Turbo Snails

[dhbrk]

some guy at a fish store told me i had amonia in my tank and i should get turbo snails to clean the algae, etc. I thought the amonia would kill snails but he said that they were invinsible. They died 3 days later. Obviously he was wrong. Just a warning to new hobbyists.

 

[nacl-h2o]

Nothing is invinsable, the toughest animal I've seen in ammonia are hermits, and even they can only tolerate so much. To be truthful you sould never put any animal in a tank on purpose with ammonia.

 

[bdubbya]

I think that finding a new lfs is in order. Someone like that doesn't care about the welfare of your aquarium, they're only out to make a buck. So is your aquarium still in it's cycle? If it's towards the end of the cycle then you will have an algea bloom, but it will go away soon. Also your ammonia should be very low or not there if your towards the end of the cycle, at least that's how my tank was. The best advice that I can give would be to take it slow. I made the mistake of rushing my tank along and needlessly lost some fish. Also read up on the kind of fish you want to keep, and make sure your tank can accomidate. Good luck. HTH.

 

[thepomonacow]

Your right...snails will not get rid of ammonia. A good DSB and live rock will though. I have an article that will help. it is at <a href="http://www.fishhelpcentral.com/articles/adding.php" target="_blank">http://www.fishhelpcentral.com/articles/adding.php</a>
I lost a lot of fish not being patient. Hope this helps.

 

[dhbrk]

how long does a cycle usually take? just wondering.

 

[clarkiiboi]

It depends--I have been reading this site for 6 months and opinions differ---but in my case I added LS and LR and I never had a cycle, if I did, I missed it, and I checked everyday when I started for fear of "the cycle". I am just one of the lucky ones I guess. What do you have in your tank?

 

[demosthenes]

Every tank is different, not unlike a snowflake. I, personally, experienced one that took about 2 months. Everything I used was brand new, and had no bio-life on it, so mine took a little longer. I simply used a couple of damsels, a mistake I later learned, and boy did I have a mess. Algal blooms, cyano, hair algae, everything you could imagine. I would say using LR and LS, your cycle should take about a month, but that's a shot in the dark. It could be anywhere from a week, to months.

 

[dhbrk]

how do you know if you have a cycle and how do you know when its gone?

 

[panhead]

dhbrk.
your bio shows 2 years in hobby, am sure your tank has cycled but you can test ammonia(beginning
of cycle) then nitrite (middle) then finally your
nirtates will slowly begin to rise.
after the initial cycle the only time you should have to worry is if you increace the bio-
load, in witch you should moniter the ammonia levels for a couple of days to check for a "mini
cycle"

 

[dhbrk]

i have been in hobby 2 years but i recently moved and had to take out most of my water to be able to carry it. the first time i started the tank, i didnt know much about it and didnt know what a cycle was. this time around i am trying to learn more. thanks for the help everyone!