Marine hermit crabs in jellyfish tank?

[brendan0923]

Hey everyone,
I have a 6 gallon moon jelly tank:

and I made a mistake with the tank and now the nitrites are too high. I have added plenty of nitrifying bacteria and have been limiting cleaning and food for the time being. My question, however, pertains to the small marine hermit crabs I have below the plate in the substrate. I added these about a week or two ago. My question is, could the hermit crabs be producing too much phosphorus and, as a result, too many nitrites? Could the molting and waste produced by these crabs be cobtributing to the problem? Also, will these crabs be content in there, or should I just take them out anyway? Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Calappidae]

What the hermits add to the bioload is nothing compared to what feeding is introducing. They aren't much of a problem.


This is the one thing really bad about the moon jelly displays, the filteration is rather poor and can't establish a good stable system.. even worse is you can't have live rock or rubble with the jellies, and unable to mess up the water flow with new filteration upgrades like canisters.

The only thing you can really do is keep up with water changes as jellies are very sensitive.

 

[Betta132]

Would it be possible to drill the tank under that plate and add a refugium of some sort, with a very mild flow? That way you could add live rock and macroalgae.

 

[Calappidae]

Replacing the pebbles with some cheato and rubble would be a pretty good idea. As long as the jellies are not recieving any gravity flow forcing them to the bottom of the tank (they can't really swim, they just pulse to the current) getting stuck in any holes or rock, it should be good.

 

[brendan0923]

Replacing the pebbles with some cheato and rubble would be a pretty good idea. As long as the jellies are not recieving any gravity flow forcing them to the bottom of the tank (they can't really swim, they just pulse to the current) getting stuck in any holes or rock, it should be good.

I actually do have some live rock at the bottom! The plate at the bottom seperates the jellies from the substrate so they don't get stuck in it. However, I fear that I may not have given the nitrifying bacteria a chance to establish. I did have an issue where they began to stop pulsing and fall apart. Some of their oral arms began to break off, however since adding more bacteria they have been pulsing again and their arms seem to be regrowing...I had the water tested a few days ago and the nitrite levels were still too high...should I do a 50% water change to help counter this or limit cleaning to allow the bacteria to establish? And I'm glad the crabs aren't contributing to this because I like having a little cleanup crew in there!

 

[brendan0923]

Another question...the hermits are occupying a relatively small space...will they outgrow their shells? I've heard that they only grow to fit their shell, but I'm not sure if that's true or not.

 

[brendan0923]

Bump...any ideas?

 

[sam.basye]

I've had hermits that outgrow their shells because they don't have a larger one to call home. They look way to big and stick out farther.

 

[brendan0923]

I've had hermits that outgrow their shells because they don't have a larger one to call home. They look way to big and stick out farther.

Ok, thanks.

 

[sam.basye]

Not too big of a deal, just supply a few larger shells and remove the old ones after they make the switch. Some species don't get very big once fully grown and will stop growing.

 

[brendan0923]

Not too big of a deal, just supply a few larger shells and remove the old ones after they make the switch. Some species don't get very big once fully grown and will stop growing.

Alright, cool, will do. Thanks for the help!

 

[Deathdog]

Hey, Brendan
How about an update?
How is your tank doing?