MY TANK HAS FINISHED CYCLING!!!

pro2k · 02-13-2005, 11:34 PM

The tank has finished cycling over night! Yesterday I checked the ammonia and nitrites and they were very near zero and near 1ppm respectively. Today they were both 0! What's really weird is that I checked nitrates about 3 days ago and it was almost 50ppm and today it was 2.5ppm. I didn't think nitrates would go lower without water changes. I tested all these and then re-tested because I thought I was in error. It was the same each test. Woo Hoo! Only took about 2 weeks..... :wav:

So, should I go ahead and order one of those tank clean-up crews? (What are the best things to get for the new tank crew?) And the macro for the fuge? Speaking of the fuge, should I also put turbo snails in there? What should NOT go in the fuge? Thanks guys!

Reptoreef · 02-13-2005, 11:39 PM

Is this a repost??? As for macro... anytime. You can start to build your clean up crew also... now.

dakar · 02-14-2005, 01:26 AM

Agreed, add the macros anytime. And start collecting your clean up crew, to get them to work. As a personal preference, if you do not add anything else to the tank besides the clean up crew, it's tempting to start adding frags and such right away, but try to help off for a bit yet. Remember depending on how much of a crew you add, there will not be much of anything for them to to eat once any die off from the cycle is consumed, so it might be a good idea to add just a 'tiny' pinch of flake or pellet type food to the tank every few days to make sure they don't starve themselves, also give the bacteria something to keep themselves busy and continue to populate as it breaks down. Note I said a TINY bit, and not often. Let it tun for a couple weeks and restest everything... If things are zeros across the board you should be safe to start slowly adding critters.

Have you decided on the lighting you are planning to use? Is it in place? If so start ramping up the lighting slowly else the only thing you'll have growing will be algae.

pro2k · 02-14-2005, 09:00 AM

Should I buy one of those clean-up crew package deals from a dealer? They consist of something like this:

Scarlet Hermit Crab: 20
Blueleg Hermit Crab: 20
Turbo/Astrea Snail: 20
Nasssarius Snail: 10
Emerald Crab: 3
Coral Banded Shrimp: 1
Feather Duster: 2

Whoyah · 02-14-2005, 10:10 AM

That seems like alot of clean up crew for new tank IMO. I would think you would want to start with only the snails. Lets see what everyone else says.

dakar · 02-14-2005, 10:19 AM

yup maybe a dozen snails and hermits to start off right..... I would got crazy with the crew yet.

pro2k · 02-14-2005, 10:27 AM

Ok, is there any better combination of snails and crabs to get? Like turbo snails, or nasssarius snails blue leg crab, emerald crab, or scarlet crab? What is the best assortment to start off with?

dakar · 02-14-2005, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pro2k

Ok, is there any better combination of snails and crabs to get? Like turbo snails, or nasssarius snails blue leg crab, emerald crab, or scarlet crab? What is the best assortment to start off with?

That's kinda like asking what's the best brand of salt...hee hee Gonna get some very varied answers from everyone... Personally, I like the blue leggers, and we have a wide variety of snails now... the only ones I'd recommend staying away from are the ummmmm.... ack the name escapes me right now, commonly sold as turbo's, but they have a large conical type shell thats really pointed at the top. They tend to be clumbsy and fall onto their backs to die unless you can find them in time to flip back over..... we have hermits that now occupy those shells.

pro2k · 02-14-2005, 11:03 AM

maybe the turbo astrea or the funnel turbo? They are supposed to be good at eating algae off the glass right?

Reef_Angel · 02-14-2005, 09:36 PM

Splurge and get yourself a sea fan!!! I was and still is one of my favorite things in my tank. If anyone ever gets sick of theirs and doesn't want it, you know where to ship it!! I think they are so pretty!!!