Unexpected Additions To The Tank....

[matt_storey]

Got the tank cycling at the minute. I originally started the cycle with "dead" rock and sand. After 2 weeks i managed to get hold of a few kilos of cured live rock to put ontop of my other rock to try speed things up a tad,

Just had a peek in the tank and found about 8-10 (im guessing hermit as they are in a shell) crabs. I'm worried about keeping them in there, i'm only into my second week of cycling, the waters clouding up (due to ammonia?), should i try to rehome these crabs?

I sought advice from a LFS but all i was told was they are pretty hardy and should help the cycling process.

I just dont want to keep anything in my tank that is going to suffer.

Oh, Tank is 120g 4x2x2, running 3x 3000l/h powerheads and 60kg of live rock.

"one last question - should i be running my skimmer during the cycling process?"

 

[ben1987]

Yes run your skimmer it will help speed up the cycle.

If your live rock was cured as you say and the dead stuff may have been soaked too. You may not see a harmful spike. Id suggest testing the water for ammonia daily before removing the crabs. They could be nice free CUC. Try to get a positive id on them to be sure though. If any ammonia does show up get them out straight away. But if the dead stuff has been in 2 weeks without an ammonia spike id say one isnt coming. Youll probably just get phosphates and bad algae