I think that is a pretty high level of nitrates (much higher than what all the "experts" recommend) and even though not everyone agrees about the levels that inverts can tolerate, I would recommend that you continue to take action to reduce them: don't overfeed, more frequent water changes, stimulate bacteria growth if necessary, consider carbon dosing, etc. Live rock and sand, Purigen will all help as you know.
Thanks. I know they're high. It is fowlr and the level is leftover from the cycle. They got up to 60-80 then and with a 50% w/c I got them down. The tank won't have coral for a while. I'll continue to do water changes. Luckily there's no algae out break because the tank doesn't have lights yet. I plan to keep it at about 20ppm while it's fowlr then lower it to 10 when I start with softies and LPS. But that's a long ways away! I still want to save up for an Apex and an ATI dimmable T-5 fixture. As they say, slow is the way to go. But back to Gary the snail. Will he be ok while I bring the nitrates down? He's totally buried in the sand, so how will I know?
Ps- I started the tank with dry rock and dry sand, so that's part of the problem. The fish are just fine, but I know the rock is still in the process of becoming live. Hopefully that will help too.
Sounds good; I would think he'll be fine given the direction you have the nitrates going. What about turning off the filters and squirting a little "juice" from frozen mysis around the bottom to see if you can make him come out? I know you don't want to overfeed, and, if he's healthy he'll come out when he senses food.
