Finally Starting Up my 55g

[kw22]

Can't wait to see your tanks progress

[digger4rc]

You mean that isn't what Paul Revere was yelling? Anyway that's about how I feel. Too bad if I start yelling it the wife and kids might have me committed....

Nitrites are down to .5ppm today. I had been reading 5ppm but if I am honest it was so dark it was probably well past that since the kit only reads up to 5ppm. Hopefully tomorrow I will see a 0ppm reading and get to go snail shopping. (did I really just type that?)

I'd like to do a crab-less CUC. Any suggestions for the first purchase? I don't want to do one of those large CUC kits. Rather I will just add a little bit at a time. I was thinking a couple each of Ceriths, Nerite, and Nassarius to get me started. I was also considering some PODs as well. Too early?

[ksSTL]

I'm soon going to start my own 75g tank, so I am following your posts... Did you use dry rock or live rock?

[digger4rc]

I used:
Dry Rock: BRS Reef Saver
Live Sand: Ocean Direct Oolite

[digger4rc]

Yesterday morning nitrites were at 0ppm. After a happy dance, some household chores, etc. we went to a LFS and picked up some snails. I believe they are Asterea's, three of them. Going to try to pickup some salt today at a different LFS and see if they have some other snails before I order online.

Here's one of them playing king of the mountain despite me placing him on the DSB last night. Another hiding in the shade. The third moved on the glass to the top of the water line: hard to get a pic b/c of the tank rim.

Ammo and nitrites both still holding at 0 this morning. Added some pellet food to ghost feed. Guess it's time to start up the QT.

[W1ngz]

Originally Posted by digger4rc

After a happy dance, some household chores, etc. we went to a LFS and picked up some snails.

Even if it's just some lowly snails, the first bit of life introduced is a thrill. Congrats!

[Pigpen17]

My CUC has crabs, but he snail portion is about 5-7 Asterea, 10 Nassarius, and about 30 Dwarf Ceriths. I added some Nerite's, but they tend to stay out of the water just below my tank rim. Strange. I liked the regular Ceriths as well, but my crabs are wearing their shells now.

I love the Dwarf Ceriths the best, but there are a lot of them, so if you don't like snails all over your sand, than maybe not. They cleaned up a green algae breakout in my sandbed in about 3 days though. I am thinking of adding a Fighting Conch as well.

I also have a reefcleaners Serpent Star. They are much smaller than the huge ones at the LFS, or the ones at LA. Love it. It came in about 3" across. It's getting bigger, but not very quickly. Creepy little bugger.

[TheBookWorm]

Following this post, can't wait to see how it turns out.

[digger4rc]

Back when I started collecting components for this build I bought a Reef Octopus BH-1000. 7 months later I finally got it out and installed it on the tank today. The setup was fairly easy, although I did have to tighten down one of the factory installed unions that was leaking. So far it seems to be pretty nice although I don't have much to skim with just my three little snails and some light ghost feeding.

I also ordered a small CUC from ReefCleaners since the LFS's were a total bust for anything but Astreas. Some had no snail at all. The CUC should be here soon. I also added some chaeto and pods to the order since they were relatively cheap and the shipping bundled into the free offer. Looks like it's time to start the refugium project soon.

Water readings are holding steady and the QT cycle is underway. Did a 15g water change and dropped the Nitrates to around 40ppm. I am leaving some nitrates to start feeding the chaeto. With any luck I should be getting a fish or two in the next couple weeks. Right now the plan is:

Snails, snails, snails
Maybe a shrimp - Thinking about peppermint or pistol
Royal Gramma
Diamond or Yellow Watchman Goby
Carpenter Wrasse
Pair of Percula or Ocellaris
BTA - color TBD

Any advice/warnings on the stocking list? I am planning on taking quite a while with this list. Probably 9-12 months. I would like to have 2 fish before winter sets in and causes shipping concerns.

[digger4rc]

I had a bit of a bio-explosion today. My snails, macro, and pods arrived today. Let's just say Reef Cleaners were very generous with the dwarf ceriths....I am very concerned about having enough food for these guys. Any feeding ideas?

I also pulled the carbon and sponge from my old AC300 to make room for the chaeto. I screened off the outlet side of the basket with some plastic window screen material and placed a couple cheap LED lights I had laying around on the lid. Quick little upcycled refugium. Will either be modified later for better lighting or replaced by a better HOB fuge.

