setting up nano

[Centrek]

i'll be setting up my tank in about 2 weeks, and i'm trying to find the best way of doing this. Is "the package" at Tampa Bay Saltwater a good deal?? For a 15gal, which is about what size i'll be setting up, they have 30# LR, 15# LS, 30 Blue Legged Hermits, 7 Turbo Snails, 2 Tigertail Cucumbers, 1 Serpent or Brittle Star, and 1 Pistol Shrimp, all for 183 + shipping. Is this a good idea?? seems like a lot of hermits running around, 30?? For my 75gal, they suggest 150 hermits....that just seems like an aweful lot!!

But i thought they had a good idea, you order it, they send 1/2 the live rock and live sand for you to set up your tank with, and after it cycles, they send you the other 1/2. I saw some pics of the rock someone got in their first batch, and it had all kinds of corals and growth on it.

So what do you guys think, should i go with this company??

http://www.tbsaltwater.com/

 

Thanks!!

matt

[reef93]

sounds very good deal. TBS have very good rating according to RC memebers. But do some research on hermits crabs. They will eventually go after your snails and corals(at least IME).

[Adam Jones]

Hermits are neat animals, but in my experience they hurt reef tanks. You want to try to create a live sand bed, and hermits damage the live sand bed by eating the tiny creatures living in it.

 

Snails are even optional, if you are planning to use a magnet or algae scraper. It can be frustrating to have a freshly scraped tank except for the 2-3 places where snails are hanging out on the glass.

 

Do you have a place to keep your animals while the live rock cures?

[jjharrisx4]

There are a couple of real holes I see in what they propose. for a tank your size, I think that 7-8 hermits is enough. I have bought the prepackaged deals before, and ended up with 50 hermits in my 50 gal tank (at home). I had 25 blue/25 scarlet. I'll never, ever buy another blue leg hermit again. They are murderin little buggers. Eventually, they'll kill the smaller snails, and then they go after algae. This is good until they run out of algae and then go after each other. I now have a lot of empty shells, and about 10 scarlet crabs left (2 1/2 years later). In my 15g I have 1 scarlet crab currently, with plans to add a few more over time. 1 cucumber is maybe too much, and the pistol shrimp is probably OK. I like the turbos, but watch them as they'll run out of food as well and starve. Lastly, I'd stay away from the serpent/brittle star. They can be kinda klutzy and also are pretty good hunters. In a 15g tank there isn't a lot of room to get away from a hunter.

 

The other real hole I see is: Why cycle with half of the rock/sand? When you add the other half you will cycle again. Kinda defeats the purpose. Also seems like there would be an extra box shipping charge for the additional order...Maybe they're padding the 'ol pockets with your shipping dollar. Just a thought.

[Centrek]

thank you for your comments....lets see if i can clear something up and get some more thoughts from you

at first, i wasn't too excited about the rock, seeing as how they grab rock from some quarry, drop it in the ocean for a few years, then get it out and sell it, so it isn't like Fiji or Marshall Island LR, it's aquacultured. Then i thought that that was actually a good way of doing it, sure it won't look exactly the same, but from what i've seen, it looks pretty cool....

as for the hermits, yea, i've heard that before, and that would seem like a lot of hermits in my tank...but if all else fails, i would be able to drop a few of them in my 75gal.

as for the snails, i really hate scraping the glass...i had a horrible algae problem while i was away for 1 week, seems nobody bothered to scrape the glass or anything, so i had to do it, scrubbed all my rocks down, now it is under control, but i really didn't care for scraping the glass and rocks. you may say that it's part of the hobby, which is fine, i'll do it, but if there is anything i can do that would allow me not to have this "nuisance" algae problem, that'd be the best IMO.

This company has a "recipe" that they follow when making this package deal...it is as follows:

2# LR /gal

1# LS /gal

2 Blue Legged Hermits / gal

0.5 Turbo Snails / gal

1 Serpent or Brittle Star / 50 gal

2 Tiger Tail Cucumbers / 50 gal

1 Pistol Shrimp / 50 gal

The LR, i've always heard 1-2#/gal, LS i haven't really looked into, the hermits seem like way way too many. I've heard of people that will never use these hermits in there tanks at all because they believe they are bad for reefs, but so many others use them, so i dont know on that, but granted 2/gal is too many. Snails seem alright to me, as for the other 3, i don't know much about them, other than that the star and cucumber are sand stirrers which i need so i don't get any "dead" areas in the LS.

As for the procedure of doing it, they send 1/2 the LF and all the LS for you to lay down, it cycles, you call them and they send the other 1/2 LR and your critters. You do bring up a good point though, having to cure it twice. That's very interesting. I didn't think about that. Hmmm

lemme know what your thinking please,

thanks again,

matt

[jjharrisx4]

I wouldn't worry too much about the dead area thing...the critters in the sand keep it stirred.