new 20 g tank

[riceball]

Have had my tank up and running for about 9 days now. Added 3 snails at day 4 and 2 damsels at day 8(yesterday). I now have a dead snail and one on its way out. Looking for some help and people I can ask a lot of question

 

[dudeofrude]

That's too early to be adding fish etc, do you know about cycling? There's plenty of threads on here explaining it. You need to be testing your water to check ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. This is just the tip of a huge iceberg of info you need to know when setting up a tank. Start by reading up on fishless cycling (more humane) and see how you go from there

 

[riceball]

All my levels are fine to add fish. Went over to pets inc had them test my water and go over how to do it myself I cycle my water tomorrow. I have been starting this tank step by step

 

[LordJay]

Dont Rush

If u try to jump all the steps ull end up dissapointed and frustrated. There are a couple of things u need to do b4 stocking ur tank. Right now ur last fishes are in great danger.
Firts u gotta plan how u gonna cycle ur tank- right now ur levels might be at zero but they are all going to spike and it would be harder to take dm back to zero. It could take up to 3 months to fully cycle ur tank.
Firts u need some live rock and live sand (bout an inch)- they will help in the biological filtering. Then u take a pair of damsels to start ur cycle. Their poo, pee and food leftover will turn into ammonia. Thats just the beginning. Then they'll turn into a less toxic gas, nitrite and eventually into an even less toxic, nitrate. When ammonia and nitrite finally reaches zero and nitrate high thats when u know ur cycle has come to an end. To get rid of your nitrates ull have to make some partial water changes (pwc). For small tanks ull have to make more water changed since their is not enough space for the nitrate gases to detoxify or go away or wutever. This takes bout 3 months; then ull be able to stock ur tank.
A couple of products or tricks might help to get this cycle done faster. You might use BacterVital to accelerate bennefical bacteria ( this bacteria is the responsible to turn ammo into nitrite then nitrate). Then u might want to use sumthing like AmQuel to help detoxify em'. Most fishes will survive in a .20 ppm nitrate level. No ammonia or nitrite should be in ur tank, its too dangerous. A tank that small should be overstocked since these levels may rise in a blink of an eye. U might take some live sand from an already cycled tank and add it to urs- which I really wouldnt recommend doing anyways.
So, no need to rush. I tried doing everything faster and ended up killing them poor fishes and wasting more money than doing everything the right way. But I learned from my mistakes. Just calm down and enjoy the process.

 

[LordJay]

I said ur fishes are in danger cuz I read somewhere else some1 bought a YellowTang and thought it was u. Ur damsels will survive most toxic levels, but snails are very delicate.

 

[riceball]

My ammonia is at 0 ppm my nitrate is at 0 ppm and my nitrate is 5.0 ppm

 

[riceball]

wwhat's good use for cleaners hermits and snails and what's a good ratio

 

[riceball]

the last snail alive is just going to town on my live rock is this a good sign

 

[LordJay]

Well yeah, theyll do some hard work. Not sure bout ratio, but some ppl keep a lot of em', i'd put bout 1 per 4-5gallon. But it depends on the amount of rocks u got. Just keep in mind to get some reef friendly hermit crabs. Bout snail going to the rock... it was hungry, he knew he was gonna get sumthing there to eat. They have great senses, but sensitive skin.