New Tank - Questions about Caribsea Life Rock and Cycling
OP
OP
lickyricky
Red Sea Max E-170
Yes its from the sand. I was going to wash it but it was already wet so I wasnt sure that was a good idea. Its mostly settled down today and now I have micro bubbles that look like sand floating around everywhere.
keddre
Well-Known Member
Thank you! After a month, I finally found out what my hermits are, lol. They were marked as scarlets, but I knew they weren't
OP: If you go with that cleanup crew, that seems like a lot but a cool lot. Just remember that the cleanup crew needs food too, and if you are not over-feeding your tank, then you will have to give the cuc food too
I learned that the scarlet hermits have a light yellow face, the Cortez are all red. They are commonly mis-marked at your LFS or even online vendors send the wrong ones sometimes, which is a bummer because the Scarlett's usually cost more too...
Cycling day 2! Decided to go with the Red Sea reef mature pro and it says in the booklet to add CUC on day 10? Am I reading that right?
When I spoke to Red Sea while using this kit, they mentioned the kit is assumed to be used with live rock that would already start growing algae and creating food for a cleanup crew by day 10 and ammonia and nitrite would be testing zero as well.
I started my tank with dry rock as you have, so they said the process might be (and was) slower than the timeline mentioned in the instructions. I didn't end up adding any cleanup crew until I saw some algae growth AND ammonia and nitrite were testing zero. I think it ended up being about 2.5 weeks instead of 10 days. Just make sure you have enough food for those little mouths or they will die in a relatively short period. You could always add some food for them, but I would recommend waiting until they can be sustained without adding much of anything.
I say don't rush it even though it sounds fun to have critters in there so soon!
Best Regards
OP
OP
lickyricky
Red Sea Max E-170
As always so helpful #JaaxReef!
How's your CUC working out? How many snails did you get?
I started with only 4 astrea snails 6 months ago, they are all alive and well to this day.
Over those 6 months the only other CUC I've added were my Tiger conch and cleaner shrimp.
Although as my tank matures I might be adding a couple more snails soon just to keep things tidy.
I got one of those pre-built reefcleaners crews. They come with a ton of small ones. I added mine a bit to early(3 weeks) and didn't have enough growing in the tank to feed them so some died.
I really like the trochus snails. If I were to do it again I would prob get a few trochus snails and build from there instead of like 50 ceriths and nerites etc.
I didn't get any hermits. I expect they would have definitely not had enough to eat.
I really like the trochus snails. If I were to do it again I would prob get a few trochus snails and build from there instead of like 50 ceriths and nerites etc.
I didn't get any hermits. I expect they would have definitely not had enough to eat.
Out of curiosity, how many of those snails ended up making it for the long haul?
If you did get the hermits, I bet half your snail population would have been gone just from them trying not to starve. Those little buggers can be nasty when they are hungry. Ha!
Ya I decided not to get any hermits just because it seemed like snails could handle most things and hermits randomly decide to go on killing sprees and or walk on coral on the sand bed.
As for how many survived exactly. Not sure. I've had atleast 3-4 nerites die. The amount of ceriths was insane lol. I've found 10-15 dead ones of those but between the small and bigger ceriths there is a lot of them in there still.
I don't think the ceriths eat nearly as much as an Astrea or a Trochus snail so I think they are easier to keep fed. I think my 1 trochus does more work then all of my ceriths
As for how many survived exactly. Not sure. I've had atleast 3-4 nerites die. The amount of ceriths was insane lol. I've found 10-15 dead ones of those but between the small and bigger ceriths there is a lot of them in there still.
I don't think the ceriths eat nearly as much as an Astrea or a Trochus snail so I think they are easier to keep fed. I think my 1 trochus does more work then all of my ceriths
OP
OP
lickyricky
Red Sea Max E-170
Lets try this...
Success! I love that Lightning Maroon Clown. I’ve thought of getting those, but heard they can be brutal to other fish.
Awesome Goni too!
What other fish do you plan to get? Something semi aggressive might be good. Like a Dottyback or Hawkfish?
OP
OP
lickyricky
Red Sea Max E-170
OP
OP
lickyricky
Red Sea Max E-170
What species of hawk? I think they are cool but it says online “reef safe - monitor” which worries me. I had a trigger fish and he ate all my snails and crabs. Found him a new home and everything is finally back to normal
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