Week Four

[Chasman]

Today is the end of week 4 of running my tank with LR only and the Cheato algae in the HOB refugium. Everything looks good. Plenty of pods and other micro organisms crusing around. Used some Joes Juice to kill off a few anenomes. (That stuff works quite well.) Never had much of a detectable cycle though. Tank perameters are:

30 gal
Ammonia = 0 (always did, even with the Salifert test kit)
PH = 8.2
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0 (maybe a slight amount, hard to tell. Salifert and IO test kit)
Temp = 80
Salinity = 33 ppt (I'm working on slowly raising that)
Lighting = 2-10,000 31 watt; and 2-Actinic 31 watt ( Both 30 inches)

I have two snails as hitch hickers that from Tim's "read before asking post" seem to be Cerith's. One I'm pretty sure is. Looks like a tiny checkered flag. The other I'm not so sure. It has a long snout and looks a bit like a very small conk of some kind. (I would take a pic but my camera can't handle it) Should I get rid of it to be safe? They both seem to be happy eating algae.

I have the filter sponges for my quarantine tank in the canister filter to get the cycle. Do you think it is time to take those out and run my quarantine tank yet.

Lastly, for this size tank I can't seem to find what would make up a good clean-up crew. Most recommendations appear to be way too much in my mind. And when would be a good time to introduce them?

[Ninong]

Be careful of hitchhiker snails that you can't identify, especially any that look like small conchs. You certainly don't want any nasty welks in your tank. The one that looks like a small checkered flag is probably not a cerith. As with all hitchhikers, you need to be fairly confident of the identification before allowing them to remain. This is especially true of crabs but it can be important with certain snails, too.
The clean-up crew can be added as soon as the ammonia and nitrite readings are down and the nitrate reading is reasonable. In your case, that means now. The size of the clean-up crew depends on the size of your aquarium and the amount of available food. In your case, that means a very small clean-up crew to start. It also depends on whether you have a sand bed or not.

Obviously this will make it very difficult to order anything online for a small tank that has just been set up because you don't need very much of anything now. You are just about forced to try to find stuff locally unless you can get in on a group order with other local hobbyists.

Assuming you have a sand bed -- you didn't say -- then I would try to find maybe three or four Nassarius vibex snails. These are sand-dwelling carrion-eaters. You need a sand bed and you will have to feed them tiny pellets or tiny pieces of meaty foods a couple of times a week until your tank is more mature.

Two or three ceriths would be nice, assuming you have a sand bed. They especially like to cruise the sand bed next to the glass. Two or three trochus snails would be very nice. You could add one Mexican turbo snail if you're so inclined. Or not. Depends on you.

Except for the Nassarius, all of those are grazers. If there is no algae (which includes diatoms) for them to eat, then you will have to add a little something. I have found that sinking pellets designed for carnivores work very well for feeding Nassarius vibex and broken up pieces of sinking algae wafers designed for goldfish work very well for grazing snails and hermit crabs. Don't add any hermit crabs at all until you have decided for yourself if you really want them. Even if you think you want them, just add two and then wait several months to see if you really want more. I would suggest scarlet reef hermits (Paguristes cadenati) for anyone who has decided they would like to try a few hermit crabs.

Your tank is really not large enough to sustain any conchs (e.g. fighting conchs - Strombus alatus) or any sand-bed mopping cucumbers. Those should only be added after a tank has had time to mature for several months and only if the sand bed is large enough to sustain them. A very small fighting conch and a very small sand cuke might survive for 18 months or so in a 55-gal or larger tank with lots of open sand bed. They really need tanks larger than that to last longer.

I would not add any fish to any aquarium until after it has been set up at least five weeks. Ideally you should set up your quarantine tank at least a week or two before putting any new fish in it. The new fish should be quarantined for a minimum of 21 days but 30-45 days would be better. I guess that means you should start setting up your quarantine tank now.

[Chasman]

Thanks Ninong

I don't have a deep sand bed in the DT. The refugium holds that. The DT has an argonite base medium fine sand less than an inch deep.

I agree with removing the hitch hicker snails. Just in case. I'm not big on hermit crabs, don't really want them. I do have reasonable algae growth to support some grazing.

I am also lucky to have two very good marine stores locally so I shouldn't have to order anything. Minus the sand bed, what snails would you suggest. I wasn't quite clear on your post what would make sense. Would a peppermint shrimp or something similar be OK along with a couple of snails?

I will start the quarantine tank next week so it will be at least five weeks before any fish are introduced. This sized tank can probably only handle two small clowns and maybe one other small reef type fish. That's Ok though, that's what I wanted.

[Ninong]

Unless your sand bed is at least 1.5-2.0" deep, then I would probably not go with the Nassarius vibex snails. I think a couple of ceriths might be okay with just a 1" sand bed. You could try a couple of Nassarius to see how they work out. They bury themselves just under the surface of the sand bed.

The most important grazers are trochus snails. I would get at least three or four of those guys.

You don't really need any hermits at all. You don't really need any ornamental shrimp at all either; however, later on, you might want to consider a pair of Lysmata amboinensis just for the fun of it. It's fun to watch them set up a cleaner station and then wait to see which fish will take advantage of the free cleaning services and which will not.

[Chasman]

Got it. I'm sure I can get these snails locally. The reason I asked about the shrimp is I like them. But I'll wait a bit to get a few more miles on the tank before I put a shrimp in.

Thanks again