Building my 56 gallon Column reef tank

meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Amphipods and copepods are what mandarins and seahorses will pick at all day....they will just start showing up..if you have enough rock, and a good fuge, the pods should reseed themselves
 
Mysis shrimp is a frozen food you buy
 
brown algae is diatoms.....when you are ready, your cuc (snails) will take care of it this is a perfectly normal occurrence
 
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/120#post_3312807
Amphipods and copepods are what mandarins and seahorses will pick at all day....they will just start showing up..if you have enough rock, and a good fuge, the pods should reseed themselves
 
Thats good news, I have a nice little sancuary for them in the fuge, Lots of rocks and apparently a clam. Still have to decide on what to do with that clam.
 
Mysis shrimp is a frozen food you buy
 
After I googled the images for it, its no way those things.
 
brown algae is diatoms.....when you are ready, your cuc (snails) will take care of it this is a perfectly normal occurrence
 
Is it ok to use the magnet cleaners to get this algea off of the glass? I left it on the sand, well duh, have no way to clean that. I was figuring on getting a variety of snails with the first batch of CUC. I was thinking the fire shrimp, peppermint shrimp, a nassis, a turbo, a bumble bee (if the store even has them) and some others. I would imagine it would be good to have a mix o snails in the first installment of the CUC. As far as the shrimp are concerned, let them eat what they find for the first few days and then actually feed them something?
 
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
I wouldn't be overly concerned with feeding the shrimp. If you decide to feed them, just give them a itsy bitsy teeny piece.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
The mag cleaner is fine.....
 
as far as cuc....are you meaning one of each snail

 
I'd get more....lol....maybe 6 nass, 6 cerith, 6 astrea
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
The stock list called for 20 to 25 snails. Am I really going to need 18 of them right away? I figured on adding the CUC in 3 to 4 intervals.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/120#post_3312858
The stock list called for 20 to 25 snails. Am I really going to need 18 of them right away? I figured on adding the CUC in 3 to 4 intervals.
LOL...ever hear the snail per gallon rule

 
some even say 2 per gallon...I have NO IDEA how many are in my tanks anymore
 
BUT...I think one of each is not worth it.....if you think 6 is too much, get 3 of each
....BUT get the different types
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
I don't even have 20-25 in my 55. I have like 8 (as long as my hermits did not murder more).
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
I will but I won't get too much. I have never had much algae. I've never had hair algae, cyano, apitasia, or majano. I do have coralline though. I sometimes keep the lights on too long.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I can honestly say I have never heard of the snail per gallon rule. I am not sure I want 50 snails in the tank either. That seems like over kill and almost like there wont be enough algea for them to eat. How about I get something worked out with the LFS to come home with 10 snails (of varying types) and the fire and peppermint shrimps. The water test this evening looked promising:
 
80 degrees F
SG 1.024 (going up instead of down now, made new SW for top offs)
pH 8
Ammonia .25 (wife and i could not tell between 0 and .25 so I am calling it .25)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
 
So who knows, maybe in a week from today, I will be getting my first set of CUC members. If my LFS offers to hold a fish for 5 days, does that mean i can do less QT time with the fish? And as far as a QT tank, no substrate right? Just a tank, water, filter, and heater?
 
levinjac

levinjac

Active Member
Yes nothing in a qt maybe pvc piping for the fish to hide in but otherwise no and Ive also never heard of snail per gallon i had 20 snails in my dt a few years back they all died from hunger cause they had no algea to eat!
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
IMO 1 snail per gallon is overkill, especially in a smaller tank.
 
I don't even have 50 snails in my 155 and I think I only have 2-3 hermits left since I went on my mission to pluck them out and put them in the refugium.
 
Keep in mind that you're going to have a smaller tank with some algae eating fish in it (blenny and dwarf angel). You don't want these fish to starve, so my suggestion would be to cut back on how many snails you place in there, especially since your LR came with urchins. BTW, I think 3-4 Purple Urchins is going to be too much for your size tank. I would try to trade 3 of them back to the LFS for other CUC members or a fish.
 
I think you would be smart to add your CUC in intervals as well.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I was planning on keeping the big urchin and trading in the other 3. I was also planning on bringing home ~6 snails and the 2 shrimp for the first instalment of the CUC.
 
Because I have LR rubble in the fuge, because the copepods need a place to thrive, should I put in a hermit crab into there to keep it clean? What about a snail?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/120#post_3312943
I was planning on keeping the big urchin and trading in the other 3. I was also planning on bringing home ~6 snails and the 2 shrimp for the first instalment of the CUC.
 
Because I have LR rubble in the fuge, because the copepods need a place to thrive, should I put in a hermit crab into there to keep it clean? What about a snail?
I like to have a small CUC in the refugium, but nothing major. I dumped all my hermits into mine because I was tired of them knocking over stuff in the DT but wasn't sure if I'd need them again. Now I know that I don't need them, so they'll probably get traded into the LFS. I'm also getting rid of my sand sifting starfish because I have two harlequin shrimp now.
 
I think that having nassarius snails is a very good idea in a refugium. In my 20G refugium, I have 4 nassarius snails, 1 turbo snail, one purple urchin (came as a hitchhiker and never got rid of it), 1 yasha Goby, 1 Pistol Shrimp and 1 Fire Shrimp along with about 10 or so hermit crabs. Because the fish is in there, I do feed, which means I need a slightly larger CUC than if it were fishless. But this gives you an idea.
 
monsinour

monsinour

Active Member
I am also pretty sure that my fuge is no where near as large as yours too. I would imagine I could get away with 2 or 3 snails and 1 crab down there.
 
edit : this mornings water test:
 
80 degrees F
SG 1.024
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
 
Wooo hooo. Heres to hoping it stays that way for evah! I have started the count down timer. 7 days from now, I hope to be getting some shrimp and snails into the tank. Wooo
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/120#post_3312935
IMO 1 snail per gallon is overkill, especially in a smaller tank.
 
I wasn't saying to get 56 snails....LOL....I didn't go out and buy 225....I was just asking is they ever heard that before?
 
I do think 1 snail of each (which was what...3 snails) is not enough though......especially nass......they are tiny...I also agree with buying them at intervals
 
you must remember this,....I did not have that luxury....it would be stupid of me to buy 2 snails online
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monsinour http:///forum/thread/380344/building-my-56-gallon-column-reef-tank/120#post_3312948
I am also pretty sure that my fuge is no where near as large as yours too. I would imagine I could get away with 2 or 3 snails and 1 crab down there.
 
edit : this mornings water test:
 
80 degrees F
SG 1.024
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
 
Wooo hooo. Heres to hoping it stays that way for evah! I have started the count down timer. 7 days from now, I hope to be getting some shrimp and snails into the tank. Wooo
I just don't understand it. How is your tank cycled already? You set your up last week or the week before... and you're already looking at adding a CUC. How is it that I have a tank that's been running for weeks, and still hasn't balanced? FRUSTRATION!!!!!!!
 
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