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by digger4rc

Let's just say Reef Cleaners were very generous with the dwarf ceriths

Yes they are!~

That is a lot of snails to start out with, but CUC have a way of working themselves out. The Nassarius will clean up the waste. I don't think there is anythiing you can do to feed the algae eating snails, but I guess you could drop some food in for the Nassarius.

I'm not sugesting feeding an ampty tank that is so young. I don't know if it could have a negitive affect, but I hand fed my cleaner shrimp and dropped food in for my crabs when I had no fish, even though you don't really have to.

[Pigpen17]

How's the CUC doing?

[digger4rc]

The CUC is doing well, thank you for asking. All the nerite and nassarius snails seemed to have survived shipping. I have two of the larger cerith snails that I am still keeping an eye on for movement. I just moved them to a front corner and ensured their opening was pointed toward the sand. I ordered about 20 of the dwarf ceriths and probably got close to 80 or 100. Of those I'd say about 80% are alive and the others may have been gonners before they were even harvested for shipping. Probably very hard to hand pick/count/inspect those little guys. Some were smaller than a finger nail clipping. I do have a small ammount of ammonia showing today, but I bet that is from those dwarf ceriths that didn't make it.

When I got my dry rock from BRS I had one that was a little different. It was a smaller piece that had some yellow/orange color to it. I figured that the chemical composition was just slightly different. So when I aquascaped, I put it at the end of my row thinking I would replace it or move it to a QT, future nano, etc. Check out the pearly white clean spots from the CUC! They are doing quite a number on this rock. It is probably the main source of all the orange/yellow diatoms I had on the sand. The CUC has made short work of the sand as well. Just don't tell them, or I will have to pay big bucks when they renegotiate their contract.

On the other side of the coin my QT has not yet cycled, but nitrites are sky high. Soon....

[Pigpen17]

Right on. Glad to hear it.

Yeah I had about the same first try with the Dwarf Ceriths. They were a bonus in my first shipment. I thought most if them were dead, but after ordering more, they may have just been chillin.

They are fantastic on my sand bed though. That first shipment kept it very clean, but as I started to notice they were becoming fewer and fewer my sand bed had a huge algae breakout. So I ordered 30 more and it was cleaned up in a matter of days. Pure white sand again. This time I just threw them all in and some didn't move for a few days, but eventually all of them did. They're funny too. One day they will all be gone, nowhere to be seen. They next day all 50 are out on the sand bed. Crazy.

[Shawn O]

If you have a lot of snails and not enough algae, they may start to starve. Kind of a waste of money if they do. Can't hurt to toss in something for them to eat while they wait for the tank to mature. Maybe a couple pinches of spirulina?

Congrats on the tank, it's looking good.

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by Shawn O

If you have a lot of snails and not enough algae, they may start to starve. Kind of a waste of money if they do. Can't hurt to toss in something for them to eat while they wait for the tank to mature. Maybe a couple pinches of spirulina?

Congrats on the tank, it's looking good.

Yeah. That's probably my fault. The OP had a good plan of adding a CUC slowly, then I posted my CUC, but not the order I added it.

[digger4rc]

Originally Posted by Pigpen17

Yeah. That's probably my fault. The OP had a good plan of adding a CUC slowly, then I posted my CUC, but not the order I added it.

Not your fault at all. It was a culmination of many factors including the LFSs having poor stock. Most importantly I ordered a CUC for a 23g hex from ReefCleaners, which is about half my 55g's size, and they sent a ton of the dwarf Ceriths. I'm feeding high protein pellets, going to look for something more on the veg side tomorrow.

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by digger4rc

Not your fault at all. It was a culmination of many factors including the LFSs having poor stock. Most importantly I ordered a CUC for a 23g hex from ReefCleaners, which is about half my 55g's size, and they sent a ton of the dwarf Ceriths. I'm feeding high protein pellets, going to look for something more on the veg side tomorrow.

Whew. I feel like I or someone should have posted more about when to add what. I do apologize for that. My crew went in in bits and peices. Mind you I am not crabless, so more snails are probably appropriate.

I added about 5-7 Asterea (possiably) to start (plus cleaner shrimp, hermits and an emerlad crab). Then about three months later I added 5 Nassarius, 10 Ceriths and about 30 Dwarf Ceriths. I upgraded about 3 months later again with 5 more Nassarius and a new batch of Dwarfs, and I just added 5 Bumblebee's.

