total moron cycle question

bearwithfish

thank you DCR.. and i always try to get as much info as possible :).... i am just worried as this is a new set up and i dont want to monkey it up...

wake49

I agree with DCR. While things are settling down, testing two or three times a week doesn't hurt. If you just wait for the signs that things are moving along at a good rate, your tests will reflect your progress.

Did we go over tank maturity in this thread? You have seen a diatom bloom, next step will be looking out for microfauna, such as copepods and amphipods.

bearwithfish

no we have not talked about maturity as of yet.. however, i have read Pasfers posts on the matter and understand that i am in a good place. i just want to find a way to make certain that things are on track.. i watch my tank regularly to see the various forms of life that have sprun up or traveled into my system with the rock and sand... to date i have found some starfish, feather dusters, a snail, i bought a crab, and have something larg in one of my LR that fights when i try to help it out LOL (little bugger wont come out!!! i think its a crab of some sort), i recently found these little creatures moving around that look like a super small (about 1/8th inch) white or brown Hershey kiss, and all sorts of worms (some in the rocks others in the sand some smooth others with many legs and digging a lot).. but as for bug like creatures i have yet to see any... about how long before i start seeing them or signs of them?

wake49

You should be seeing them soon. Has any coraline started to form on the glass?

bearwithfish

not that i can see i still have alot of the diatom on it however and i made the mistake of using a scrubber to get it LOL now i have diatom streaks.... i am getting a box of razors today to clean the front and sides... but no i have not seen any other algae (just what came on the new rock)

bearwithfish

oh yeah as you know i am a bit ...ummmmm... over zealous when it comes to this particular tank.... so please define soon.. soon to you may mean a week or two soon to me means a hour or a day or two.. LOL i know i know dont rush things ..... i am trying but let us all be honest here i am a 34 year old spoiled little kid trapped in a mans body and i can not help myself at times LOL

wake49

I say "soon" because I cannot say "a week or a month or etc"...it will happen soon, though. It would be safe to say that you can quaratine your first fish at the end of the week. What are your stocking plans.?

DCR

Your little Hershey's Kiss dudes are chitons. Little tank-scrubbing mollusks that come on live rock. Unless your tank is plastic, there's no need to worry about those.

"All sorts" of worms are fine too. The great and vast majority of marine worms are beneficial scrubbers / substrate cleaners. The only ones you need to worry about are the bright red spiny ones. Those are fireworms -- a specific type of bristleworm that can cause some damage, both to your tank, and you, should your fingers happen to become introduced. Heh. If you see any of those, you might want to do something about it.

The little "bug like" creatures mentioned are pods -- copepods and amphipods. You probably won't see anything like that with the lights on, unless they're really thriving. The best way to spot those is, turn your lights off, wait about two hours, and then take a bright red light to your tank. You'll see them on the rocks, predominantly, but also on the glass. If you have floss filter media in your filtration system, taking that out and allowing some water to run out of it will probably also reveal some.

Chances are, if you see chitons, you have pods, too.

wake49

DCR is right. There are definitely pods in the system. We usually tend to wait until they are overpopulated to say a tank is "mature" so that we know the tank is going in the right direction. If you look real close on the surface of the glass, you should see little lice looking creatures. Those are pods.

bearwithfish

oh you two are great thank you sooooooo much.. about the soon thing i know i was just being sarcastic.... i will look for them tonight heheheh... as for stocking
i am actually not intending to do fich and if i do eventually change my mind it will be much further down the road.. i am gong to do shrimp. crabs. starfish, snails and corals.. i want an invert and coral reef goin on.. i have looked at some fish but i am not really there yet in my mind.... i put together my drip acclimation system last night so that it works better than what i have used to get my crab settled in (scooping!!! ugggg) so i should be good to go when i get some more.. i thin ki am going to get more crabs and maybe a star this week end and set up the drip to acclimate over the course of an hour for them...