I Did It

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, tock looks good and its time for some rowaphos and some cleanup crew if you've got diatoms

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

got my first installment of cleanup crew last night, they're all in the tank now and seem to be doing happily! They are as follows:

2 nassaurius snails (probably slaughtered that name.
2 astrea snails (don't seem to be doing much except scootin around)
2 blue legged hermits (still too small for me to get a positive ID on them)
1 red legged hermit (will probably have to go back but got him accidentally out of the blue leg tank)
1 electric blue hermit (with an anemonie on it's shell that I will need an ID on)
1 emerald crab (who loves the algae that was covering the rocks)

I'm still not too good at the picture thing yet but I'll give it a try


Hope someone will be able to tell me what type the anemonie is, it looked like a limpet when I bought it because it was all shrunken in on its self, hopefully it's not a majano!

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Here's a blurry close up, any ideas?

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

The only other shot I took was of the Emerald crab. I love this guy!

He's been munching on algae all night and the tank's almost clean!

diatoms are already about 70% gone too!

SLC

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

OOH and I forgot to list the latest water specs.

Ammonia, nitrite and Nitrate were all at zero. I had 5 of nitrate 2 days earlier but am just guessing that the diatom and algae growth consumed it. The clerk at the LFS said that there might be just a trace of nitrate in the tank but not enough to get a reading on their kit which starts at .1.

Phosphate was >.2 this time, down from .25 2 days ago.

Salinity was at 1.022 but I did my first water change right before adding the cleanup crew so now it's at 1.025. I want to get it to 1.027 eventually.

Temp is hanging right at about 79 farenheit.

SLC

Looking good I think!

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

So my nassaruis snails were doing an excellent job keeping the diatoms under controll, but now I go and turn on the lights and find the emerald crab eating one of them right out of its shell. I hadn't read anything about these guys being aggressive. I think he may have killed one of the redlegged hernmits because I found it dead and quite a ways away from any shells.

What do you think? Can they be known as aggressive? Or do I maybe need to be giving him some shrimp pellets or something since he's already eaten preety much all the algae?

SLC

 

[SkiFletch]

Sometimes what are sold as emerald crabs are actually gorilla crabs... Those will munch on inverts. Although even mythrax crabs will eat a dead snail or dead hermit, they wont kill them but if they die on their own, the mythrax will scavenge their dead bodies. Tough to say which one you have without a better pic though Really need to see the legs

Also, since you have a nano reef, I'd keep the sg at 1.025. If your sg is set at 1.027 and too much evap occurs and it goes to 1.028 it can be dangerous for many corals/inverts and longterm exposure to high salinity can cause fish kidneys to fail. Its better to err on the low side than the high.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

I was mistaken about the hermit. What I thought was a murdered hermit body on the floor of my tank was actually a shed, I got another one this morning. The way I know this for certain is that there are 3 hermits scooting around right now!

As for the snail, I found the crab with its shell in its claws this morning but the snail was long gone by then. I'll try to get a better shot of the emerald crab for an I.D.

Edit: I looked up gorrillas and emeralds on google images and it's definately an Emerald Crab.

SLC

 

[SkiFletch]

And another person in the long line of those tricked by hermit crab molts . I'm in that line myself, dont feel bad

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Yeah the hermits have been molting away for about a week now. I thought that when they did it would look more transparent like a snake skin but apparently I was wrong. Well I have seen the transparent ones as well but mostly just fully colored molts on the tank floor. All in all I estimate about 7 molts in a week, is that something to be happy about (growing and healthy) or to worry about? I added the last of my cleanup crew yesterday and it consists of

3 more blue leggeds
2 astreas
2 nassarius

bringing the totals to

3 nassarius
2 cerith
2 astrea
6 hermits
1 emerald

I'll probably get a shrimp still but more in the future. the cleaners seem to have algae completely under controll now so I'm beginning to think about trying my first fish.

Also my latest stats are

sg 1.025
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
pH 8.3
phosphate .9
temp holding at 79 degrees farenheit

Still considering rowaphos but the phosphate is going down on its own so I want to wait a bit longer. algae is under controll as well.

SLC

 

[@ombomb]

And another person in the long line of those tricked by hermit crab molts . I'm in that line myself, dont feel bad

The worst part is they always seem to hide for a day or so once they've done it!

Still not used to it in mine.

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Well I went for it and got my first fish, an occelaris clown. My daughter who I was sure would insist on naming the fish "Nemo" instead went for Bob. He's doing great, eating well, and has not dented my water stats yet. Pics coming as soon as I can get him to hold still long enough to get a clear one.

SLC

 

[demonmagus]

Well I went for it and got my first fish, an occelaris clown. My daughter who I was sure would insist on naming the fish "Nemo" instead went for Bob. He's doing great, esting well from day one, and has not dented my water stats yet. Pics coming as soon as I can get him to hold still long enough to get a clear one.

SLC

congrats, and thank god for the name change

 

[SLC Flyfishing]

Yeah I think I'd have liked the fish less if we were refering to it as Nemo. He's doing excellently though, eats like a lion, and I've even gotten him to eat from my fingertips. It's crazy but he knows when I get out his dainici pellets (silver bag) that he's going to be fed, he's jumping out of the water with excitement.

SLC

 

[demonmagus]

yeah fish do that, how much do you spend on food btw?