Novice Tank Need Advice

[marcvelous]

Hi All,

Just started this hobby recently

Here's my setup:

Main tank 3 x 1.5 x 2ft with internal overflow (handful of bio-balls in my overflow partition)

Sump tank 2.5 x 1.5 x 1.5ft (3 partitions; centre partition trying to setup refrigium with 6 inch sand bed and 2 rocks of macro algae)

Weipro protein skimmer (in sump)

Eheim return pump (in sump)

Astro power head (in main tank)

45kg of live rocks (main tank)

5 inch DSB (main tank)

4 x big snails (main tank)

2 x small snails (main tank)

My water parameters are:

NH3 - Not tested yet

NO2 - 1.0mg

N03 - Off the chart

Salinity - 1.022

pH - 8.3

Temp - constantly between 26~28 degrees

Notes:

My tank has been cycling for 2 weeks already. Just added the snails 3 days ago. No fishes or corals yet.

My questions are:

1. I noticed several carcasses of small crabs on the sand bed and believe that they must be from the rocks. Why did they die and is this a bad sign?

2. I also noticed a "worm" around 7cm long (it escaped before I could catch it). The body of this "worm" is somewhat flat and many small/fine legs can be observed at its sides. IMO, it looks somewhat like a centipede. What is this? Will it harm my other lifestock when they are eventually introduced? If so, how do I get rid of it?

3. What are turbo snails? Are there any difference between normal snails and turbo snails?

4. I've noticed that small baby snails has been appearing in my tank ever since I added the snails in 3 days ago . Are my snails spawning? Considering my water parameters, how is it possible that they find the condition healthy enough to spawn?

5. Any suggestions to speed up the cycling process, especially to get the nitrate levels down so that I may add some fishes in soon?

Any constructive suggestions or helpful opinions are very very much appreciated!!!

Many thanks in advance!

[Golden Tooth]

Cycling 2 weeks already? No way of speeding up the process. Relax, do more reading n enjoy the cycling stage.

Patience is the key here.

[dravan]

answers to ur questions...

1. I noticed several carcasses of small crabs on the sand bed and believe that they must be from the rocks. Why did they die and is this a bad sign?

they are dieoffs during cycling... they wld rot n release ammonia to kickstart the nitogen cycle.... crabs are not really wanted in a reef tank so its good they die

[dravan]

3. What are turbo snails? Are there any difference between normal snails and turbo snails?

turbo snails are snails that work real hard to eat the algae that wld form in the tank... they are reef safe n hardworkers...

[marcvelous]

Forgot to add that my PO4 levels are 0,1mg using a Sera test kit

Anyone can shed light on question 2?

BTW, how long is the cycling going to take? Is there really no way to speed up the process? Some LFS guy told me that having more marco algae and sea lettuce in my refrigium will help me bring down the nitrate level. Is this true?

[ryz]

Use Nitrate removers, or grow some macroalgae in your refugium to lower nitrate. Oh and for the worm your talking about, they're bristle worms. Do a search on bristle worms to know more. They are benificial hitchhikers. BTW it isn't very possible that your snails are spawning as snails are not known to spwn in captivity(am I right?). Probably another type of snail. Turboastrea snails are just another type of snails, They have pyramidical(is that even a word?) shells(means they look like pyramids). and feed off microalgae.

[dravan]

cycling normally takes 2-4wks... it ends when ur ammonia n nitrite reading is zero... yes algae brings dwn nitrate but its not really important at this point of time.... after the NH4 n NO2 hits zero u can do a 50% water change.... this wld dilute the NO3 in the water.... then u can add in livestocks SLOWLY....

[ryz]

Macro algae take in nitrate to build proteins as Nitrate contains Nitrogen, which is an essential compund in proteins, thus eliminating nitrate traces in water. Try to add more surfaces for bacterial growth like ceramic rings, sintered glasss etc in your filtration. This would house more bbacteria and nitrify organics more quickly.

[dravan]

snails can spawn in captivity... they contain both female n male sexual organs so if u haf a couple of them in the tank they wld spawn......

[marcvelous]

Hi All and thanks for your help so far!

As mentioned before, I left my tank to cycle with only sand (5 inches worth in the main and 6 inchces in the sump), live rocks and water to cycle for the past 2 weeks. I did dump two dead prawns to try and kick-start the ammonia levels. They have since disintegrated into nothing...

There was basically nothing in my tank until 3 days ago when I added the snails. Since then, I have noticed more and more baby snails appearing on the glass walls of my tank (gosh they are so tiny that I probably wouldn't have noticed them on the rocks or sand anyway ). Which is why I asked if they are spawning and seeing that my water parameters are not great, just how and what induced this appearance of baby snails?

As for the suggestion on getting a denitrator, well, you can call me idealistic or cheapo but I wish to setup a tank where things are more or less balanced the natural way (is this even possible?!?!?) without the excessive use of machines. I already have 2 rocks of macro-algae in my sump. How many more should I add? Is tere anything else that I can add or do?

Thanks again!!!

[dravan]

natural is the way to go denitrator is not a perm solution...

[Golden Tooth]

Yup. IMO most of us go natural.

[ryz]

The macro algae would grow, no need to add more. But maybe you could add macros of different species.

[dravan]

marco are good... but when used with a matured sedbed ( grade 0 ) of abt 9mths old with lots of liverocks.... it wld be the best natural combi of reducing waste in ur aquarium.... n in my opinion ceramic rings n bio balls are nitrate factories.... cut dwn on these n use liverocks instead... the more the merrier

[RAV-65]

Dravan,

i need some advise too, how would the LR help in the cycling process?

Thanxs!

[ryz]

Live rock = oen of the main place where nitrifying bacteria colonise. Nitrifying bacteria, are bacteria that breaks down organic compunds into nitrate(ammonia to nitrite to nitrate). Without the LR you would be deprived of an important filtration media to get rid of organic compounds from the water. LR, when introduced to your aquarium, would have some die off(organisms that die). And these organisms is the food for nitrifying bacteria. Once enough nitrifying bacteria colonises your live rock, or any other filtration media, they would remove organics efficiently from your water. When you reach this phase, your cycle is complete. LR IMO do not help your cycling, it creates the cycle and is a media for the bacteria to colonize. If you do not use LR at all, you could use other filtration media that are meant for nitrifying bacteria colonization. And add a lump of prawn or some fish food into the tank for the bacteria as food(fuel). LR is very good filtration media for colonization of nitrifyibg bacteria as it is very porous thus having lots of surface area for the bacteria to be housed upon. (higher surface area to volume ratio). If you want bacteria to colonise your LR faster, you can get the nitrifying bacteria from any LFS and add it to your tank(with filtration media to house them). This will kickstart the cycling process. You also need to add in food for the bacteria, if you have not die off from the LR or if you are not using LR at all. HTH.

[dravan]

liverocks actually helps in ur cycling.... it helps to seed ur tank wif bacteria that breaks down wastes.... it contains lots of living organism.... sum harmful sum benefical to ur system... when using liverocks u get diefoffs that helps to kickstart ur cycle...

[ryz]

well thats from another perspective.