Blue leg hermits?

fattyratrat · #1 01/04/2008, 05:29 PM

I have a 60 gallon tank.. it has been cycling for about a week now, and I was up buying a calcium supp. when they guy at the LFS said i should put some blue leg hermits in there to eat some algae and detrius. I was skeptical because of amonia spikes, ph swings, and all that lovely stuff in the cycling process, but he said they were super hardy. Today is their second day and they are being so much more sluggish today than yesterday.. they barely move. Was this a stupid move for listening to him? and will the hermits hurt anything in my reef to come?

thanks.

orbit · #2 01/04/2008, 05:32 PM

it might have been little early to start adding any kind of cuc

what were the readings? i dont think u need to dose with calcium so early

and blue hermit are reef safe, they do however will attack a snail to get its shell if u dont provide enough shell in the tank for it to move into

fattyratrat · #3 01/04/2008, 05:36 PM

the ammonia was the first bar up on the scale, and nitrite was the second bar up on the scale.. not horrible, but not good.

I am dosing calcium for two reasons. one, I have a calcium loving macro algae that came on a rock that i would love to take off, and two, i would like coraline algae to take over... Are there any issues with calcium this early?

thanks for your help.