critters in a new tank

[skippy2]

Finished cycling on July 27. I see trails up against the glass under the sand (southdown) and so far I have seen 3 worms. THe worms only come out at night and are tan and brown banded. Maybe a couple inches long. I see no bristleworms on the sand or any pods. Should I add another cup of ls from my established tank or just keep waiting? After reading other posts about cool hitchikers this is getting depressing.

 

[fahz]

I'm assuming you have LR which has cycled. This tank sounds pretty new yet but your LR should supply everything Your looking for. The first thing you should start seeing is white pods. I cycled mine with LR and dead sand and I had pods in two weeks and a marine snowstorm at three weeks. I did add bacteria 3 times which may have caused the snow but it was good and passed. I also got some good Macro which I put in the sump after that I had critters everywhere.

Fahz

 

[skippy2]

Yes, I cycled with lr and 1 20lb of ls. After amm., trites, trates registered 0 and ph at 8.2 I added a cup of sand from my established tank. That was on July 24. Anything else I can do? I added 3 turbos to the new tank on Aug. 1 to take care of what little hair algae I have. Thanks.

 

[fahz]

Do you have a refugium or sump on your setup and when did you add the LR and how much. If you have a good amount of LR you may want to add some Hermits. I put about 50 in my 58 after cycling also an Emerald crab or Sally lightfoot would help with hair algae. You would be shocked at the cleanup they do on the rock.

Fahz

 

[skippy2]

No refugium or sump. I started cycling lr on July 9. I am going to get at least a couple of emarld crabs on Wed. when the lfs shipment comes in. I am also looking for a certain shape rock and will pick that up Wens. too if they have it. I would assume this will start a mini-cycle which would be alright because I think I should wait awhile yet before adding any fish. Agree or disagree? I have 34lbs lr and 30lbs dead rock.

 

[fahz]

It's been a month you should start seeing pods by now. But your critters maybe trying to populate that dead rock plus dead sand. Check after lights out which you should be running by now. Turn the lights back on and you should see pods on the glass and in the water. Pods are the white specks on the glass and swimming free. Best to wait on the fish but you can add limited corals.

Fahz

 

[fahz]

skippy2:

A few other things you should be doing or have done. 10% water change every two weeks. Daily adding something like C-balance or B-ionics to bring your calcium up and start corolline algae growth. You have a lot of dead rock to cover. Also still think you should add hermits to clean up your LR they do the best job!

Fahz