hermits and snails

hi there,

I'm a completely newbie, but so far successfully set up my nano tank.

I am now a proud owner of 1 live rock, 1 shrimp (named Steve) and 2 beautiful clownfish. All seems ok, but I have a little problem I have over feed them, and it has all settled on the bottom of the tank and this has caused my nitratates to rise only slightly, but obviously i dont want them to rise any more.

Am I right in thinking a red legged hermit and a trochus snail will fix this problem for me?

And

Will I have any problems introducing them to the tank now? the other occupance have only been in the tank for 2 days.

 

You should have added the Clean up Crew first! (Hermits and snails). How old is your tank.. how much live rock do you have.. is it 1 big rock I hope!? Do you have a skimmer?

 

1 hermit and snail aren't much, it really depends on the size of your tank and bio load. For an immediate cure, siphon out the food at the bottom. Remember this in the future, fish only need a little food, only feed what they can eat in a few minutes.

 

Fill this out

Brief description of the problem.
A picture(s) will also help.
PARAMETERS (important)
Temperature:
PH:
Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
Salinity:
dKH/KH/Alkalinity:
Magnesium:
Calcium:
Phosphate:

Tank size?
Estimated total system?

Reef, fish only or, freshwater?

Current inhabitants? What and how many?
Clean up crew?

How long has your tank been set-up?

Substrate.
Type?
Depth?

Live rock?
How much?
Did you recently add some?

Filtration.
Type?
Protein skimmer?
Do you wet or dry skim?
Maintenance schedule for filtration?
Drilled tank/hang on back overflow?
Sump/refugium. What's in it and how much?
Macro? What kind?

Lighting.
Lighting type?
Age of bulbs?

Feeding
What?
How much?
How often?

Water change schedule.
How much?
How often?
What salt brand?
Water source?

Additives/supplements used?

Do you have a ground probe?
What kind of flow does your tank have?

Any additional info you would like to share.... Including anything different that you have done/not done.

Let's get to the bottom of this. Any of the above info that is questionable to you is pertinent to keeping a happy/healthy tank/wallet.

 

Ya ya what he said.. fill out that form, and we will help you get your tank where it needs to be. When I feed my "2" fish.. I feed pellets.. they get 1 at a time. Then I drop a couple for my Shrimp. Better to underfeed than overfeed.

 

Cleaner crew is not totally necessary to add first. Look at FOWLR tanks that have triggers and wrasses.. they dont have any crews. Your inverts will be fine in there. I would suggest that the crew you have in mind is good for now. If the tank is as new as i think it is, then you wont have anything for a larger crew to be sustained on. I would suggest getting more LR or aragonite base rock to help with the bioload you have. Fill our as much of that list as possible, but you don't have a reef tank so i wouldnt worry about filling out the entire thing. Just let us know what you got so we can help!
Thanks,
Evan.

 

Sounds like this tank was just set up. It needs to go through its cycle before adding any livestock. If you haven't cycled yet, your inverts may not make it. The clowns are pretty durable and will probably make it. But don't add anything else until cycle finishes.

Once your ammonia peaks and drops to zero, then your nitrites peak and drops to zero and your nitrates drop to around 20ppm or lower, add the clean up crew then.

Give them time to clean and for your tank to stabilize before adding anything else.

on the liverock - this hosts bacteria needed for above mentioned cycle. It will help w/your nitrate levels. You want 1.5 to 2lb per gallon. More surface area of the rock, the better (IMO, this is more important than weight alone).

Post pictures for our enjoyment. This will help too

And, just FYI, I feed my two clowns and one Royal Gramma once every other day. Only a little at a time so they have a chance to eat it and not let it sink.

It's easy to overfeed and kind of hard to underfeed as long as they're eating.

 

I do similar approach. But I don't feed my shrimp. They find the pellets (or whatever) the fish drop.

 

My Gramma and Clown rarely let anyuthing hit the bottom.. I have to sneak a couple past them for my shrimp, lol

 

OK I hope i've answered enough questions, does this sound right, i was asking the guy in the shop but i'm beginning to think he was just trying for the sale, we have got a bigger tank that a friend is giving us but i wanted to beable to maintain a nano tank first so i had more of an understanding cause i'd hate to think i was harming my little fellas grown quite attached to them already. They are so cool to watch. anyway back to the matter at hand. I'll get a picture in the next couple of days for you.