What snail is this really?

Scott,
The actinics and moon lights are on a 12/12 cycle from 10 to 10. Daylights are on from noon to 8 pm, so there's a 2 hr buffer between bright lights and moon lights.
As far as flow, I have the two powerheads, maxijet 900 & 1200. I can move the loc-line so it flows differently, but everyone I've talked to seems to think this is adequate flow. Am I missing something?
Saltwater,
I got them from a place up in Hamilton near the 206 circle. The only place I know near Mt Holly is on Woodlane by the Wawa. Is that the place you're talking about?
Graveyardworm,
Again, thanks for the complete answer. Facts, rather than conjecure, makes a difference.
My pH has been never changed since I first set up the tank, so I don't understand how CO2 factors into that. I've noticed a marked lack of evaporation in the AP24, so I assume the seal is tight enough to trap gas evap as well.
I'll try to add a couple ceriths as soon as I can.
What's the real story with the sand bed? I've heard not to mix it up or disturb it once it's established, but I've been advised to get a goby to work through it and mix it up. I've been hoping to be able to get a YWH/pistol shrimp combo, but at what point should you not distrub the sand bed?
I know I'm getting outside the scope of the original post, but hey, if I have a good resource, I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth.
:-) Thanks again!
 
My pH has been never changed since I first set up the tank, so I don't understand how CO2 factors into that. I've noticed a marked lack of evaporation in the AP24, so I assume the seal is tight enough to trap gas evap as well.
Click to expand...

Proper gas exchange is important. I cant explain the exact chemical reasons, but CO2 is a cause for depressed PH. When things decompose CO2 is released. A tightly sealed tank is not good.

What's the real story with the sand bed? I've heard not to mix it up or disturb it once it's established, but I've been advised to get a goby to work through it and mix it up. I've been hoping to be able to get a YWH/pistol shrimp combo, but at what point should you not distrub the sand bed?
Click to expand...

I'll try to pull together some info on sand beds, but basically for the sand bed to function properly the deeper layers need to remain undisturbed. In a large tank the sand bed can withstand more disturbance and still function properly, but in a smaller tank the burrowing of a goby can render the sand bed virtually useless for denitrification. In the size tank you have the sand bed is really too small for it to be very effective for denitrification anyway so a goby shrimp pair should be just fine. There's also the issue of toxic gases building up in an improperly maintained sand bed and wiping out an entire tank. Let me get together some articles. I wont be able to do it tonight its getting late, but if you want to find some stuff on your own. Check out RK mag for articles, and use the search function look for posts by rshimek make sure to select "anydate" Ron hasnt been around in a while so his posts will be atleast a year old.

Here's one from RK mag to get you started. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-06/rs/feature/index.php
 
Hey all,
Sorry I haven't posted for a while.
I spent two hours last evening sitting in front of the tank, just staring at it. I saw two new worms coming out of holes in the rock and checking things out. I assume they're peanut worms again since they're kinda tentacle like.
I went back up after the moonlights came on and found another three worms!
The boys did another 4 gal RO water change this morning and my Alk is now reading 180 ppm. pH is still 7.8. I printed up an article about alk and pH and I know they're somehow related, so I'm gonna see if the pH goes up now that the Alk has changed.
Graveyard,
I checked out the sand bed article, thanks. It helped. I can definitely see how the sand bed is settling out with courser stuff on the bottom, and I understand the diatom issue a bit more now. I'm going to do what everyone and every book has suggested and just wait some more.
I keep thinking in two week cycles when my stepsons are here for the weekend, so I'll see if we're ready for our first fish by then. At that point, the tank will be two months old. I'm guessing since we have more critters showing up on the LR I can't be too far off.
 
Will do, this is as exciting as it is nerve wracking!

One question with flow, the Maxijet 900 connected to the Loc-line on the right side of the tank only comes on for 8 hours with the "daylight" (noon to 8 pm). In the mornings, I don't have a lot of stuff floating around the tank, but by evening, there's quite a bit of bubbles and stuff throughout the water. Is this just part of the drill, do I have too much flow, or should I try changing where the loc-line is directing the flow?
 
I keep thinking in two week cycles when my stepsons are here for the weekend, so I'll see if we're ready for our first fish by then. At that point, the tank will be two months old. I'm guessing since we have more critters showing up on the LR I can't be too far off.
Click to expand...

Good time to start developing good habits, dont forget to QT everything that goes into the tank from now on.

Quarantining your fish

An Ounce of Prevention
 
Graveyard,
Since it's taken me (minimum) of 6 weeks to hopefully get this tank ready for fish, doesn't that mean it would take me another six weeks to get the QT tank ready for fish?
The QT tank would still need light and filtration. Whether it's LR or canister, or HOB, I'd still have to replicate the same systems in the tank.

Not saying I don't agree with the QT, but isn't this basically duplicating the tank I have?

It's like one throw away tank (that costs just as much) so I can keep fish to make sure they're okay to keep in the "main" tank.

Frankly, I don't have another $1200 to set up an entirely new tank.
 
Nope, browse the second link I provided. A QT is meant to be simple to setup and take down. A small tank ( I usually use a 10 gal), A hang on the back filter, a light fixture of some sort, and a few pieces of PVC for the fishy to hide in.

No LR or sand in the QT. It is helpful if the filter used in the hang on has spent some time in your sump to accumulate some bacteria, but this is not entirely necessary. Water quality is maintained with water changes until the filter has had time to get bacterial population established. Using a QT will save you from alot of potential headache later on. Plus it gives the fish time to get used to you, what it will be fed in your display, and strength to cope other fishes in your display.
 
OK, I've got two weeks to figure something out.
Happy to report I got home last night and had little white bug thinks everywhere. I guess these are the pods people talked about.
I'd stopped at the LFS and picked up two cerith snails and some better water tests. The one new snail is all the way at the top center of the tank, darn near out of the water. Hope that's not a permanant thing.
Can't do too much here at work...more later.
 
Finally did the water test with the AP kits.
Calcium 500 ppm
KH 179 ppm
PO no idea. Everything was shown in shades of green, mine was yellow. Did the test twice, same result
NO 0.0 ppm
pH 8.2

Sound better? Any idea about the PO test?
 
There are lots of different types of Turbo snails, but Astraea and Turbo are names of two different genera of snails. In the hobby people tend to use them improperly by interchanging or combining them.
 
to me the astrea looks the same as the snails labeled astrea turbo snails so people might just call them that since they look like an astrea but bigger. my lps has snails labeled astrea turbo's and regular astrea's and he told me the astrea turbo's were related to the astrea . so i wonder what the correct name is for these snails people label as astrea turbo's. i notice all the online sites name them that to so i always figured my lps owner was right...confusing lol.
 
Unfortunately, I don't think this LFS just combined the Astrea and Turbo. I went a week or so ago and asked for two cerith snails. They pointed to something completely different (nasarius?). The ones with the long siphon thing.
Lol, they have nice stuff, I just have to make sure I know what I'm looking for beforehand.
 
I know this isn't the right forum for this, but you guys have been so great in answering my questions, so I have to share my excitement...
Finally got our first two "official' residents....
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r258/slam308/Picture065.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
 
Future plans? Like, hope they stay alive a long time, piano lessons, college?
Sorry, lol, not quite sure what you mean.
 
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