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It was cured live rock, but the live sand was just in sealed bags. I had about a .25ppm ammonia spike after the tank setup.

Well I'm going to try adding a little piece of an algae wafer every three days or so. The snails might go for it.

Might try that. I was a bit worried about the snails at first but since they've been in for two weeks with no ammonia spike I'm probably safe. However I don't think they'll eat the food, they won't venture off the rock or walls.

Because I'm not totally sure whether my biological filtration is totally up to snuff. I only had a very small ammonia and nitrite spike.

Would a goby be hardy enough to withstand a minicycle? Should I also add the shrimp at the same time? I'll come up with something else instead of the lawnmower blenny.

I have had my new tank up and running for 3 weeks now and after a small ammonia/nitrite spike the first week I added 6 astraea snails. So far so good. My next step is fish. It's a 30g/20g sump fowlr with a small skimmer. Here is my current idea for stocking: 2 ocellaris clownfish 1 shrimp goby...

I just set up my first fowlr tank a few days ago and was wondering what these little hairs are, also the pink spots, on my rock. Is there anything that I need to be watching for, like pests or the like? I'm keeping the light on 12 hrs/day right now to get some algae going, before I get snails...

The algae that could be caused by the anaerobic conditions would be the bga (blue green algae).

Do all hermits eat coralline algae? I was thinking about getting hermits, but I have (relatively) low light, and would like to have a coralline algae crop, so perhaps I should stick with snails only. Sorry for the hijack but I guess it's on topic.

Hi, My tap water has 0 KH and GH, so I'm very familiar with using soft water. Adding co2 does absolutely nothing other than lower pH by the addition of carbonic acid to the water. This type of change really doesn't affect the fish much. I injected co2 in the past, and have changed pH in my tank...

How were you feeding the cycle during those 4 months? A sudden increase in bioload will cause a mini-cycle even in a cycled tank.

pH is something that is usually way overrated and fussed about, and usually more harm is done than good. More important are the KH and GH, keep those in the right place and your pH will fall in line, if it doesn't, the fish usually don't care anyway.

Well I can crank the lights up as much as I can for like 48 hours straight before I add the snails/hermits - this should hopefully at least start the algae growing a bit. The live rock will seed it. I suppose snails/hermits are ok for three days without food?

Has anyone tried building/using an algae scrubber such as this one? DIY project using algae as export in SW - Aquarium Plants - Barr Report Do they work, and are they hard to keep clean?

A recent theory that I've heard which seems to make sense and falls in line with my own experiences, is that bga often results from an excess of N2 gas. This can happen if a substrate becomes anaerobic (which will happen more especially if it's fine grained, and doesn't have snails/others...

Oops, sorry.

Here's some info if you want to wade through it.... Light Intensity in an aquarium - Page 8 - Aquarium Plants - Barr Report Basically what it boils down to is that nothing is exact because there are so many variables - but if you were to take fairly identical setups and change only the bulbs...

It's about 1.6 wpg. Not really moderate, but not super low. (T5's are brighter so multiply by 1.2 to get more accurate wpg) My crypts did fine in 1/2 of regular gravel. But a bit more, is better for them since they are rooting.

Welcome to Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks sells fertilizers, cheap. You also need a drop checker for measuring co2, you can get them on ebay for like $10.

Easy plants would be java moss, java fern, anubias, crypts. You could also get away with hygrophila or possibly ludwigia under that lighting, it's low light but not extremely low. Also I'm assuming neither of those lights are actinic. If it is, you'll want to replace it. That much gravel is...

I'm not trying to reduce it. I was just wondering if it would cause any problems with a future tank as I have well water. What level does calcium need to be at to be good for coralline algae growth?

I was thinking that adding Ca would remove some of the alkalinity, and eventually get to a point where it wouldn't precipitate out anymore.

Yeah, I'm just thinking, it might be a few days before algae starts appearing.

Ok. So how about a few nassarius snails and a couple of astrea? Will they eat algae wafers?

Shipping starts at $65, not including cost of livestock, and I have to drive 50 miles to pick it up at the airport. I have to drive in to town anyway, so it's not a big deal, just want to make sure that I do get what I want and don't mess up. Something that multiplies is great, livestock is...