Danno's Nanos And Pico Journal

[Danno]

What I did was that I checked all my parimeters and made sure they were ok. I also made sure I had at least 1 pound of Live Rock per gallon. Then I drip inclimated my clean up crew. I didn't add everything at once. I added my clown about 4 days after. Before I added him I checked my water parimeters again.

 

[Hobbit]

My bad, let me be a bit more clear..

The cleanup crew doesn't create a bioload, or something? Because i know for fish, you need to add one every few WEEKS, but you added quite a bit of CUC in a day. Is that ok? just so ya know, im not flaming, im learning.

 

[Danno]

Heh, that's not flaming, don't worry

The clean up crew does produce a bioload. Heck everything does, either it be poo, or food. I checked my tank perimeters after I added my clean up crew and they were even better then they were before I added them. So I went and bought a fish. I had 15 pounds of live rock when I added the fish plus a bunch of carbon. I checked and checked again and I was ok with adding the fish. I'm not adding another fish for a long time, but I am upgrading my tank 10 more gallons, so my clown will be happier.

I would have added the clean up crew in a smaller amounts at first but I didn't want to pay another 35 dollars for shipping charge from liveaquaria.com

 

[Hobbit]

so as long as stats are ok, i can add more than 2 - 3 snails at a time? my tanks is an eclipse 12 btw, 12 gallons

 

[Danno]

You could add all of your clean up crew at once in my opinion.

 

[Hobbit]

ok thanks a lot. What would you reccomend for a 12 gallon? Here's what i've been suggested so far:


5 red legged hermits
3 margarita snails
4 or 5 astreas
5 nassarius
4 cerith snails
A pistol shrimp
and probably a fire shrimp

Got any other combos? I heard margarita snails often die. And i want more hermits. what would you suggest?

 

[Danno]

I don't know anything about a pistol or fire shrimp as I have has no experience with them. You might want to ask someone else.

I would either get a peppermint or skunk cleaner shrimp. Blood Shrimp are really expensive so I didn't go with them. Peppermints can get quite cordial just like Skunks.

Don't tell my clown this my I like my shrimp more then my fish

Snails die a lot seeing sometimes they cannot correct themselves and they just shrivel up.

Just remember if you get red legged hermits they are more aggressive then other hermits. I got Red-tipped Hermit Cerbs because they are super friendly.

Also if you get hermit get extra shells for them ... and LOTS of them. The more shells the less fighting for them.

 

[tmreynolds]

Just remember if you get red legged hermits they are more aggressive then other hermits. I got Red-tipped Hermit Cerbs because they are super friendly.

Also if you get hermit get extra shells for them ... and LOTS of them. The more shells the less fighting for them.

Red legged hermits are the opposite actually, they are very peaceful. Sometimes also called scarlet reef hermits.

I would ditch the margarita's and get a single mexican turbo snail instead. trochus snails are also good algae cleaners

Also 1 peppermint shrimp and 1 skunk cleaner shrimp instead of pistol and fire shrimp (unless you are going for a symbiotic relationship between a pistol and shrimp goby).

 

[Danno]

I didn't know their alter-name. I thought they were the angry kind.

I would stick with margarita snails. I have 3 and they are great.

 

[Hobbit]

well thanks so much guys, keep thiss up so i can get it right please. Right now i have a single mexi turbo snail. I think it's the blue hermits that are agressive though. I want a pistol shrimp, because of the relastionship w/ gobies. And I love the bloods. Iguess I'll start with a pep, and i kepp him for a year+ than maybe a blood or fire shrimp. Im going to cut a piece of a plastic bottle, put it in an easy-to-see spot, then stack rock around it, and then enclose it with maybe mest or something, and leave my pistol in that area for maybe a week, then remove the mesh. And hopefully by then that will be my pistols new home. But that won't be for a while. I heard margarita snails are very pretty, and i think so too, but i've also heard they have a very high mortality rate, and being 15, i've paid for everything so far by myself, adn i've been having to work and save soo hard. I don't want to lose any money, and i wanna get it right. I'm saving for a test kit and a light.

 

[Hobbit]

anyone?

 

[atmmachine816]

Being 15 also and paying for everything myself I would take your time. Being a paintballer also I know that other things come up and you don't have money all of a sudden so setup a emergency fund for immediate needs. I would listen to reynot and not get the margarita snails. They aren't all that pretty and they perfer cooler temps. They are hard workers though but if you did get them you want cool temps.

 

[Danno]

I think that you all are purging the idea of margarita snails is a little bit rash. Out of all of my clean up crew my margarita snails eat the most; that and they work 24/7.

My ten gallon tank a siezed to exist today.......instead it is a 20 gallon long!
The move worked fine, no loses. Ill get some pictures up once I get it home. Im not looking forward to the move.

 

[Hobbit]

sweet. Thats awesome bro. Whats else is gonna come? But the thing about margarita i learned, is that they are excellent cleaners, but can't stand temp above something like 77 degrees. My tank is 81. They suppossedly die in like 2 months above that temp. Is there a way i cant fix my cuc to add more hermits? I also am toying w/ the idea of a mantis shrimp...

 

[Danno]

Well I finally moved the tank to its permanent location. The new lighting (since I got a longer tank), hood, current deflector for the powerhead, and additional filter media has a been added. I need to get more live rock now but I can't afford it. I'll have to wait till my next check. Here is a picture of the newish tank.

By the way, my coralline algae is hardly forming yet. It has been almost two months now and I have minimal growth. How long does it take to grow??

I plan on getting my first coral soon. I'll get a starter coral like a green florescent mushroom or a yellow colony polyp. That and I really like Xenias, so I might pick one of those up too.