I just put in my tank on sunday feb. 11th 3 astoria crabs and two hermit crabs. I noticed a couple days ago that one of the astoria snails was not moving much. Today i decided to investigate and sure enough it was dead. i took it out and noticed a strong smell, not very nice one. I was wondering if a water change will be necessary or if i should let the filter work its magic?Also i have not gotten the protein skimmer yet but i am getting one in 2 weeks.
strange smell
- Thread starter Nick540
- Start date
Right now the filter and the live rock are the only things cycling the tank. i know this can take up to 30 days and mine has been on its "natural cycle" for 2 weeks. Th rest of the inverts are doing fine. If the dead snail will help with the cycling should i put it back in? there are no fish or corals in the tank yet.
this is the tank so far.
this is the tank so far.
it isnt good to have any livestock in a tank. form my experience, snails are much more sensitive to things like that than many people thing. the best way to cycle is with a dead cocktail shrimp (or in your case, maybe a snail) and jsut letting it rot without anything but water, salt, sand, and liverock. then once everything checks out, you can add the clean up crew about a week later, and if everything is still good, your first fish a week after that.
glad to see you are doing a fishless cycle though.
glad to see you are doing a fishless cycle though.
if anything the crabs will eat it, you need something to start the cycle and that would do it. The tank will smell wile the cycle is starting. You may also want to add a powerhead in there to help circulate, and if on a low budget you may want to invest in a hydor instead of a wavemaker.