my day at the LFS

[baz]

I went to the LFS today to get some tank cleaning things. While I was there the guy helping me started asking about my tank. I went into explaining that it is cycling with LR and has been about 2 weeks and that my ammonia is right close to 0.0 and that my nitrates and nitrites were still way up and that I was waiting for them to come on down before I put any live stock in. I also mentioned that my PH seemed stuck at 7.8. So he recommended the Kent buffer A&B that he said should help bring it up. I went ahead and bought these as well since I believe that I read something on here that this can help ( plus another 2 LFS had mentioned these also).

My wife while at the store then started asking about how soon we can put some live stock in the tank. Then the LFS guy seemed startled that there was nothing in there other than LR/LS and said I need to put something in there to feed it. This is when he brought up the Damsels. Right away I shot that down as everyone everywhere says how they are a pain to catch ( also how inhumane that has got to be) so he said well these clown fish are pretty hardy too. I think they might have been brought up as my 2 year old was hollering "NEMO DADDY!!!".

After going back and forth with the guy he started going on about getting a cleanup crew into the tank. Now I have thought about this too but not so soon. I was under the impression that everything needs to be close to 0 (zero) before putting any livestock in. Could someone tell me the best time to put in the "crew" and give some pointers as too what works best. I would like a shrimp or 2 along with a few snails and crabs. I did not buckle and left with what i came to get but feel somewhat ****ed. I guess I need to find another LFS.

Also while im going to town typing is there any better test kits where you do not have to match colors up. Man that messes with my eyes if I could get some digital readings that would be great!

Well look foward to your responses and I would like to end this with 3 simple words!!!

PANTHERS SUPERBOWL CHAMPS!!!!

:D

[ab5ebdxer]

It would probably be safe to put some hermit crabs in there and maybe some snails. I would not put any fish in there. You can feed the hermits which will put a load on your tank to help it cycle. If you bought cycled live rock and do not have any thing in the tank that will produce organic waste then your tank might appeared cycled but it most likely does not have the biological filtration that you would like.

Feeding some hermits should test your filtration, the hermits are also tolerant of higher levels of ammonia then fish. I would hold off on the shrimp too.

Good luck

Mike

[ab5ebdxer]

One other thing, you might look into getting some Reef Builder it will help buffer the tank as well with the alk which will help the LR grow.

Mike

[baz]

any certain type of snails and hermits I know some are worse than others!. Also Just a FYI it was figi LR from Liveaquaria.

[ab5ebdxer]

I think blue leg hermits and turbo snails would be a good start. In my experience the turbos are the best for the algae which is sure to come, if not already.

Good luck

Mike

[speccialj922]

even though snails and hermits are hardy for inverts, remember they are inverts. they are very susceptable to stress/death due to nitrites/trates. its ok to add them when trites are 0 and trates are starting to come way down. some will argue that even that is too soon. if youre really worried about algae growth right now, you can scrub and manually remove it from your tank. but you dont need to, its completely normal. with a new tank you dont need to worry about feeding your cleanup crew.

"You can feed the hermits which will put a load on your tank to help it cycle"

"putting a load" on your tank does not help it cycle. in fact it does quite the opposite. it will add nutrients to your tank, as well as ammonia. this is just starting the cycle over again(like adding new uncured live rock in an estabolished tank) especially if your ammo is at 0.

also adding additives to a cycling tank isnt going to do anything, especially since frequent water changes should be done. wait till after your cycle is complete to add anything like that. then a 2 part (calcium and alkalinity) buffer will keep everything in sync for coralline algae.

[Maxxumless]

You were smart to leave the store; you did admirably. I wish I would have been that wise fifteen years ago!

As far as a cleanup crew I would not bother with anything until week 4 and longer still if you do not have algae growing yet. If you have just the regular normal output lights that come with new tanks then you’ll probably not see a lot of algae sprouting yet. If you upgrade to more powerful lights that will change very quickly. Move slowly, get others opinions and you can always come here for advice. As for fish I would not put one in until six weeks has gone by and everything is at zero or unreadable. Nitrates are OK below 10, but don’t bother testing nitrates until nitrites are unreadable because high nitrites will mess up nitrate tests (elevate them) and give you false readings.

Types of cleanup crews are very heated topic, but essentially there are two schools of thought. The ones that like hermit crabs and the ones that do not. I used to like them but lately they have gotten on my bad side. All snail cleanup crews are gaining popularity and that is the way I have gone.

[baz]

Well basicallymy tank is just sitting here. I got the "floating magnet" today that i used to clean the old water line that I had when filling it up before my LR. I ordered some lights but were damaged during shipping so now I'm playing hte wonderful game with UPS. I check my levels weekly just to give me something to do with it and to check how things are going.... anxiously waiting this algae bloom. Should I do any water changes maybe a 20% since it has been cycling for almost 2 weeks?

thanks again folks,

Baz

[TealCobra]

I totally agree w/not using ANY additives at this point. Let the tank finish its cycle and see where your pH ends up.

[tike]

I wouldn't add clean up crew until there is something to clean up. Meaning, let the algae start growing before adding them in. If you don't.......many of them will starve if you don't feed them.

I have tried both ways and putting them in before any algae growth I always lose a lot of them.

[reefy em]

I wouldn't do a water change yet, wait about two more weeks. Snails are very sensitive to high nitrates so those are better left for when your nitrates go down. What sort of creatures do you see in the live rock? For example, bristleworms, pods, misc. worms?? (look at the tank at night w/ a flashlight). If there is a lot of life, I'd throw in a small krill. That will feed these creatures and progress the cycle. I cycled my 58 this way.