Feeding advice

[Marinebeginner]

My tank is just 3 weeks old. I have live rock, a turbo snail, strawberry tipped conch and a blue legged reef crab in it along with a piece of hard coral. No fish yet obviously . What type of food should I be using? I'm putting drops of coral feed in and my local shop advised using brine shrimp as well- are the brine shrimp necessary? Any other advice welcome thanks!

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Marinebeginner

My tank is just 3 weeks old. I have live rock, a turbo snail, strawberry tipped conch and a blue legged reef crab in it along with a piece of hard coral. No fish yet obviously . What type of food should I be using? I'm putting drops of coral feed in and my local shop advised using brine shrimp as well- are the brine shrimp necessary? Any other advice welcome thanks!

No coral feeding is usually necessary. Feeding corals can result in over feeding the tank and a nutrient problem.

[Sniperhank]

If your tank is only 3 weeks old then I'm assuming your tank isn't fully cycled yet. Do you happen to have a master test kit to check your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels?

[Marinebeginner]

I'm meant to be taking a water sample into shop this weekend to get ammonia / nitrate / pH levels checked this weekend. So far all I've been monitoring myself is the salinity with a refractometer. Am thinking I'll buy my own monitoring stuff though this weekend.
Do the snails/ crab need any additional feeding? They are currently eating the small bits of algae off the live rock.

[Sniperhank]

Glad to hear you have a refractometer! One of the best purchases you can make in this hobby.

In terms of your snails and crab, sprinkling in some food so it can settle on the bottom for them would be best. Not an everyday thing. They are part of your clean up crew, and without any fish to create waste there isn't anything for them to clean up. But, if you have algae in your tank already then that would be enough to sustain the snails. I'm assuming that the crab you have is a blue legged hermit, so some food on the bottom would benefit it. Not much though.

What process are you cycling your tank with? Pure ammonia or the shrimp method?

[Marinebeginner]

I've replaced all my filter material with live rock transferred directly from (a healthy) tank at local fish store. As far as I believe this will produce ammonia / kick start the cycling process without the need to add ammonia / livestock..... At least I hope this is correct!?!

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Marinebeginner

I've replaced all my filter material with live rock transferred directly from (a healthy) tank at local fish store. As far as I believe this will produce ammonia / kick start the cycling process without the need to add ammonia / livestock..... At least I hope this is correct!?!

Correct in a way. If there is die-off on the rock then it will produce some ammonia. However usually its not substantial. Your better off adding a constant ammonia source such as the dead shrimp or by dosing ammonia.