I wish I had had started with some Nassarius and Dwarf Ceriths right out of the gate though. They are great for turning your sandbed. I do think a crabless CUC is a very cool idea. One I should have considered at the start.

The large Ceriths never really did much. I think they are all gone now.

Oh! and mind you, this was starting with 100% live rock as well, although it was fairly bare.

[digger4rc]

Well I have found out that the Astreas and Ceriths like kale. They ripped the first leaf to shreds. The Nerites and Nassariuses aren't interested at all. The Nerites keep huddling up on the ruturn from my skimmer and also on the power head. Do I need to make sure I knock them back into the tank when they get above the water level or will they take care of themselves?

Still waiting on the QT to cycle...

[Pigpen17]

They do the same in my tank hanging out right above the waterline. I just leave them be.

Any thoughts to your first fish?

[digger4rc]

I am thinking Royal Gramma, Carpenter Wrasse, or Goby first. Most likely the RG since I can find them locally for a reasonable price. The CWs I have only seen online. I will probably have to order it or have a LFS order it for me. As for the Goby, I still can't decide which species and I want to let the sand bed mature a little more. Still haven't seen a single pod despite the Macro and pod pack from ReefCleaners. I probably need to get a red lens for my maglite or something similar and do some night stalking.

And now the real question....

WHY DIDN'T I CYCLE MY QT WITH THE DT?!?!?!?!?!?

Seriously. I am really fighting the urge to just plop the first fish in the DT. I really don't want to deal with a fallow period or develop bad habits. But since I bought this tank in January and still don't have a fish in it I am going a little stir crazy. QT still holding at 5ppm+ Nitrites. Patience....

What's up with the beard like a billy goat? I think they are worms of some type. If you look close you can see that they open up at the ends. Are these something to worry about?

Click here for full size version

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by digger4rc

I am thinking Royal Gramma, Carpenter Wrasse, or Goby first. Most likely the RG since I can find them locally for a reasonable price. The CWs I have only seen online. I will probably have to order it or have a LFS order it for me. As for the Goby, I still can't decide which species and I want to let the sand bed mature a little more. Still haven't seen a single pod despite the Macro and pod pack from ReefCleaners. I probably need to get a red lens for my maglite or something similar and do some night stalking.

And now the real question....

WHY DIDN'T I CYCLE MY QT WITH THE DT?!?!?!?!?!?

Seriously. I am really fighting the urge to just plop the first fish in the DT. I really don't want to deal with a fallow period or develop bad habits. But since I bought this tank in January and still don't have a fish in it I am going a little stir crazy. QT still holding at 5ppm+ Nitrites. Patience....

What's up with the beard like a billy goat? I think they are worms of some type. If you look close you can see that they open up at the ends. Are these something to worry about?

Click here for full size version

Whoa! That's some wild $hi% there.

Yeah. Getting my first fish into the tank was a huge challenge for me. It was 5 months or so after saltwater hit my sand before my first fish went in. I did quite a bit in that time though. Upgrading equiptmemnt. Adding CUC. My first coral. Testing water. Adding pods. Serpent star. Stabalizing ALK. And read read read read read.

The thing for me was that there were always delays, and they ****ed me off, but the longer my tank sat running, the better it got. In fact somethimes I wish I would have waited longer.

But yeah, it's tough.

[kw22]

I would add some gobies first.I would add in a pair of yellowrose with 2 pistol shrimp.If they go well something like a clown goby would be a good second addition.The royal gramma and wrasse could then be added in.To finish things off I would add in a long-nose hawkfish if you do not intend on shrimp.

[digger4rc]

So the QT finally cycled late last week. I am on the hunt for Fish#1. The first LFS was a bust. All the fish they had on my stocking list looked sick. On one hand I wanted to rescue them, but on the other I don't need a sick fish for my first go at QT, acclimation, etc. Hopefully someone else more experienced than me will come along and help them out.

Does anyone in the Cincinnati area know a good, trustworthy LFS? Many of the ones closest to me either got out of SW or never did SW.

[Pigpen17]

I have been ordering online just for that reason. That and the closest SW store to me has the worst, diseased tanks.

My first purchase was from Divers Den (Wisconsin). A very healthy, happy African Blue Midas Blenny. My second was from Live Aquaria (Ca). Again, happy, healthy fish.