Need opinions on current status

[motorslave]

Well heres the deal, been gone for ten days and the the tank is about two months old maybe a little more. Tank was untouched while I was gone. There is diatom on most surfaces and a little green algae that is kinda fluffy and slimy looking. The skimmer has done great, making some real nasty looking skimmate. coraline has darkened up and I came home to a single button polyp that must have hitch hiked! On my way home I bought some snails and a hermit and when I got home I found a small pair of perculas in the tank witch were a surprise from my wife. They have been in for a week and are having a blast in all the flow. They are very energetic and look great. I know these fish from the LFS. They have been there for about three months.
Now I have a situation a was not going to get into. I have two fish, one hermit and four snails. Seems like way too much in a two month old tank. The only thing that makes me think it might work is how well everything in the tank works. all detritus collects in piles in front (BB) and the flow keeps stuff suspended for the skimmer. Also I have been very anal about the cleaning before I left and of course will be again.
Please give opinions.
Thanks

Robert

[Cosine]

As long as your levels are at 0 you should be okay!
just watch it to make sure the clowns don't cause much spike
but after a week I think you'd see any spike in a test now

goodluck!

[Deuce24]

I agree. It isn't like the snails/hermit adds to your bioload anyways, if anything, they reduce it a bit by eating some of the detrius (hopefully!). The clowns are the only tax on your system, and not much at that. I put my clowns in my tank at a little over a month. Have about 7 hermits and a cleaner shrimp in there as well. One xenia also. Everything looks amazing, the xenia is already starting to spread, I can see maybe 5 tiny little xenia growing at the base of the main colony. The clowns seem happy as can be. Tank is about 51 days old and looking great except for some diatoms growing on the glass from time to time. I love my clowns, they love the current as well.

[Doug1]

Robert, sounds like you are fine, just keep up with your house work and go slow

FWIW snails and crabs are bio load, anything living is, its a matter of weighing the pluses and minuses Since they consume stuff you dont want and make it easier to remove thats an acceptable trade

[motorslave]

Cool, I wasnt going to put fish in for a while but I wasnt going to take them back, my wife was pretty excited. They are pretty cool. They surf the flow across the top back and forth and then race up and down along the back glass. They were fed tonight (cube) and ate it right out of my hand before it could even start to fall apart. I put a little in then waited till they were done and then added a bit more till they didnt eat any more. One of the snails has started on the rock,one is on the glass and the others arent doing anything. The hermit has made a number of clean trails, he went to work right away. The button polyp is green with a brown center and tonight I caught a glimpse of about three different types of worms ( i think ) in the rocks. Its working great. Tomorow I will do some house keeping and clean all the pumps also. Im realy happy to see the skimmer finally doing its thing without going crazy every other day. Feels good to see all those months of planning and changes turn into something that functions so well!



Robert

[Junkzoo]

yup, Bring it back around slowly,,,major changes for the better can be detrimental also,,,change is change,,,,
take your time, do it right you oughta be ok,,,

[SPC]

Originally Posted by Doug1

FWIW snails and crabs are bio load, anything living is, its a matter of weighing the pluses and minuses Since they consume stuff you dont want and make it easier to remove thats an acceptable trade

Good call Doug.

A lady was asking me for help the other day on why she has so much alage in her FW tank. I asked the usual questions and then asked about her bioload. She listed the fish and as kind of an after thought she mentioned her 10" algae eating catfish (40 gallon tank BTW) and said, "but he actually eats algae and poop so I don't count him." I then explained to her the 10% energy rule as well as the fact that her species of catfish does not eat poop but in fact produces large amounts of it.
Steve

[Doug1]

Thats so true, While herbivores and scavengers reduce the amount of raw materiel, they do pass most of it along as Steve mentioned. Hopefully there are at least a few layers of consumers below them to reduce it further, but all that poop goes somewhere, in a DSB , guess where it goes?
In a BB with decent flow rates and circulation patterns as well as a great skimmer and careful husbandry, most of the waste is removed from the system before it has a chance to build up and break down