to flourish in my tank and I'm gonna have to do something to get it under control.

I just don't know what I want to start with. I'm not really worried about the diatoms because they should go away on their own. I need to focus I guess on algae to start. I'm thinking a few small cerith snails (I have read they will eat hair algae and diatom) and a hermit crab to start.

What's your thoughts on this?

Ceriths are good a good multi-functional algae eater. I have yet to see mine go on the glass however. (just for your own info) In fact other than my
Nassarius Snail attempting to and falling off the glass, the only snail I have that actually keeps the glass clean are the turbos.

Crabs.. I like the blue and red legged personally. But again this depends on what you are going to do with the tank. If you eventually plan on a reef then stay along those lines of tempermant. I like the ones that are peaceful/reef compatable (there are more than just the red and blue.. The zebra, yellow tip etc). However both the red and blue will also eat algae.

Some people have run into issues with their Emeralds etc. But they might have been opportunistic as well, I can't say that I have personally seen one attach a fish. In fact if you went with a completely carnivorous speciment I would set up some sort of feeding hut (glass jar that it can fit in with some shreaded up prawns etc) that it can snack on throughout the day. One thing I have seen in my own crabs is that they constantly look for food.

I've read about one person around here having a Sally Lightfoot (maybe they'll chime in.) It really boils down to reading, and testing with what is going to work for you... Deal with someone that if you buy a larger crab and you need to return it.. They'll take it back in trade for something else.

 

[Tikidude]

I did a great big water change and all the water parameters were good!

I know have 4 snails (2 cerinth and 2 astrea) and 2 hermit crabs. One hermit is a blue leg and is tiny. THe second one is also small and has blue on his legs as well. My concern is they didn't give me any empty shells for them. How soon should I worry about them needing a new home? The snails are much larger than the crabs and the crabs haven't been paying them any attention. Will I be safe until next weekend?

I tested the ammonia and it is still 0. They have been in the tank about 24 hours at this point.

 

[Grins]

I'd get some shells right away. Not tonight of course but when you can. They'll not only trade up for a snail's shell but another hermit's.

 

[Subliminal]

Because you used good cured live rock and good live sand, your cycle is/was going to be very short. Nice thing about paying a little extra at start up, you don't have to wait a month or longer, usually.

As to the hair algae, that's a tough one. You never really know where the rocks come from, before you got them, so you don't know if they were exposed to phosphates before you had them, in which case they could have soaked up some and it will just have to be eaten out of your tank by the algae, and when it's gone, the algae will go away too.

Which is what I'm hoping eventually happens in my tank.

Because you don't have any corals yet, if you wanted to, you could throw a blanket over your tank and turn the lights off for a couple of days and it might just kill the algae.

There's about 100 remedies for algae outbreaks, and all of them work about 50% of the time. Ha.

Looks good though, very nice start!

 

[Tikidude]

Well, just for everyones information, Astrea snails do an AMAZING job on hair algae. The two I have are hair eating demons. It is amazing how cleanly they are removing it also.

 

[OgreMkV]

Tikidude, you are very inspiring for someone considering a SW tank. Thank you for your detailed report and the tank looks great.

 

[Tikidude]

Thanks Ogre for the compliment. The reason I started this thread was so hopefully it would help others setting up their tank. I hope it does.