I'm typing a lot of this, not just for your benefit, but for all.
I am no expert by any means, but have learned SO much from Canreef that I would like to tell you this ....
Whether or not anyone else agrees, I like your bio-load so far in so far as you haven't pushed it.
Learned this with first tank...no rush to add anything
You have 140lbs of rock. Is it Live for sure?
Bought rock off other canreefers, all sold as live, one batch was dry, was pulled from their sump, more like base rock, was about 40 lbs if I remember correctly, all the rest was live Just asking. Sounds like you are off to a good start. You have lots of rock to support your charges.
You may have added too many snails at one time due to a lack of food for them.
First batch of snails was to start the cuc going, I haven't found any empty shells
You can go to the LFS and buy a 'cleanup crew package', but that is almost always based on a tank being fully populated. Anything less and they may starve.
I could very well be wrong here, besides the fact that your smell came on so soon, but I wonder if you put too many dudes in at one time?
When buying the sand snails last weekend, was only going to pick up 10, 20 was recommended.
I could go out to the LFS tomorrow and buy a 'package' for my tank, but most would die in 1 or 2 days 'cause I don't have anything for them to feed on.
I see you have ammo, which is never good. Did it exist previously or is it the result of too many dudes?
No ammo previouslyThis you may never know. Have you been monitoring ammo and nitrites lately?
Checking every couple of days, but with the dirty sand, knew there was an issue, but no algae on the rocks, glass needs cleaning every couple of days. Just figured new tank syndrome, add more dudes...lol
At this point, I would suggest you keep a record of your results 2-3 times daily. Mostly, test for ammo and nitrites. I'm anal about ammo, so you could test just once a day, but I recommend you test it multiple times over the next days until you see something you like.
Test nitrates once a day if you like.
I can test 2x a day
You will need to do lots of small water changes if your ammo does not go away over the next couple of days, and in the meantime, you should do some small changes now.
Mixing water tonight, can change tomorrow
Keep your ammo as low as you can or you will lose more dudes and the cycle
will exacerbate itself.
And don't forget that although some additives will help lower readings, you're best to not do so unless you are comfortable.
Ie; using Prime or AmQuel can/will lower ammo, but you could lose your dudes due to low O2. You MUST heavily aerate if this is your choice.
Hope this is not too wordy and helps you as I do tend to go on ...
Oh, and by the way ........
