saltwater tank- ready for a cleanup crew?

Question

ok, i have a 55gal reef tank, and it has been setup for about a month, and has 60lbs of fully cured liverock...my ammonia, nitrites are at 0 and my nitrates are at 5 or less...i was just wonding if you all think its fully cycled and ready for a fully cleanup crew

for that past 3 weeks i have had 5 snails and 5 crabs in the tank, everything is good but one hermit crab died somehow....he was unactive since the day i got him anyways....but no excuse....also i have 2 blue damels in the tank for over a week now and they seem very active and eat a lot.....advice? thanks.

Answer 1

Sounds good. You can be safe to add a cleanup crew personally i like the mexican turba snails they do the most bang for your buck and the nassarius snails do a great job stirring up the sand bed. Be careful what you add as far as fish go the damsels can get agressive to new tank mates. You always have the option of returning the damsels to the place you got them. If you plan on adding corals i would stay away from adding any more hermits they tend to crawl on coral making them close up and not feed. Hate to see corals wither away due to 3-5 dollar hermit crabs. You can add some peppermint shrimp those are nice to take care of any aiptasia that will most likely pop up from your live rock. Skunk stripe cleaner shrimp are always great to have in a tank because they will clean the fish of most parasites. Also cool to watch cause they set up station in your tank and you will see the fish waiting their turn to get groomed by them. Dont add to much at once do some research and figure out where you want the tank to be years down the road and slowly build towards that goal. Avoid species that will not peacefully coexhist with what you ultimately want to keep because murphey's law says those will be the ones to really thrive in your tank. Good luck and any other questions you may have fee free to email me with.

Answer 2

I think it is fully cycled, since you have been running it for a month. As long as the ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH are at a good level and stay that way, it should be just fine to add some.

Answer 3

If your nitrites ammonia and nitrates spiked then yes you are done cycling and ready for the clean up crew if they haven't spiked then i would wait at least another month.

Answer 4

yes, your tank is cycled, great job
you can start adding fish, but be very carful, and do a lot of research on which ever fish you want
especially about compatibility with the ones you have already


hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 5

i think your tank sounds great and ready to go!