I’m done neglecting my tank... I need advice

SMSREEF · Dec 16, 2020

Be102 said:
Can you recommend some more Cuc members? I feel like that’s a big issue as well is that very few things are cleaning or moving the sand and whatnot.. I’ve done a decent cleaning already and it looks good. My issue is sometimes I don’t realize that despite the tank looks “ ok” it’s always better do to more water changes. I was also thinking about adding some more flow.. I don’t really want to add many fish maybe one or two potentially after some research but as of now I am looking for More critters for the tank.
I’ve changed all my filters as well in my rodi. They were still producing 0tds but I still figured I’d might as well replace them all it wasn’t a large expense... I also added some gfo and activated carbon into my reactor.

For sand bed a fighting conch and strawberry conch and a bunch of cerith snails.

For Rock, urchins are workhorses. I love my tuxedo urchins. Only problem with urchins is that the eat your coralline. But that’s good if you have too much.

a group of blue leg hermits are super entertaining as well. They fight all the time and get into trouble so some people don’t like them.

Tiger nassarius snail is good too. If anything dies, it will have the shell cleaned out in about 20 minutes.

These guys all need fed, so the goal is to create a tank that’s balanced. You put food in daily and it gets eaten by carnivores, nutrients from carnivore waste used by coral and algae, herbivores eat algae, waste from herbivores used by corals and algae.
That’s an oversimplification I know, just used to make a point of creating a food web.

Be102 · Dec 16, 2020

SMSREEF said:
For sand bed a fighting conch and strawberry conch and a bunch of cerith snails.

For Rock, urchins are workhorses. I love my tuxedo urchins. Only problem with urchins is that the eat your coralline. But that’s good if you have too much.

a group of blue leg hermits are super entertaining as well. They fight all the time and get into trouble so some people don’t like them.

Tiger nassarius snail is good too. If anything dies, it will have the shell cleaned out in about 20 minutes.

These guys all need fed, so the goal is to create a tank that’s balanced. You put food in daily and it gets eaten by carnivores, nutrients from carnivore waste used by coral and algae, herbivores eat algae, waste from herbivores used by corals and algae.
That’s an oversimplification I know, just used to make a point of creating a food web.

Would I be able to sustain all of them without necessarily having a fish? For example what would the recommendation be to feed a tank w no fish but a diverse cleanup crew?

Be102 · Dec 16, 2020

I’ve already made progress.. lol this was just a simple turkey baster on rocks, water change and glass scrub down ( sorta)

Should I go with reeflcleaners for some new cuc members?

SMSREEF · Dec 16, 2020

Be102 said:
Would I be able to sustain all of them without necessarily having a fish? For example what would the recommendation be to feed a tank w no fish but a diverse cleanup crew?

it certainly is better with fish because they eat a lot and make a lot of ammonia. But not completely necessary IMO.

In my 60 I have fish so probably not comparable.

In my 10 gal nano coral quarantine I have no fish because I put all coral through fallow period.
I feed tank once a day in morning. I also feed an algea wafer once every few days.

It has 4 hermits, strawberry conch, about 8 assorted snails, 3 sexy shrimp, and I think 2 emerald crabs are in there too, but they hide all the time and I haven’t seen them recently. I have 10 bumblebee snails that I am quarantining in this tank too, once through quarantine they are going into my 60.

Be102 · Dec 16, 2020

SMSREEF said:
it certainly is better with fish because they eat a lot and make a lot of ammonia. But not completely necessary IMO.

In my 60 I have fish so probably not comparable.

In my 10 gal nano coral quarantine I have no fish because I put all coral through fallow period.
I feed tank once a day in morning. I also feed an algea wafer once every few days.

It has 4 hermits, strawberry conch, about 8 assorted snails, 3 sexy shrimp, and I think 2 emerald crabs are in there too, but they hide all the time and I haven’t seen them recently. I have 10 bumblebee snails that I am quarantining in this tank too, once through quarantine they are going into my 60.

I wonder if I would still quarantine regardless of not having fish... quarantining is such a deterrent of this hobby lol