rhouse24
09-05-2015, 08:25 PM
Hello Friends,
It's been a long time since I posted. My tank has been on autopilot for the past four years (thank you Apex). However, the past few years I've had a difficult time keeping snails and shrimp alive. In fact, most die within 24 hours of putting them in my tank. My system is a 110g SPS tank supported by a 120g basement sump. I would guesstimate that 50-75% of the above parish or disappear within the first week. Some inverts have lived for years in the system (pincushion urchin, a few cerinth snails, and a cleaner shrimp) while others almost seem to be poisoned. Turbo snails are the worst, within 2 days they are falling off the glass on their backs unable to flip back over and eventually die. I have a quite a bit of algae that would be a perfect job for some turbos or a seahare but a dozen turbos and 2 seahares later I am left clueless:tear:
Acclimation:
I do live an hour away from the nearest pet store but take great effort to insulate the bags and religiously drip acclimate for an hour before adding to the system. The strange part is that in the same batch of snails or shrimp, half will live and half will die, pretty consistently.
Theories:
Dinoflagellates (I don't see any brown slime)
Trace metals
Acclimation shock???
Current Parameters:
SG 1.026
Cu 0ppm
Ca 510ppm
Alk 11.5dkh
PO4 .31ppm
NO3 50ppm
Mg 900ppm
I am at my wits end with my inability to establish a clean up crew; with nothing to help keep the algae in-check, I am considering taking all the live rock/sand out and starting again. I appreciate any advice you can share.
It's been a long time since I posted. My tank has been on autopilot for the past four years (thank you Apex). However, the past few years I've had a difficult time keeping snails and shrimp alive. In fact, most die within 24 hours of putting them in my tank. My system is a 110g SPS tank supported by a 120g basement sump. I would guesstimate that 50-75% of the above parish or disappear within the first week. Some inverts have lived for years in the system (pincushion urchin, a few cerinth snails, and a cleaner shrimp) while others almost seem to be poisoned. Turbo snails are the worst, within 2 days they are falling off the glass on their backs unable to flip back over and eventually die. I have a quite a bit of algae that would be a perfect job for some turbos or a seahare but a dozen turbos and 2 seahares later I am left clueless:tear:
Acclimation:
I do live an hour away from the nearest pet store but take great effort to insulate the bags and religiously drip acclimate for an hour before adding to the system. The strange part is that in the same batch of snails or shrimp, half will live and half will die, pretty consistently.
Theories:
Dinoflagellates (I don't see any brown slime)
Trace metals
Acclimation shock???
Current Parameters:
SG 1.026
Cu 0ppm
Ca 510ppm
Alk 11.5dkh
PO4 .31ppm
NO3 50ppm
Mg 900ppm
I am at my wits end with my inability to establish a clean up crew; with nothing to help keep the algae in-check, I am considering taking all the live rock/sand out and starting again. I appreciate any advice you can share.