Monad
Active Member
Hey everyone. As the threat says, I have a really young tank. The ugly stage has just begun.
The diatom bloom has started. There are patches on the sandbed and patches on the rock. Currently my cuc consists of two skunk shrimp for uneaten food and cleaning the fish (currently just two clowns and if the clowns ever allow themselves to be cleaned), 5 nassarius snails for the sandbed and also for uneaten food, and two cerith snails. I also added one jar of 5280 and another jar of galaxy pods from algae barn to seed the tank with pods. Because of the lack of diatoms and etc until now, I have been dosing phyto to feed them. I also have just added them to the fuge. The fuge has a very small amount of chaeto in it.
The nassarius snails are doing a good job with churning and aerating the sandbed and I would have added more if it weren't for the fact the tank is not heavily fed. The cerith snails are either at the waterline at the top of the tank or they're hanging out on a rock or on top of the sand. Skunk shrimp found there home on some rocks and generally hang out there.
Display is 90 gallons. Right now I'm just in the diatom stage. I'm not a fan of adding any hermits yet because of the lack of snails. I also do not want to jump the gun and add too many CUC members during the diatom bloom because I do not want them to starve between the diatom bloom and the algae phase.
Edit: I also forgot to ask a few questions? Any other CUC species I should add? Rock is not glued down because I may have to temporarily disassemble the tank in a year or two, so ones that risk knocking over rock are a no go.
Should I add some cerith snails to the refugium? There is no sand there. Just rubble and chaeto. I'm hoping they eventually breed and I get a self sustaining population.
The diatom bloom has started. There are patches on the sandbed and patches on the rock. Currently my cuc consists of two skunk shrimp for uneaten food and cleaning the fish (currently just two clowns and if the clowns ever allow themselves to be cleaned), 5 nassarius snails for the sandbed and also for uneaten food, and two cerith snails. I also added one jar of 5280 and another jar of galaxy pods from algae barn to seed the tank with pods. Because of the lack of diatoms and etc until now, I have been dosing phyto to feed them. I also have just added them to the fuge. The fuge has a very small amount of chaeto in it.
The nassarius snails are doing a good job with churning and aerating the sandbed and I would have added more if it weren't for the fact the tank is not heavily fed. The cerith snails are either at the waterline at the top of the tank or they're hanging out on a rock or on top of the sand. Skunk shrimp found there home on some rocks and generally hang out there.
Display is 90 gallons. Right now I'm just in the diatom stage. I'm not a fan of adding any hermits yet because of the lack of snails. I also do not want to jump the gun and add too many CUC members during the diatom bloom because I do not want them to starve between the diatom bloom and the algae phase.
Edit: I also forgot to ask a few questions? Any other CUC species I should add? Rock is not glued down because I may have to temporarily disassemble the tank in a year or two, so ones that risk knocking over rock are a no go.
Should I add some cerith snails to the refugium? There is no sand there. Just rubble and chaeto. I'm hoping they eventually breed and I get a self sustaining population.
