New Nano Reef =)

[ilyreef]

I just started my 10gal nano reef, added 16 lbs. of live rock yesterday and a raw shrimp to start cycling. Next im going to add my clean up crew, any suggestions? Snails, hermit crabs, shrimp? Can I have to large of a clean up crew?

 

[E.intheC]

You can have too many 'members' of your cleanup crew. They'll just run out of things to eat. What do you have planned?

 

[ilyreef]

I currently have two snails, 2 red hermits, and 2 blue hermits... to insure that they were getting enough to i have been giving them algae pellets.

 

[zeroblake07]

Any pics to see your proyect??

 

[james1990]

CUC are tricky in 10gals. I have one as well. Too many they die off and you feel bad, or too little and a year later the tank is dirty. I have like 7 hermits, 5-6 snails, and a pistol shrimp. I have to feed them meaty foods often.

 

[ilyreef]

This is my tank set up. So far the CUC is doing well and everyone is alive. I thought one of the blue hermits night have died because i didn't see it for a few days but he climbed out of the live rock recently =).

I just added fish yesterday.. two small clown fish and a yasha hasha goby. The goby has been hiding in the live rock since he was added which i read is normal.

Next week im thinking about adding a pistol shrimp and a green emerald crab, and that will be the end of my tank set up except for the addition of corals.

 

[JonnyJ]

I would personally wait on adding additional livestock...I feel you added too much at once already.

Get use to feeding and water changes with your current livestock and then do what you like.

Nano tanks seem easy at first until you reach that 6-7 month mark and everything is going wrong from excessive feedings and over stocking...(these problems can occur at any point)

I have been doing nanos for around 3 years now and make sure you do not over feed.

A skimmer will allow you to increase feedings but you will still have to figure out what your tank can handle and you will only figure that out from experience over the next few months.

 

[tosiek]

I completely agree. Your going too quick. What are your parameters so far in the tank? How long has it been set up and running?

It feels like you put in a raw shrimp and LR, then started stocking stuff the week after. I wish you all the best but your going to crash your tank if you don't take it slow. There is no way that you have a semi established and STABLE bio filter in your tank in 2-3 weeks enough to fully stock your tank with fish/crabs/shrimp in the 4 week period your thinking. I also think you have 2-3x the amount of livestock already in there for the tank. 1-2 small fish, Clownfish are not considered small, and 1 invert aside from your small 5-10 man cleaning crew is about max for what you want in the tank, anything more is overstocking.

I don't feel like getting into explaining the cycle period of tanks or the bio life cycle the first 6 months of a new tank setup. You should read and understand all of that now if you haven't. A simple read and you would see exactly why people cycle their tanks for over 3 months before adding anything, and why your going WAY too fast in your stocking.

If I were you I would keep the tank stocked with whatever you have in there already and let it sit and run for at least 3-6 weeks if not more to let it stabilize. Then slowly add 1 item every week or two afterwards and see how your tank reacts.

Nano tanks are extremely delicate and things happen fast. Especially anything smaller than 20g. By the time you find out you have a problem, like a crash/cycle due to overfeeding and overstocking, its going to be too late to fix or save anything.

 

[ilyreef]

I don't plan on adding any other live stock to the tank. Thank you everyone for the advice. Everything in the tank is still doing great =) and i am closely monitoring the water chem for any changes