DAY 20: RANDOM BITS OF INFO

Random little factoid for you...  Brad got his discus!  We picked out a white diamond, a blue snakeskin and a red snakeskin for his 29 gallon blackwater tank; all almost sans black and really red eyes, both of which are good signs.  Anyhow, just thought I'd mention it.

We were having trouble identifying the snails we picked up from QT.  Here's what Brad found:

These sound just like ours but they aren’t used for cleaning up algae, they eat fish poo and if you don’t have fish you need to feed them fish food.

http://reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=26&category_id=4&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=34

 

Here's some advice Brad got from John Maloney of ReefCleaners.org:

SeaChem Supplements

Reef Plus - Has a full spectrum supplement of trace components and beneficial amino acids.  It may be used as a food supplement. Reef Complete - Designed to restore and maintain calcium to levels found in natural seawater without affecting pH Reef Calcium - Intended to maintain calcium in the reef aquarium without altering pH Reef Advantage Calcium - Designed to restore and maintain calcium levels found in natural seawater. Calcium and carbonates are essential to all coral growth. (Powdered form of Reef Calcium) Reef Builder - Raises carbonate alkalinity without immediately impacting on pH. With long term use, it maintains pH at 8.3

	Qty		Description
	2 Teaspoon		Reef Plus twice a week
	2 Teaspoon		Reef Complete twice a week
	2 Teaspoon		Reef Calcium twice a week
	1 Tablespoon		Reef Advantage Calcium added to each gallon of makeup water during the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month.
	1 Tablespoon		Reef Builder added to each gallon of makeup water during the 3rd week of each month

 

Cleanup Crew

Here is a good cleanup crew for a new tank. It is geared towards taking out diatoms, which will be your tank's first problem.

20 Dwarf Ceriths
5 Astreas
10 Florida Ceriths
?? Nassarius - Depends on how many fish you want, as they clean up after them. Before you get fish you can keep them going with some flake.
10 Planaxis
5 Blue Legs

This would give you a medium crew.

 

40 snails for a 15 gallon tank?  Is that correct, the guidelines I have seen online recommend 1 snail per 1 – 2 gallons.

 

Yep that is what I would recommend for a 15 gallon reef tank. Planaxis snails are tiny, dwarf ceriths are small. You can always reduce them if you don't feel comfortable with that much, but that is a crew that would really get the job done.

All the Best,
John Maloney
www.reefcleaners.org