Danfish
05/15/2006, 07:41 PM
I'm some what new to the aquarium hobby, quite new compared to most experience I see from lurking here (great knowledge base!). I've been looking for a good forum to look for advice and as a Huntsville AL local this seemed a great place to start.
Currently I have a 65gal reef ready tank (wet/dry) I've been setting up slowly for the last month and a half. My funds are a bit tight so live rock and the better gear is slow to come.
Currently I have a rio 1700 pump in the sump, a maxi 1200 powerhead with a rotating tide nozle, in-sump protien skimmer, in return line UV sterilizer, and a rather weak florescent light.
On my wish list is the Coralife 36" lunar aqualight, and a RO/DI filter system, again funds are tight so they are down the road a ways.
I've been adding live rock as able, I'm up to about 20 pounds now but I want about 60 pounds more.
Also currently in the tank are 3 green chromis, a cleaner shrimp, and a few turbo snails.
My water seems pretty good, 0 ammonia/nitrite, ~0.25ppm nitrate, 8.3pH, 1.0235 spec grav, and 10dKH. That has been dead on steady now for about 2 weeks, with the exception of the dKH which I began testing around a week ago.
My plans for the tank is to eventualy make it a reef tank. That will naturaly have to wait on the new light kit and RO/DI filter. (currently I'm buying water)
I'd love to keep fish and corals, with the star fish being a regal tang. Other fish I'm hoping to add are a percula clown, possibly a gobbie, and later on if everything goes well and I can maintain the tank well enough a Mandrin Dragonet (I understand they are difficult to feed, which is why its my end goal as my skill improves).
This isn't my first tank, but it hopefully will be my first reef tank. I used to live in Orlando and didn't have a LFS willing to educate as well as sell, so the hobby never really took flight till recently.
Now for my problem.
I recently added a cleaner shrimp and 4 turbo snails to the tank. I let them aclimate over 3 hours by adding a few drip of tank water every 3-5 min. Well the shrimp is doing grand and seems quite happy with the new home, two of the turbos look to be having a blast removing the diatom bloom that was blanketing the tank. But two other snails aren't doing hot at all. One I found stuck upside down between two pieces of live rock the day after I added them to the tank, I righted him and placed him in a nice field of brown but he never moved, the next day I placed him in the substrate against the glass so I could watch, again no movement and not a peep from the shell. I'm new to snails so I didn't know when to pronounce him dead and spent all night reading. Next day again no movement and I take him out to give the sniff test, as soon as it broke the surface of the water I wanted to vomit, was a very dead snail.
Water levels stay constant, no detectable ammonia, steady pH and salinity...
The next day (yesterday) I notice the second snail isn't moving after falling off the tank glass, I leave him be all day and no movement, so I place him in a nice patch of brown diatom growth and leave him over night. This morning, no movement still. I move him up against the tank glass so I can watch and see if he moves inside the shell any, so far nothing.
The other two snails are running laps around the tank gobbling up the brown algae as fast as they can. The cleaner shrimp is a blast and even came over to clean my hand as I was moving the hopefully lathargic snail. Chrmois are fat and happy too.
I feel lost with reguards to the snails, I don't know why they are dieing and I'm not possitive they ARE dieing. What is "acceptable snail behavior"? God I don't want to remove one from the tank and him not be dead. (that first one tho, smelled like death and a splash of low tide, didn't even have to get my face remotely close to it to be knocked over by the smell)
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for the help in advance, I'll likely be posting quite a bit with "Is this normal?" type questions. I feel like a kid on christmas with this tank, Lucy's has really helped us a ton.
Currently I have a 65gal reef ready tank (wet/dry) I've been setting up slowly for the last month and a half. My funds are a bit tight so live rock and the better gear is slow to come.
Currently I have a rio 1700 pump in the sump, a maxi 1200 powerhead with a rotating tide nozle, in-sump protien skimmer, in return line UV sterilizer, and a rather weak florescent light.
On my wish list is the Coralife 36" lunar aqualight, and a RO/DI filter system, again funds are tight so they are down the road a ways.
I've been adding live rock as able, I'm up to about 20 pounds now but I want about 60 pounds more.
Also currently in the tank are 3 green chromis, a cleaner shrimp, and a few turbo snails.
My water seems pretty good, 0 ammonia/nitrite, ~0.25ppm nitrate, 8.3pH, 1.0235 spec grav, and 10dKH. That has been dead on steady now for about 2 weeks, with the exception of the dKH which I began testing around a week ago.
My plans for the tank is to eventualy make it a reef tank. That will naturaly have to wait on the new light kit and RO/DI filter. (currently I'm buying water)
I'd love to keep fish and corals, with the star fish being a regal tang. Other fish I'm hoping to add are a percula clown, possibly a gobbie, and later on if everything goes well and I can maintain the tank well enough a Mandrin Dragonet (I understand they are difficult to feed, which is why its my end goal as my skill improves).
This isn't my first tank, but it hopefully will be my first reef tank. I used to live in Orlando and didn't have a LFS willing to educate as well as sell, so the hobby never really took flight till recently.
Now for my problem.
I recently added a cleaner shrimp and 4 turbo snails to the tank. I let them aclimate over 3 hours by adding a few drip of tank water every 3-5 min. Well the shrimp is doing grand and seems quite happy with the new home, two of the turbos look to be having a blast removing the diatom bloom that was blanketing the tank. But two other snails aren't doing hot at all. One I found stuck upside down between two pieces of live rock the day after I added them to the tank, I righted him and placed him in a nice field of brown but he never moved, the next day I placed him in the substrate against the glass so I could watch, again no movement and not a peep from the shell. I'm new to snails so I didn't know when to pronounce him dead and spent all night reading. Next day again no movement and I take him out to give the sniff test, as soon as it broke the surface of the water I wanted to vomit, was a very dead snail.
Water levels stay constant, no detectable ammonia, steady pH and salinity...
The next day (yesterday) I notice the second snail isn't moving after falling off the tank glass, I leave him be all day and no movement, so I place him in a nice patch of brown diatom growth and leave him over night. This morning, no movement still. I move him up against the tank glass so I can watch and see if he moves inside the shell any, so far nothing.
The other two snails are running laps around the tank gobbling up the brown algae as fast as they can. The cleaner shrimp is a blast and even came over to clean my hand as I was moving the hopefully lathargic snail. Chrmois are fat and happy too.
I feel lost with reguards to the snails, I don't know why they are dieing and I'm not possitive they ARE dieing. What is "acceptable snail behavior"? God I don't want to remove one from the tank and him not be dead. (that first one tho, smelled like death and a splash of low tide, didn't even have to get my face remotely close to it to be knocked over by the smell)
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for the help in advance, I'll likely be posting quite a bit with "Is this normal?" type questions. I feel like a kid on christmas with this tank, Lucy's has really helped us a ton.