[colleen78]

Hmmm... I've had my 29g BC set up and running for almost three weeks. There are millions of copepods and some stuff making tunnels in the sand.

I added 6 hermit crabs because the LFS said to try to stay ahead of the algea but I'm afraid they are starving. There is no algea yet. Is it just because the crabs are eating it before it has a chance to grow enough for me to notice?

Also, how long does it take nitrates to come down? My ammonia and nitrite levels are at zero, but my nitrates were at 20ppm until I did a 5 gallon water change yesterday and now they are at 10ppm.

I'm so paranoid about doing something wrong and killing something.

Also, how long does it take for the coraline algea to start growing? I'm so anxious, but I am not going to add anything super fun, like corals, until everything is ready. Ugh. I'm going to die waiting!!

[ianizaguirre]

you have tog get a small rock off coral line or coralline scraping and introdice them into your tank also it depends on calcium levels and lights

[WILLIAM1]

What are you running for a skimmer, lights, mechanical filters ect..

I agree with Ian you need to introduce corraline into the tank by seeding the tank with a nice piece of live rock I think the best way is to scrape the corraline off the rock into the tank. I started mine by scraping a few flakes off a snail.. But this would be the last of my worries first things first feed the hermits. Get some frozen cubed food and toss a couple in there so they can eat they will scavage up the food and eat it. Once you add fish the hermits will eat the leftovers. P.s. the nitrates will go down soon and I would use some snails for any algea since hermits cant clean the glass. A small cleaner crew will do the job with a few things Hermits, snails. I keep one huge two inch mexican turbo and ten small snails in my 90 with about 5 hermits.

[pogodzib]

Either the hermits are doing a good job at eating the algae or they could be starving. It is tough to tell, but my guess is that with only 6 in a 29 gallon tank they aren't starving.

Depending on how much LR you have and how deep of a sand bed, the nitrates may never come down on its own. In general, nitrates are only reduced in areas of the tank that are deprived of oxygen, such as deep inside of LR or in a DSB. There are other methods or corals that can be use to lower nitrates, but they usually aren't tried by someone that is beginning or by people that keep having the nitrates rise to much higher levels on them. What changes can help get it down, but from there, you'll need to wait and see if the nitrates hold steady, come down on their own, or start to rise again to know what you need to do.

Coraline algae will grow and spread on it's own with time, as long as some is introduced into your tank by scrapings or on LR. How fast it will multiply is dependent on your water parameters, amount in the tank to start with, lighting, and livestock. Some tanks take many months before coraline takes off and other tanks will have the whole tank covered within a month or two. FYI - Hermits get coraline so they can slow the coraline algae takeover down, but they also help prevent bad algae from showing up.

[colleen78]

I think I know less and less everyday. Thank you all for your replies. I do have lots of coraline algea on the LR but it just doesn't seem to be growing. I am currently leaving the lights on for about 12 hours everyday (getting timers today).

I'll test my parameters again today - I just did a waterchange so the old ones won't apply. I do know that nitrates are at 10ppm.

I have 25 lbs of LR and 2.5 inches of sand.

I haven't done anything to the cube - the LFS owner said he doesn't think I need a protein skimmer and he told me to take the filter cartridge out. The bioball things are still in there.

[pogodzib]

Most people with reef tanks aim for around 1.5 Lbs of LR/gal of water, so you may be a little on the low side, but if you don't overfeed or overstock your tank, you'll be fine. The LR in your tank will be the only thing reducing nitrates since your sand bed isn't deep enough to create an undisturbed anaerobic (oxygen free) area.

Most people with reef tanks only use LR/substrate, and protein skimmers for filtration and opt out of using mechanical power filters, cartridge filters, bioballs, etc... since they can get plugged up with detritus (waste) over time and cause nitrates to rise as the waste breaks down in the filter.

BTW - We all started out not knowing anything about reef keeping. At least these days, there are good on-line forums to ask questions and learn from. Before Al Gore invented the internet, it was much tougher to get information about products and methods for keeping reef tanks so everyone had to rely on trial and error and reading outdated books.

BTW#2 - There are a million different ways of doing things in this hobby and no one right way so try to learn from what you read and determine what methods will work the best for you. We, as a group, try to express what we have found to be a good method for our own tanks and watching what has worked for other people.

I'm going to be sending you a PM very soon about corals, so be looking for it.