Questions

[sugarmaltese]

I set up my tank 1 1/2 weeks ago and I did a 30% water change today. I checked my parameters they are:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-20
Ph-8.0
I have a TON of brown algea and I was wondering if it is safe to add a cleaner crew?

 

[cato]

Yep. The algae is diatom blooms and is normal. Snails will help take care of it. My bloom lasted about 2 weeks and disappeared almost as fast as it appeared.

 

[sugarmaltese]

Thanks. I'm still trying to decide what my cleaner crew should consist of. Here's the list so far:
2 Cleaner shrimp
2 Turbo snails
2 Cerith snails
2 Astrea snails
2 Nassarius snails
1 Sand sifting star?
1 Emerald crab?
1 Red legged hermit (fuge)
3 Dwarf blue legged hermits (fuge)

 

[six.line]

My personal feelings are to put the crabs in the main tank, I like watching 'em go. Some will say they kill other inhabitants, others say they're fine as long as they have extra shells. I think they're entertaining to watch.

And the narrassius snails are sooooo much fun to watch burrow about the sand. I'd get a few more, personally. Seems like that's not very many snails-- which is good, you can see what you like and what works and add more later.

 

[sugarmaltese]

I'm hopefully ordering them next week. I'm not sure if that is a good list or if I'm leaving something out that I should have or if some of these would do damage. I'm planning on having a mixed reef so I only want peaceful inhabitants.

 

[sugarmaltese]

I need something in the fuge because there's a lot of algea down there.

 

[dchao]

Is this for the 90G?

Up the Cerith to 10, and Astrea to 10.

IMO, Sand sifting star is too early since you don't have enough fauna in the sandbed to feed it.

Narrassius also need lots of fauna in the sand to do well, and they don't eat brown algae!

Emerald crab another scavenge too early to go in, if it get hungry, it will kill the snails.

You can also wait on the cleaner shrimp, since it's another scavenger and you don't have any fish and you don't do any feeding yet.

IMO, add the crab and cleaner shrimps after you have fish in the tank. They they can take care of the left over food.

 

[sugarmaltese]

Thanks! When should I add the sand sifting star, emerald crab, nassarius snails, and cleaner shrimp?

 

[sugarmaltese]

Oh, and yes it is for the 90. It's the only tank I have so far.

 

[dchao]

emerald crab and cleaner shrimps right before/after the first fish.

nassy 3 month, you can put 10+ in.

sand sifting star 6 month (I say 6 month, this will to give you time for the sand to develop a good fauna population)

 

[sugarmaltese]

Thanks! I've heard about problems with starfish and crabs hurting the fish and coral. Are they safe for a reef?

 

[dchao]

no problem with healthy fish and corals, crabs are opportunities feeders, they feed on the weak fish and corals which have less defense.

 

[sugarmaltese]

Thanks for the help. Hopefully I'll be able to order them in th next few days. Also, when can I add my first fish?

 

[dchao]

Do you have LR's and skimmer? What type of skimmer do you have?

 

[dchao]

If you have lots of cured LR's (around 90 LBS) and a very good skimmer (ASM/Euro-Reef), you can almost add your first fish now.

Don't forget you are going through your first diatom bloom, so your tank will have low oxygen (and ORP will be low too), don't add more than one fish at a time.

 

[sugarmaltese]

I have 90lbs of LR and I'm not sure what kind of skimmer I have. It came with my fuge which is a CPR.

 

[dchao]

So it's a Hang-On-Back (HOB) type or is it siting in the sump (below the tank)?

For 90G, you really need a big skimmer that can sit in the sump under your tank.

How much skimmate are you getting per week?

 

[sugarmaltese]

Well it's below the tank and in the past 1 1/2 weeks I've got a total of a 1/4 of the collection cup worth of skimmate.

 

[dchao]

"1/4 of the collection cup " - That's a little bit on the low side, but should be ok for now, maybe there's very little die-off from the rocks.

Add an easy fish, and see how your system is working. Here is a list for your reference

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1926

 

[dchao]

Is this the refugium you have?

If that's the skimmer you have, you better add something to your fuge now.

I would add a Deep Sand Bed (DSB), a few LR's and some chaeto. That will help you to export some more nutrients.