[Salt-lick]

My tank 13 days old is starting to brown .. there is detritus or sut of sorts in certain areas of the tank and on the glass i used my magnetic scrubber thats in the tank to rub off the acrylic parts.. but what about the crud on the bottom? Do i need to go get a turkey baster and blow off the live sand? or is that okay?

[Krazy]

Normal algae blooms for a tank thats cycling

[Salt-lick]

right, but my live stock that "I shouldnt have put in there because i am soo impatient" will not like this one bit.. in fact im going to go get some readings now. This could be the spike i have been waiting for.. with normal brown algae i should see a spike in Ammonia correct?

[emccullough1]

I dont know what your nitrits and nitrats are but in my 10 gal tank thay had droped to 0 by then. Any way I added 4 turbo snails and 4 hermet crabs and thay had it clean in 2 days. I latter found out that you should only have 1 hermet crab per 10 gal of watter so I gave 3 of my crabs to a frend with a biger tank.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Live Rock - Tampa Bay Saltwater Aquacultured Live Rock - The Package Pricing Chart this plece recomends one cab per gallon.Go get your crabs back lol.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

In an article by stephen pro he said that the algea growth is actually a seperate but smaller spike. And that every time we add a critter it causes a spike at some level while the tank adjusts to minor differences.

[Tonz of fun]

Originally Posted by Salt-lick

right, but my live stock that "I shouldnt have put in there because i am soo impatient" will not like this one bit.. in fact im going to go get some readings now. This could be the spike i have been waiting for.. with normal brown algae i should see a spike in Ammonia correct?

I love how One person can say "keep up the good work" and "Just be patient" and certain people hear something completely different. My tank is covered in the same algea. I cant wait to put in some hungry critters. My first batch of algea eaters will be 10 hermits and 5 snails

[reefnoob1991]

Hermit crabs can be 1 per 1 gallon...I have 10-12 in my 29 gallon cube...Salt-Lick continue checking your levels and as long as they are in check i'd say you'd be fine adding a couple red/blue leg hermit crabs to start taking care of the diatoms

[emccullough1]

Not that I know every thing or for that matter any thing but I have been reading a lot. and this is what I found on Wet Web Media.comHow many hermits
I would cut and paste it here but it may be a copy right thing so here is a link . it is down a little under How many hermits . Thay are not a form like this where we all can share our thoughts but a lot of good reading.

HermitScavSel

Now Like I said I dont konw which is right. But I do know I'm not going to starve any thing to death. And I dont have fish in my tank so I only feed phytoplankton at this time. so my crabs are happy in there new home.

[e_baer]

as far as snails go, i have heard 1-2 per gallon. but all of these fact are based on nature. in nature, there is ALOT more rock than in our tank. also, there is not nearly the amount of algae due to no faucet water. besides, if you use RO water and have a skimmer and keep the water clean, you should not have TONS of algae. so the amount of snails or crabd should be based on how much surface area of rock and wall you have. the nagain, this is all IMO