Cycle

[TangLove]

I just checked my first readings.....This is the second week of having my tank setup. To cycle I used cured live rock, some live sans, sand from sisters tank, and some other things from her tank as well. These are the readings I got


ph 8.2
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0


So what should this tell me?

 

[Bifferwine]

If you have already seen ammonia and nitrite spikes, this means that your tank is probably done cycling. You can start doing regular water changes to keep your nitrates down and can add a hardy fish or two now, but keep track of your water parameters, because they can start another cycle.

 

[TangLove]

I have planned on adding a clown fish, do you think it would be okay to add one and a cleaner shrimp maybe?

 

[Bifferwine]

A clown would be a good choice, I'd wait a little while longer before you add a shrimp, they are more sensitive to water parameters than fish. I'd wait until your tank has been cycled and stable for at least a month before adding a shrimp. Just my opinion, though. You could add a small clean up crew though.

 

[TangLove]

Exactly what consist of a "cleaner Crew"? I know that most sites I look at include different things. What would be a good choice since I need most inhabitants to be reef safe?

 

[Bifferwine]

A mixture of different snails, mostly. I'd get a mix of astraea, turbos, nassarius and trochus. Some conchs too, if you can find them. You might want to get an emerald crab, but you may have to supplement its feeding with dried seaweed sheets if you don't have much algae. You can also get hermit crabs, but there are pros and cons to hermits. Pros: they are excellent algae eaters and detritus cleaners. Cons: they will kill snails for their shells. I think that a brittle or serpent star is also an essential part of the cleaner crew, but again those are more sensitive to nitrates so probably best to wait a month or so before adding one of those. If you only have a fish or two you may not need that big of a cleaner crew, but you can always add more as you go.

 

[yote]

For a clean up crew I would go with either a brittle or serpernt star,3 or 4 trochus snails,a couple of margerutta(sp?) snails,maybe some astra snails.

 

[Bifferwine]

No offense Yote :luxlove: :heartpump , but I'd stay away from the margarita snails. They come from the northern coast of California and southern Alaska and do not live more than a couple weeks in the temperatures we keep our tanks at. They slowly cook to death. I know this firsthand!

 

[yote]

No offense Yote :luxlove: :heartpump , but I'd stay away from the margarita snails. They come from the northern coast of California and southern Alaska and do not live more than a couple weeks in the temperatures we keep our tanks at. They slowly cook to death. I know this firsthand!

No offense taken Biff. I didnt know that about them,but ive not actually had any of em either.
So i'll be sure to stay away from them.

 

[bobby]

I have margerita snails and they have been fine. A couple did die at first but the rest have been fine since I got them about 2 or 3 months ago. I would sggest the astrea snails I just bought some while in st louis and think there awsome, they move and eat alot more than the margaritas and IMO are alot nicer looking to boot.

 

[d.french]

i had alteast 30 margarita snails and now 4 months later i still have alteast 15 of them doing fine water temp varies from 77 at night to 80 during daytime. Astreas are great but fall and get stuck upside down and die. So i use margaritas, cerith, nerite, vibex nassarus, stomatella snails. Mexican turbo snails do great but die quick from warm water.

 

[d.french]

stomatella snails hard to find but i found someone who has them multiplying in there tank and waiting to here back from them to get some.

 

[AndyB4784]

I'd wait on adding the fish until after you add the cleanup crew. the longer you wait to add fish and corals the better. The time that the tank sits empty is an important step in the tanks evolution as it gives the fauna (sand bed critters, pods, bristleworms, etc.) that live in the tank time to establish themselves with out predation. The longer you can wait the better off your tank will be IME. HTH.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have a ton of stomatellas that came on my LR.

 

[d.french]

agree with andy, i got some bristleworms, some live sand and chaeto from buddies tank to seed my tank now i have bristle worms, spaghetti worms, amphipods, isopods, copepods, little feather dusters, and other creatures all over my tank now.

 

[reeffreak]

...and exactly what are Stometellas are again?

 

[Bifferwine]

They're a kind of snail that looks like it has a flat half-shell on it's back. They're nocturnal. I've never seen them for sale anywhere, they just hitchhike in on the rock.

 

[JellyMan]

maybe you should make a breeding tank and start selling.