Hermit Crabs

A couple of days after buying 2 Hermit crabs i noticed what looked like the larger one attacking the smaller one.

After about an hour it looked like the larger crab had killed the smaller one and completely ripped him out of its shell.

Later on it turned out that the small crab had just molted and the other one was probably trying to eat the molt as it is high in calcium and they are supposed to eat it anyway. Now the smaller crab i hiding apparently waiting for his new skin/shell to harden. Then he should eat the left overs of his molt and be fine.

As the Hermit crabs grow they do out grow their shells they carry around on their backs. You can buy replacement shells on ebay. it a good idea to have a couple scattered around in the tank for when they need to change. So ive been down the beach and picked up a few.

First Live stock

Now my Nitrates are under control ive decided to try some live stock. 2 Common Clownfish and 2 Red Hermit crabs.

New Comers

Starting to notice a few little critters sprouting from the shop bought live rock. Some tiny little shrimp looking things…

And also a few baby feather dusters…

Set Back!

So far all the Ammonia and Nitrites have gone and are at 0ppm which im really happy about. it means my Nitrogen cycle is working and my rock is becoming live, or at least building up good bacteria. Im having a major problem with high Nitrates and newly formed hair algae.

I should be seeing a weekly drop in the Nitrate levels even if its only slight! but so far its staying the same or even going up after water changes. Ive decided to start doing some major water changes to physically remove the nitrates. Ive been making trips to my local fish store and buying my pre mixed salt water 25 litres at a time.

After a couple of weeks im still not seeing a drop in Nitrates! and the levels have actually have risen. Im starting to wonder what im doing wrong! So just out of curiosity (being a complete novice) i decided to test the water fresh from the shop….

To my surprise the new water id been buying had a Nitrate level of 80ppm, which i could not believe. I sourced another local shop called south coast marines and took a sample of my water into their shop. He tested the water i had with a digital tester and, the look of shock on this guys face! 185ppm was the real Nitrate level of my shop bought water, which he could not believe. The guy in south coast marines tested some of his water in front of me which showed a reading of 0.01ppm completely pure! so of course i bought some of his water and took it home to test myself.

0ppm on my test with the new water. Unfortunately i have a tank full of high nitrate water which will set me back but at least i know it was not something i was doing wrong and my Nitrates were lower before doing water changes with the bad water, which means my Nitrogen cycle is really starting to work.

Moral of the story is always check shop bought water

Mini Refugium

Now the ammonia has spiked in my tank and im waiting for the rocks to work their magic by turning the Ammonia to Nitrites, Nitrites to Nitrates and finally Nitrates to Nitrogen. I have removed the fish food and the filter pad it was sitting on and replaced it with some dead rock rubble to cycle into live rock rubble. Obviously this is on a tiny scale as refugiums are supposed to be set up in the sump of a large tank but it should have the same effect. Im hoping as the water passes through the rubble slowly it will aid my biological filtration as well as oxygenation.