New Guy Question

Its diatoms. Normal part of the cycling process.

snails can be added anytime. Hermit crabs i would wait until you start feeding they will eat your snails without food. Dont change water yet. Also leaveing your lights off during the cycle.

Edited by builderofdreams - September 04 2013 at 10:49am

Since you already have a hermit crab, I'd see how he does with the diatoms.  I've added crabs couple weeks ahead of snails in the cycling process -- crabs seem to be really great at cleaning up the diatoms.  Be careful about adding too many CUC members right now, or you may end up without enough food for all of them.  And drip acclimate any crabs or snails that you add -- if you don't have a way to drip, what I do is add a very small amount of tank water to their bag/container about every minute for 15-20 minutes.

Aloha Blake,

How can we avoid the "Nitrogen cycle"?
There is very little or none of the old style cycling if we add some Macroalgae to eat pollution. Pollution is Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Algae eats pollution like crazy so the more we can add to the tank in the first weeks the better it will be.
With little or no pollution:
1) weekly water changes are made obsolete.
2) living things thrive instead of suffering in polluted water.

Why is this so different than the traditional cycling method?
LR and LS are, well, ALIVE. They have bacteria, bugs and worms living on and in them. These tiny animals need good water quality just as much as fish and coral.  If we reduce or eliminate pollution, right from the start of setting up a new tank, the large population of these microscopic animals will grow and thrive rather than struggle and sometimes die.
 
I believe we can have a better reefkeeping experience if we focus on building the biofiltration by adding large amounts of Macroalgae, along with bits of LS and LR from well established healthy reef aquariums. It is really quite a balancing act. Macroalgae grows fast in the first month or two with the extra pollution/food. Algae growth tapers off as the bacteria, bug and worm populations increase to the point where they can handle the pollution/bioload. Large clumps of Macroalgae can then be given away for others to use in their new tank setup. Another benefit is that when the biofiltration is primed in this way, monthly 10% water changes are more than sufficient.

Why would turning off the lights be a problem?
Turning off the lights actually delays the growth and development of the biological filtration. Algae growth is part of this development. Algae eats the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate that have typically been the major reason for a "cycle" and frequent water changes. Without light, it will take longer for the tank to be ready for larger animals.

How can we know when and how many snails and Hermits to add?
It depends on the amount of soft algae growth and how rapidly it begins to cover surfaces. By the look of the tank in the pic, with little algae growth on the glass, I would add no more than 10 Snails sometime next week and I would add no more hermits for a month.

Why no snails until next week?
The reason for waiting on Snails is that they are already starving and weak from spending weeks in sterile holding tanks. They need to be able to access algae without having to crawl far. Sometimes newly added snails will eat for just a few inches and then rest while their body regains some strength. Each day they will go further, get stronger and eat more. I typically only scrape the front glass. I want the snails to have enough to eat. If the glass isn't fairly clean within a week, then I'll add more snails. I mention the glass because that is how I judge how the snails are doing for the entire tank, including algae being eaten off the LR.

Why no Hermits for a month?
Hermits eat detritus, fish poop and other stuff that builds up in a reef tank. There is none of that in this tank. If too many Hermits are added too soon they will get very hungry and start seeing snails as dinner.

Please beware the common misconception that typically plagues the hobby. Just because 15 minute acclimation is good, this does not mean that an hour is better. In the case of living animals, more is not better.
Snails and Hermits don't need even 15 minutes of acclimation, in fact, they seem to do better without it (*see note below). After almost 20 years at this, here is how I do it:

Step 1 - Empty the bag of Snails/Hermits into a clean container and discard the water.
Step 2 - Let them sit in the moisture on the bottom for 1-3 minutes.
Step 3 - Pile them into a corner of the tank. The pile helps them easily grab ahold of the glass and each other so they can get to the glass.
Step 4 - Right the Snails that fall upside down with nothing to grab onto.
Step 5 - Watch them crawl away, being mindful of those that struggle.

The reason this works is that they are accustomed to being out of water for long periods of time, they can close their Opercullum (shell lids) for protection and they have lived this way for ages. When the water returns they are simply happy to be back in the water.

* Because of their body size, large Snails like Pacific Turbo and Conch are the exception. Acclimate them as you would Shrimp.

Hope y'all benefit from my 2 cents of advice.
Aloha,
Mark
808-345-1049


Edited by Mark Peterson - September 04 2013 at 5:32pm

I would say yes to your question about keeping lights on. at least keep them on for regular light cycles. Everyone has a little bit of a different opinion but if you have separate switches for whites and blues you can have your blues come on an hour or 2 before the whites then have the whites come on for 8 hours and then back off and then just have the blues on for the last 1-2 hours of the day and that gives a kind of dawn dusk setting. I dont have any of my tanks setup that way right now fyi. both my blues and whites come on at the same time and are on for about 10-12 hours a day total.

You are correct about the ammonia nitrite and nitrates testing for 0. When you get a bit further into it with corals and such you can start testing for other things but starting out those are the 3. I might get into trouble for saying this but when I first started I used to acclimate everything. Now I just float the bag in the water for about 10 minutes so that the temps match and then I just throw the snails and crabs into the tank. I've done it this way for a couple of years now and have not noticed any adverse affects to my livestock. You'll find what works best for you though so long as you just dont get neglectful. Again some might freak out to me not acclimating but I havent had any issues not doing that. Could that potentially stress out a new fish or coral ? yes but I dont think its any more than taking it from one system and adding it to another anyways.

When it comes to water changes you will also find out what works best for your setup but in the beginning I would avoid doing more than a 10% water change for the first month or so. A lot of new people do water changes weekly on their new setups and in my opinion that Is going to remove some of the good bacteria needed to get your tank established.

canister filters and hang on the back filters can turn into detritus traps. basically they harbor so much that it starts leaching back into your system. I would suggest once your tank is a little more mature to clean that out every other week or so depending on your bioload. again you'll see what works best for you system. the cleaning regimen I have for my 8 gal 12 gal and 24 gal are all completely different as they are all different systems and have different needs. Good luck and dont ever hesitate to ask more questions!!