New Purely Invert Nano

[Sharpy]

Hi there! Just set up a 10 gallon tank, put in about 5 pounds live rock, with the intention of adding 5 to ten pounds more very soon. Bio-wheel filter, heater, aragonite all present and accounted for. Been running for 3 days now. Going purely invert. Maybe three or four snails if that, mostly crabs, couple of shrimp. Not even thinking of adding corals or fish right now.

Have a few questions to ask I'll number them for ease of answering


1 - Are there any inverts I should stay away from for this nano?

2 - How long should I wait to add my first snail/crab? What would be a good choice to add first? (Decent selection of snails available to me such as astrea snails, black turbo's, olive snails. Also emerald crabs, and hermits. Waiting on shrimp until later, unless I come across a particularly hardy breed)

3 - Seeing as they are mostly cleanercrew type organisms, what kind of supplementary foods can I give them to avoid any of them starving?

4 - What would be my general stocking limit? (ignoring the trouble of not enough food being available if I can supplement their diet)

5 - I have a short, white hair-like substance on some portions of the walls, is it just gravel dust or something beneficial?

Thanks in advance

 

[J-Money]

in no particular order (damn booze...i take it back,can't talk ill of beer lol)

i don't know what a white-hair like substance is, but if it's really tiny (not thin, but "short") it could be copapods and such.

as for supplementary foods, it may depend on what you put in the tank. if you put a bunch of snails in you may want to algae or seaweed once in a while. Stars and crabs may want a little meat in their diet...

inverts to stay away from? maybe a mantis shrimp... i don't know how big of a tank they need.

stocking? some people try for 1 cleaner per gallon, but since you want not fish i would think you can do 2 or 3 with no problems...just make sure you suppliment their food.

Good luck, is this your first SW tank? Nano tanks are notoriously more difficult to take care of. The water parameters can shift quickly since there is minimal volume and inverts are more suceptible to be harmed by these changes.

 

[J-Money]

wow, wuz i drunk or wut? can you read that or should i clean it up? lol

 

[Sharpy]

wow, wuz i drunk or wut? can you read that or should i clean it up? lol

Hehe, no worries, I think I was able to decipher it properly

My first saltwater tank yes, just wanted to start with inverts, as they draw my attention most of all from the saltwater section.

The stuff on the sides is very short, sortof waves with the current. Hard to describe it any further without pictures hehe. What exactly are copapods by the way?

Also, are there any other foods I can use in lieu of seawead? Would algae tablets work?

Also interested in finding out an answer to #2, dont want to add anything too early and have it perish


Thanks J-Money for all the help thus far!

 

[Fish Fingers]

Seeing as you wanted an answer to number 2 I thought I would reply

You should wait until your tank has cycled (ammonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate<20) and your tank should have some algae growth (although if your feeding nori you shouldn't need to wait for this and you won't need any for carnivorous inverts anyway). Pretty much once your tank is cycled you could put some hardy inverts in. For more delicate inverts it would be best to wait for the tank to mature.

For food you could feed the herbivores nori (seaweed, its easily available) and the carnivores will eat things like brine and mysis shrimp, krill, molluscs, etc.

Also with the tank cycling bit, some inverts can't handle any nitrates at all, so it would be best to get them as low as you can before adding anything

 

[steelhealr]

Some thoughts:

1) In that size tank, avoid nudibranchs, sea apples, sea stars, sea cucumbers

2) in a ten gallon, you could add about 1 snail per 1-2 gallons, one crap, 3-4 hermits, a shrimp

3) If you are planning on adding fish or corals, I would avoid Sally light foots, arrow crabs, coral banded shrimp

4) You can add inverst when ammonia and nitrite are 0 and you've done your first water change (25%) and nitrates are 10 or under...and...you have some diatoms for them to eat

5) Inverts will eat almost anything...you could add a piece of shrimp, shrimp pellet, dried seaweed (nori), frozen spirulina, flake....etc

SH

 

[randomguysmell]

:

2) in a ten gallon, you could add about 1 snail per 1-2 gallons, one crap, 3-4 hermits, a shrimp


SH

Sorry, I'm so imature, I couldn't stop laughing at the 'one crap' line

 

[fish_keeper2]

Some thoughts:

1) In that size tank, avoid nudibranchs, sea apples, sea stars, sea cucumbers

2) in a ten gallon, you could add about 1 snail per 1-2 gallons, one crap, 3-4 hermits, a shrimp

3) If you are planning on adding fish or corals, I would avoid Sally light foots, arrow crabs, coral banded shrimp

4) You can add inverst when ammonia and nitrite are 0 and you've done your first water change (25%) and nitrates are 10 or under...and...you have some diatoms for them to eat

5) Inverts will eat almost anything...you could add a piece of shrimp, shrimp pellet, dried seaweed (nori), frozen spirulina, flake....etc

SH

how come you would avoid arrow crabs? just want to know as i just got one last night.

 

[ben1234]

it really depends on what your putting in the tank, arrow crabs will eat soft corals so if you decide to later upgrade your tank with corals they will be eatin unless it is a hard coral reef with no softies.

 

[mantis147]

I think also Arrow Crabs eat your snails.