well...its been almost a week since last update:
The nitrite dropped to zero overnight sometime between Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th.
Sunday the 18th, 1700 PST:
1)Moved the two scarlet reef crabs from the 20g nano into the 55
2)Moved the Cerith snails I immediately saw from the 20g into the nano...tough to say how many exactly (should have counted...doh) but I imagine between 10 and 15...there are no doubt some more in the crevices of the LR which I have left in there. The little buggers bred like crazy for some reason in that nano so that was handy.
3)Moved the two bumble bee snails I saw from the 20g into the 55
Monday the 19th, 1600 PST: Payed a visit to the LFS for a more complete cleanup crew; his shipment comes in on Tuesday so I was getting the leftovers:
1)5 Margarita Snails
2)6 Nassarius Snails
3)1 Red Foot Moon Snail (notoriously a cold water species, but the LFS owner has had one in his display for at least two months now...ive been checking in on it weekly...and it is doing well. He assures me that his importer gets them from Baja, not the LA/San Diego area and that they will survive in warmer tank waters. For $2 I figured it was worth the risk.
4)8 Blue legged hermits (the little bitty ones, not the big ones)
5)4 Mexican red legged hermits (also the little bitty ones)
Wednesday the 21st, 1530 PST: Return visit to the LFS to see his new shipment:
1)5 "Pink" Astrea snails...as best as I can tell these are just astreas with a healthy growth of coraline.
2)5 Margarita snails
3)1 Turbo snail
4)2 Emerald Crabs
As I leave the LFS I think, "Ahhh....variety is the spice of life...and that will just about do it for the cleaning crew for the moment. Probably will want to get a brittle star or two in the future, once the tank has been running for another month or so."
Thursday the 22nd, 1400 PST: Ammonia and Nitrite remain at zero, Nitrate is at 5ppm at the moment...not too high at all, but I will be doing a waterchange this weekend just to get in the routine. Diatoms have virtually disapeared, but there are still a few little brown fuzzies here and there. The brush/hair algae is growing well near the top of the tank (undoubtably using up some of my nitrates keeping the numbers low) but the calcerous algae is begining to recover towards the bottom of the tank...getting some nice pink coming back into the rocks...a bit faster than I expected, but the pieces were really nice when I got them, practically fully covered, so I imagine there was a good base. I am going to try to keep my clacium levels up around 500ppm (assuming the test kit does not lie) even though I probably don't need them that high yet, i figure the snails will appreciate it and I want to encourage as much calcerous algae growth as possible.
Until we meet again, I remain watching the snails snail and the crabs crab...
Kevin
The nitrite dropped to zero overnight sometime between Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th.
Sunday the 18th, 1700 PST:
1)Moved the two scarlet reef crabs from the 20g nano into the 55
2)Moved the Cerith snails I immediately saw from the 20g into the nano...tough to say how many exactly (should have counted...doh) but I imagine between 10 and 15...there are no doubt some more in the crevices of the LR which I have left in there. The little buggers bred like crazy for some reason in that nano so that was handy.
3)Moved the two bumble bee snails I saw from the 20g into the 55
Monday the 19th, 1600 PST: Payed a visit to the LFS for a more complete cleanup crew; his shipment comes in on Tuesday so I was getting the leftovers:
1)5 Margarita Snails
2)6 Nassarius Snails
3)1 Red Foot Moon Snail (notoriously a cold water species, but the LFS owner has had one in his display for at least two months now...ive been checking in on it weekly...and it is doing well. He assures me that his importer gets them from Baja, not the LA/San Diego area and that they will survive in warmer tank waters. For $2 I figured it was worth the risk.
4)8 Blue legged hermits (the little bitty ones, not the big ones)
5)4 Mexican red legged hermits (also the little bitty ones)
Wednesday the 21st, 1530 PST: Return visit to the LFS to see his new shipment:
1)5 "Pink" Astrea snails...as best as I can tell these are just astreas with a healthy growth of coraline.
2)5 Margarita snails
3)1 Turbo snail
4)2 Emerald Crabs
As I leave the LFS I think, "Ahhh....variety is the spice of life...and that will just about do it for the cleaning crew for the moment. Probably will want to get a brittle star or two in the future, once the tank has been running for another month or so."
Thursday the 22nd, 1400 PST: Ammonia and Nitrite remain at zero, Nitrate is at 5ppm at the moment...not too high at all, but I will be doing a waterchange this weekend just to get in the routine. Diatoms have virtually disapeared, but there are still a few little brown fuzzies here and there. The brush/hair algae is growing well near the top of the tank (undoubtably using up some of my nitrates keeping the numbers low) but the calcerous algae is begining to recover towards the bottom of the tank...getting some nice pink coming back into the rocks...a bit faster than I expected, but the pieces were really nice when I got them, practically fully covered, so I imagine there was a good base. I am going to try to keep my clacium levels up around 500ppm (assuming the test kit does not lie) even though I probably don't need them that high yet, i figure the snails will appreciate it and I want to encourage as much calcerous algae growth as possible.
Until we meet again, I remain watching the snails snail and the crabs crab...
Kevin
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