Gozer_1

Here is my 55. It needs some more snails. I'm almost ready for some coral, but I have a problem fish so I am trying to work around that. He's a vicious killer. It actually looks really good for having a lacking cleanup crew. I only have 15-20 nassarius snails and 3 astrea snails. They all do the best they can but they just don't have the numbers. They stick mostly to the glass, so it stays nice and clean. lol Should be ordering a new batch of Astreas or Trochuses, Friday. Maybe with a larger force they can clean up those rocks!

Tom

Very nice.
Tom

agsansoo

Gozer_1,
So all the red slime algae is gone now ? As for the regular green algae, I would get a couple large turbo snails. They work great ! Also have you tested your phosphates lately ?

COBettaCouple

yea, love how it's laid out and since i'm not a SW tank owner yet, i'm not sure but are there some good SW shrimp for algae cleaning and do SW snails put out as much waste as FW snails?

Gozer_1

Well, theres a little bit of red slime, but it's pretty well under control. The astrea snails do a great job of cleaning it up, and it syphons off rather well. The only problem with the astrea snails is the turtle on its back effect. They aren't real good at flipping back over.
Since I've been using bottled water the phosphate, silicate, and nitrate levels have gone down considerably, which really slowed down the algae and slime. My biggest problem now is stirring the substrate. I just have to gently rake it around a little bit every couple days because there are not enough critters to stir it for me. I get a little algea growing in it if I don't. It's definitely coming around. The effects of using treated tap water for a few months still show a little. The phosphates, and silicates that still remain, I believe, are mostly remnants of that.
As for, shrimp, I am unable to keep shrimp. The "problem fish" I described earlier is a shrimp/crab/snail eater. You can check out my post in the saltwater species specific forum. It's a topic called "A kick in the Wrasse". As far as snails go, I'm not sure. I know they are an integral part of the system. With out the few I have I'd be in a real algae world of hurt. You just have to get a good mix of detritus eaters and algae eaters.

COBettaCouple

hmm.. so treated tap water causes problem with a saltwater tank? i've got a lot of research to do.. i didn't know there were issues with treated tap water.

Gozer_1

You should read my Topic "I'm losing the battle with red slime" in the Misc Salt thread. You can hear all about my misadventures with tap water. I was adding Nitrates Phosphates and Silicates to my water without knowing it.

atmmachine816

Looking very good

COBettaCouple

I'll have to check that. Not having a SW tank yet, i don't frequent the SW forums a lot. although i'm getting more votes to make the new 30g tall a SW tank.

Gozer_1

Count me for a vote for SW

I just ordered a bunch of new snails from Foster and Smith so, I hope to have some algae cleaned up real soon. They have a nice Build your own janitor package deal. $60 or more gets free overnight shipping.
10 more nassarius
30 cerith
2 turbos

They are gonna get a nice slow acclimation. I can't introduce them until night time when the wrasse is sleeping.

COBettaCouple

yea, i took at look at that and definitely need to plan for more than i realized. I also understand from Dino that Denver has soft water. can that complicate matters with a SW tank?

Gozer_1

Hmm soft water eh....In Denver? I always thought they had hard water. Hmm well I don't know about hard and soft water. It would only matter if you use tap water. If you use "drinking water" from a store, you won't have any problems. I have a 4 stage filter, but I need a storage tank. To do water changes with a filter only takes way too long. Mine puts out 75 Gals. a day and that is one of the better ones. I need 15 gals right away lol. $0.66 a gal for green label water from Evilmart.

COBettaCouple

i thought it would be hard too, but i'd trust Dino's advice with how long he's been at this fishkeeping deal. the water here in FL is HARD! i'm hoping the pH is similiar though - we use tap water, double-treated.

agsansoo

Put me down for one vote for SW too !

atmmachine816

Aragonite is a buffer to raise the pH too, it's a type of substrate and like gozer 1 said, if you buy water you don't have to worry about it.

COBettaCouple

i'd just hate to have to keep going to the store for jugs of water and if we could use buckets of treated tap water, that would be preferable. do most SW tank owners buy water? do any treat tap water?

Gozer_1

You test your tap water for various contaminants, so you know what you are putting in your tank. The stuff in tap water that is not so good for a Salt water are not so bad for freshwater. FW fish can tolerate much higher Nitrates (not that they should have too lol), and such. You just need to know what is in the water. My problem with tap water was primarily Silicate, and Phosphate. These 2 things contribute heavily to algae and diatoms. I had a nasty brown coating on everything in my tank for awhile. (Diatoms) Then the Red Slime. Now that I have switched to buying water I have gotten these under control. My new snails will make sure of that.

I got part of my order today. Sadly the Ceriths are on backorder. Everyone is acclimating as we speak. I'm so excited. The Turbos look really neat, and I love Nassarius snails. They are fun to watch, especially at feeding time.

Oh and I use Caribsea aragonite for my substrate. Seems to be perfect.

COBettaCouple

sounds like the first thing i'd do if we go with a SW tank after moving to Denver is get a full testing kit to test Denver's tap water and see what we'd be dealing with there as far as those things go. But i'm really thinking of waiting for a bigger tank to do our first SW.. something a little more forgiving than 30g.