Small step for man, ...

So two days I took a slight plunge.

I went into my local saltwater fish store.  I like to call it 'Fins and Things' but I think it's called 'Fins, Wings, Paws and Claws' but don't quote me on that.  I went in for a thermometer since my digital one broke before I got it even in the tank.  I also went there to try and get a chemical that could take the chlorine out of the tap water (since our RO/DI unit project didn't last long) and not take out the ammonia.  Such a product I'm sure exists but is still unknown to me.

Did I mention that this was a little mom-and-pop shop?  Well, a pair of pleasant 16-ish aged girls came over to help me and I asked them if they knew anything about saltwater setup and although they said they did, the moment I mentioned needing chemicals to supplement what I would have gotten out of an RO/DI unit they both smiled and went skipping off to find the owner of the store to help me (skipping probably didn't occur but that was the type of personality they had so I embelish).

The owner is a great, down-to-earth guy that among having a great knowledge of what was going on in my tank was very 'lax.  I'm working on my slang.  He said that not all tanks go through a traditional bio-cycle as we know it and that the chemical I was using might not have actually destroyed my ammonia and I created a bio-cycle anyway.  I'm still a bit skeptical of that though.  I told him I was having some algae problems though while waiting for my tank to cycle and he recommend I make the plunge and get a 'cleaning crew'.

So crew we got!  We got the following.

Nassarius snails (x3 small, x1 medium) 

Blue-Legged Crab (very small) x5

Turbo Snails (1x medium)

Red-Legged Crab (x5 very small)

Neon Blue Goby (1"-1.5" in length)

That's our current crew.  Snails and crabs and a fish.  This group is doing a pretty good job of cleaning up the tank over the past 2 days, and we've still kept everything alive.  I think this weekend I want to get a second turbo snail and a cleaner shrimp.  This should all make sure our tank gets cleaned and double checks that our bio-cycle is where it should be.  If that's all true though, I'm seeing a bit more color swimming around in our tank in the near future as well....