Tank seeding?

[Maybaer]

Yesterday there was a thread by a woman who had recently set up a new tank. She apparently set it up rather quickly. She mentioned that she "seeded" her tank with what I can only assume were the smallest creatures such as copepods etc... She included a website where she bought these animals for seeding. I can't find the thread today nor can I remember the term she used. I haven't heard of this practice and am interested in knowing more.

Anyway, from what I read, this sounded like it might be beneficial for my 100g tank. Can you please fill me in about this practice and do many do it? Benefits? Negatives? And... what was the website that she referred to?

 

[kraze3]

Does your tank have LR in it, if so then you shouldnt need to seed your tank. If your just setting up your tank you could seed with LR or LS. If the tank is running I wouldnt add the LR it would cause a cycle. The site you may be looking for is www.ipsf.com but without some more info I'm not sure what your trying to do. SOme more info such as is the tank running if so how long, Do u have live rock or live sand, i dont know much

As far as ipsf.com goes I have never purchased from their site. SOme do and some dont most say its very expensive compared to what they sent you but most are happy with the results they get with the products.

 

[Maybaer]

I checked the site that you mentioned and it wasn't the same that I saw yesterday. That's what i get for not taking notes. The tank that i have has plenty of LR and the person that posted wasn't referring to LR. She and from what i gathered from the site that she referred to was more of the animals that typically inhabit the LS. Anyway, the tank that concerns me is my 100g. I bought it from used and it was established 1 year. I moved it and let it recycle. After a month, I removed the 4 damsels that survived and a week later added one fish. I am just concerned about how much life I lost in the sand after the move. The snails and the hermits seemed to fair well.

 

[kraze3]

Well Im not sure what if any life was lost in the move, try the flashlight trick at night see if you see any creatures roaming around in there. If your sure the post was here you can look for it, theres like 6 or so pages in the "new to the hobby" forum. Im not sure of any sites that it could be off of the top of my head. Try a google search. If your just looking for a sand activater there is one on the site i posted otherwise you might have to hunt that post down sorry i couldnt help much.

 

[Maybaer]

No problem. There must have been a lot of activity on this forum since yesterday. I went all the way back checking all the threads that I had read and it wasn't there anymore. Thanks for the help though. I was kindof hoping that the same womam would respond. She has like a million posts!

 

[kraze3]

You could also check your internet explorer history from yesterday if you know how. It will tell you all the web pages your pc visited. if not go to the top click view then go to explorer bar then history good luck!

 

[Maybaer]

Thanks for the help Kraze. I'll check it out. I was just curious because I had never heard of what she had done. I do need to at least add to my clean-up crew. I guess I have a reason to go to the LFS.

 

[kraze3]

ask at the LFS, if your worried about your sand he may be able to sell you some of his sand or better yet some will be friendly enought to give you a cup for free to get your tank going.

 

[Maybaer]

I'm not all that worried. The tank has been running at my house for about 2 months now. I did have a lot of gray matter on the surface of the sand for the first couple of weeks but the last month has been okay despite a red slime bloom that I had to treat. The tank wasn't kept very well. After a year, he only had 3 damsels an assortment of hermits many snails and a banded coral shrimp. The guy that I bought it from didn't even know how to start the siphon on his siphon tube. When we drained the tank I filled the large end with water and started the siphon he looked at me and said "Wow, that's how you do it? I would always get salt water in my mouth when I would start the siphon." He had the tank for a year with a 2 x 65w pc hood. We changed the lights to a 4 x 96w pc. the LR is real nice despite the need to grow more coraline algae and a couple of pieces have button coral colonies that are coming back. He must have spent a ton on the LR. The colors on some of the pieces are gorgeous. Anyway, I'm taking it real slow and hope to have a great tank in 6 or 8 months.

 

[kraze3]

Well you sound like you have a decent grasp on what your doing. Ive only been into saltwater for a few yrs so im a newbie myself. But you have the right idea just take it slow and you should be fine. Try the flashlight at night though, if u have a redlense for the front will prolly work better, you wont scare the lil critters. If you think you need more critters you can maybe add a few more pounds of live rock or a couple of sand from another's tank or even purchase pods or a sand activator something like that good luck and any more questions theres alot of people here to help you out Later man