CUC advise please

[Budshark]

Hi All,

Well, ive finally setup my 20g long with the Badfish Reef Center AIO kit. I ordered 20# of live rock from TBS and its been in my tank now for 8 days. Im thinking about a clean up crew and have come up with the below for now. Please let me know if this seems like to much or any advise you can give. Thank you very much fellow reefers. I only plan to keep easy corals and a max of 3 fish.

My live rock arrived with some clean up crew but dont know if ive seen all of them yet. but what i have seen so far have been 6 nassarius snails 1/2 inch or smaller in size, 2 florida cerith snails one is inch and 1/2 and the other is 2 inches.

and am looking to add:

1 x Scarlet Hermit Crab* $3.00
1 x Nerite Snails $0.75
1 x Emerald/Ruby Mithrax Crab* $4.50
5 x Dwarf Planaxis $3.25
8 x Dwarf Cerith $1.36
1 x Blue Leg Hermit Crab* $0.50

Thank you again for taking the time to look and reply. Happy Reefing :fun4:

 

[thegrun]

I would not add the emerald crab and wait on the planaxis snails. If the six nassarius snails survive the cycle (the snails may likely die from ammonia poisoning during the cycle) they will be more than enough to keep your sand clean. I would suspect there will not be enough food in the tank for even them, so adding an additional 5 planaxis will only make things worse.

 

[Budshark]

hmmm ok, TBS advised not to feed the tank for the first 7 days and he provided a bag with some brown "bacteria" that i was to put in the tank. I fed the tank reef chili for the past two days since i seen so many feather dusters and cup corals i thought they'd be starving by now. The snails emerge immediately and start "grazing?" or whatever you would call them feeding lol

ill take the emerald off my list. I found 3 crabs so far in the tank. but cannot identify any of them yet. One has a bluish hue and is hairy, but does not have black tipped claws, they are blunt and whitish at the tip. I should say Claw b/c he only has one! Not sure how he lost the other but hes the size of a quarter. The other two hide in a hole that is about a quarter inch in diameter and never fully come out for me to ID them.

Should I stop feeding the tank until my ammonia is at a steady 0?

 

[michfish5]

Has your tank cycled yet? Are you testing? If so what are the parameters? Don't add any CUC until you are fully cycled. As for the Nassarius that came with the rock, I agree that they may very well die during the cycle, and probably under the substrate at that, so it may be hard to find the bodies. The good news is any surviving snails will most likely eat the dead ones. After your cycle, depending on what you have left, you can start adding a small CUC but I wouldn't put too many in until you have sufficient algae for them to eat. Same with the Emerald. And I wouldn't bother feeding the tank during the cycle. I think that may just prolong the cycle. Just let it do it's thing and be patient. That is the hardest part. Not sure how effective your bag of brown bacteria is going to be. That is a huge debate on here. Can't hurt I guess but it may have no effect. Or maybe it will! Once all the ammonia,nitrite, and nitrate are at 0, wait a few days more and then you can add a small CUC if you need to and start ghost feeding the tank a little bit every three days or so to keep the bacteria going as well as supply a little food for the CUC.Good luck!

 

[rrocky]

My hermits ate some of my snails and jacked their shells! Stick to one or the other, or you can add extra bigger shells for them to house once they get bigger. John at reefcleaners can help you out with a good cuc!

 

[Budshark]

Has your tank cycled yet? Are you testing? If so what are the parameters? Don't add any CUC until you are fully cycled. As for the Nassarius that came with the rock, I agree that they may very well die during the cycle, and probably under the substrate at that, so it may be hard to find the bodies. The good news is any surviving snails will most likely eat the dead ones. After your cycle, depending on what you have left, you can start adding a small CUC but I wouldn't put too many in until you have sufficient algae for them to eat. Same with the Emerald. And I wouldn't bother feeding the tank during the cycle. I think that may just prolong the cycle. Just let it do it's thing and be patient. That is the hardest part. Not sure how effective your bag of brown bacteria is going to be. That is a huge debate on here. Can't hurt I guess but it may have no effect. Or maybe it will! Once all the ammonia,nitrite, and nitrate are at 0, wait a few days more and then you can add a small CUC if you need to and start ghost feeding the tank a little bit every three days or so to keep the bacteria going as well as supply a little food for the CUC.Good luck!

yes, i had an ammonia spike up to 1 and did a 50% water change on Friday. Tested water tonight and everything is at a 0. PH is at an 8.0 (is that low?) and phosphate is at .25. This live rock was packaged in sea water and i picked it up locally from his house so i beleive the die off was very minimal if any. I did find a dead gorilla after a couple days and seen possible molt tail casing from some type of shrimp. That would explain the clicking i hear in the tank. I just hope its a pistol and not a mantis.

I also have found 3 crabs. Two that hide in two 1/4 inch holes and one bluish hued, hairy, one clawed crab. The pincher tip is white and hes about the size of a quarter. no clue what happened to his other pincher. He stays on the sand bed and seems to just filter the sand but cant really tell b/c hes so skiddish. Havent seen any pics like him anywhere

So even with all the cup corals and feather dusters you wouldnt suggest feeding the tank? Im using BRS reef chili and it doesnt seem like im even really putting in anything when i pour it in.

Thanks for all the input everyone. Still learning and your information is invaluable

 

[Budshark]

lmao i didnt find a silverback gorilla in my tank, it was a gorilla crab!! :debi:

 

[Budshark]

tested my water again last night and everything is at 0. Lookin to get some stuff from Reefs2go.com now and see that they are in Clearwater, FL does anyone know if they will allow local pickup? Im in Tampa.