Day 6!

Ok so ive been monitoring my cycling process and have noticed that my ammonia levels are really starting to drop quickly, that means that the tank is becoming less and less toxic

if you read the article at nano-reef than you will know that we need to wait for our Ammonia and Nitrite to go down before we can start thinking about adding animals.

some animals are hardier than others when it comes to these things, and Red Alge is starting to building up, so as a first addition to my tank i have decided to add some of my clean up crew! first off the bat a turbo snail, small and efficient at cleaning the rocks and glass, hopefully this guy will do the job at removing some of the left over alge from the fresh water tank that i couldn't get off the glass, the second thing i added was 5 very small hermit crabs. the hermit crabs are great for keeping your substrate clean, if you watch them they pick up individual pieces and just eat stuff off them, quite amusing!

before i go any further here are my water parameters for the last few days:

5/1/2011
Ammonia - 1mg/L
Nitrite - 0.5mg/L
Nitrate - 10mg/L

6/1/2011
Ammonia - 1 to 0.5 mg/L
Nitrite - 0.25mg/L
Nitrate - 20mg/L

7/1/2011
Ammonia - 0.5mg/L
Nitrite - 0.25mg/L
Nitrate - 10mg/L

It seems that my ammonia and Nitrite are falling pretty quickly. and Alge blooms indicate that there is adequate Bio-Filter to handle some new found friends. The reason for only adding small hermit crabs and a small(ish) snail is that:

1. they are cheap - if they happen to die because i rushed then its not as big a loss as say a pair of clown fish
2. these guys are hardy they will live through most things
3. they will start cleaning up the alge blooms and stop my tank from looking like crap!
4. at least i feel like there is something to look at!

The other thing ive noticed growing quickly is some Aptasia, this is generally a pest, but i think ill let it grow for the moment because its kind of interesting to look at. i had it in my last tank and it didnt spread, if it does here though there are plenty of ways to get rid of it...

Photos!

Turbo Snail - about 3cm wide

3 of the 5 hermit crabs

Aptasia thats a bit hard to spot... sorry hard to get a good photo

So general Reaction so far, 2 1/2 hours after adding them, everyone is still alive, the turbo snail is only just starting to move, 2 of the hermit crabs are very shy and pretty much havent moved but are starting to come around, 3 of the hermits are chomping away on the substrate and having a great time... all good so far! holding my breath as I'd like not to have to go back to the fish shop and tell them i killed hermit crabs and snails, im sure id get some death stares...

until next time!