can i over stock my tank with invertebrates ?

[heydo6]

over stock my tank ... how to keep everything alive ? pics

i have a new 45 gal tank (month or so old) . i added 3 clownfish to get the tank started and there doing fine . i was wonder if 30 crabs and 30 snails would be to much ? i have also added 4 pepermint shrimp an 2 bristtle starfish and 2 feather dusters .

i was hopeing to get a good cleaning crew going then let the tank cycle for awhile before adding anything new .

 

[roka64]

Welcome to the site. You may want to browse the fishless cycle and articles linked at the bottom of my sig. I wouldn't add anything else to the tank until the cycle is complete.
3 clowns (same species?) will have issues. The stars and shrimp and dusters might not make it through a cycle.
When you consider a clean up crew in a new tank, think small because there won't be much for them to eat.
I'm not a fan of hermits (you are talking about hermits right?) and 30 would be waaay too many to start off with in a 45.
I am guessing you are starting to see algae and are trying to throw a clean up crew to fix this...?
What are you water parameters?
PS, if your LFS gave you the advice to add all that before your cycle completes, you may want to consider another LFS.

 

[melosu58]

In a new tank that will be too much crabs and snails. There is not much for them to eat in a new tank. Read our article on fishless cycle in our articles section for info on cycling the tank.

 

[heydo6]

ok , it's been awhile since i have had a saltwater tank . i think i just go over board to fast . so say i already added all of the above fish and invertebrates how would i go about keeping them all alive ?

i live in florida so i got my sand right from the ocean , if that helps . all my rock was from another saltwater tank that was dried and cleaned . my lighting is 2 30w NO t12's and a 250w MH that i am not useing much yet .

since the damage is done i was just hopeing to find away thought this and keep everything alive . any advice would be great ....

thanks , i was looking at a few sites and this one looked the best so here i am . my clowns are all the same (false nemo kinda clowns ). i read over the fishless cycle i guess i should have done more research before starting another fish tank . i ordered a test kit it should be here any day then i can check my water . i have been doing 5 gal weekly water changes and everything is good so far .

 

[Patroklos]

If I am hearing right you do not have any live rock? What are you using for filtration?

 

[heydo6]

filtration ... i have 2 biowheel style filters ...

here is a pic

 

[heydo6]

any help ?

 

[Patroklos]

If I were you I would try and take some of those snails and crabs back, those are usually high turnover items at an LFS so I doubt they would have a problem.

You could also add dried seaweed/algea waffers to the tank to give the citters something to eat while your tank matures.

 

[CaptainAhab]

That's some sweet rock work. Looks great

 

[Ziggy953]

That is some great looking LR.

I have to agree about taking some of the snails and crabs back. I wouldn't suggest adding too much food for them to eat as you could create more problems then you solve.

 

[heydo6]

you guys think i should be running my 250W MH to try to grow algee faster ??

i purchased snails and crabs from online store . thats kinda a reason why i purchased so much because it was a cleaner kit for my size tank .

 

[Ziggy953]

I would not suggest doing anything to grow algae. You are going to loose some snails and hermits...it happens...that cleaner pack is great for an established tank but not a brand new one. There just isn't a large enough food source in the tank to support that many inverts yet.

 

[heydo6]

so then there is no need at all to be running my MH light than right ?

thanks for everyones help , i'll post water tests when my kit comes .

 

[heydo6]

here is my water tests ... i was wondering how close to the line in the tube should you be ? above the line ? below the line ? the line is about 1/8 inch thick . these are very close , the colors are sometimes not so easy to tell but i think i got it right .

ph ... 7.8ppm
ammonia ... 0.25ppm
nitrate ... 80ppm or more
nitrite ... 2.0ppm

ok so if these are high or low could someone please tell me how i should go about makeing it better . i just did a 5 gal water change in my 45 gal tank only 2 days ago and one a week or less before that . help please

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Looks like your tank is cycling. From your first post, sounds like there are fish in there so you probably want to do water changes daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down as low as you can. In hindsight, it probably would've been better to cycle the tank without the fish as suggested in a previous post, but you are where you are. Ammonia/nitrites are toxic to fish and you want to keep those numbers low. Normally, you want them to be zero, but you need some ammonia/nitrite to build up the beneficial bacteria.

Your nitrates are extremely high for a tank that is cycling. Either there was some "user error" when testing, or you're using some really nasty water. Are you using tap water?

I wouldn't worry about pH right now - you normally want it around 8.0-8.4, but during a cycle it will wander all over the place.

I'm thinking 20% water changes daily to keep those ammonia and nitrite levels down, or you're going to be losing livestock.

[Edit: Ooooooh... I just reread your first post and you've got quite a few live critters in there. Definitely keep on top of those water parameters and test daily.]

 

[heydo6]

ok so i have 45 gal tank but i have alot of rock and a pretty deep sand bed . so is 10 gals of water a day to much ? and for how long should i do this ? thanks for your help

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I don't think it's too much - just make sure your water change water is matched in both temperature and salinity to your tank water. In reality, with nitrite levels of 2.0 I'd probably do 25-30% of a change. Those are pretty high.

With the nitrite high, and the ammonia pretty low, I'd guess that you're on the tail end of the cycle and you'll probably be cycled in a couple weeks. But I'd do it for as long as you detectable ammonia and nitrites.