I'm new to this site and am interested in learning about keeping saltwater tanks, I currently only have freshwater tanks. I would like to start small..so I am considering hermit crabs and snails. I know I will need a heater, sand, marine salt, and a test kit. To start with I have a 3 gallon hexagon tank I would like to use for this. The tank has a built in led light, but it is kind of dim and was considering changing it...do you think that would be necessary? I have found a heater that will fit the tank and not overheat or under heat it. Because the tank size is so small I figure I would go with two hermit crabs and maybe two snails. It won't have a filter on it, but I am going to be doing water changes weekly or more on the tank. Any advice would be great...I'd really like to do this sometime soon but I want to gather as much information on it as possible so I do it right the first time around and don't stress out the crabs and snails.
Keeping hermit crabs and snails
- Thread starter JD3P
- Start date
donya
New member
Starting small in marine is usually considered more difficult because the margine for error is much smaller. While hermit crabs and snails aren't particularly demanding in the marine world (although they are still more demanding than a lot of freshwater fish), a 3-gallon as a first tank might still be tricky to keep stable depending on your background. If you have the space, you'll probably have much better luck with a 10-20 gallon tank for a hermitarium or hermit+snail tank. If there's a chance you'll want to diversify beyond those animals, keep in mind that bigger is better to maximize stability and minimize risk of losses.
Only if you want to grow algae (can be useful) or want other photosynthetic organisms eventually. Otherwise it's just down to aesthetics - the hermits and snails won't care.
If by "filter" you mean an undergravel or HOTB-type filter as is used in freshwater systems, you should do some google searches on marine tank filtration systems. Weekly WCs are a must, but live rock should be the biological filter in any first marine tank. You'll also need something for water circulation to provide flow around the rock. In tanks as small as the one you've mentioned, it can be accomplished with an air pump, but bigger tanks will require powerheads/HOTBs/etc.
Well I didn't really want to set up a big tank and keep a lot of hermit crabs. I just figured that a few would fit in the small tank and I could learn from there and maybe expand. I guess I'll just keep the led light since it doesn't make a difference. As for the filter I only have freshwater filters and I did figure I'd need a specific one to process the salt water, which is why I'd just do water changes. I can always put an air stone in the tank, it came with a set up inside for air bubbles to go to the top of the tank. I did not know about the live rock. I have to look into that as well. I am going to assume that it's not going to be possible to keep the tank stable with with I am asking about using in my tank, with only water changes, and no filter? Or is it possible, but will take a lot of time...if there are any websites or threads, books on this subject to help me that you guys know about that would be great. I really do wanna start this but I wanna get as much information as possible. Thanks.
SushiGirl
Premium Member
donya
New member
Freshwater filters are just a way to move water over some kind of media to help bind, trap, and/or biologically break down waste from the water. Because of this, there should be no reason that the average freshwater filter couldn't be put directly on a saltwater tank instead and accomplish the same water movement and option to include some kind of media. The only difference is that marine tanks will focus more on chemical media since live rock does the rest. While there may be some type of filter out there that specifies freshwater use only (perhaps due to having a lot of exposed metal or just that the warranty won't cover it with marine usage), I've never seen one with that kind of stipulation.
Regarding the water changes, NO tank should rely on water changes alone as the only long-term solution for waste management. This goes for both freshwater and saltwater tanks. If there is nothing else to absorb or break down waste, you'll end up with regular ammonia spikes - a completely unacceptable situation for marine invertebrates. Some hardy freshwater fish can survive that kind of treatment, but it still constitutes poor care.
No - you NEED biological filtration for a stable tank. Time won't help in a tank that has nothing for beneficial bacteria to colonize. For websites, just start googling things like "live rock" and "marine aquarium basics" - there's a lot of information out there. Regarding books, just about any book from the last 10 years should cover the basics, some more advanced than others. I don't have any particular favorites to recommend but others in the nano reef section might. Unfortunately there aren't many up-to-date books addressing hermitariums specifically (there is one older book on the subject I'm aware of, but it's not suitable as a first read due to some of the tank setup info being out of date), but anything addressing community tanks or FOWLR tanks will apply to something like a hermitarium as well.
Thanks donya you've been really helpful. I'll hold this off until I can get the necessary devices for the tank setup. But typically in freshwater tanks that don't run a filter there is the option of having a heavily planted tank to absorb ammonia, etc. and still have a stable tank. But I understand the need for the biological filtration as well.
DanEnglish
New member
You could try basically setting up a refugium with many plants and a few crabs and then you could get away with maybe just a power head or hang on filter with the crabs. The LEDs might be bright enough for some plants.
