Tank cycling questions: floating Chaeto & wandering snails

[JiaSwan]

Hi, I'm new here and starting my first Opae Ula tank (first aquarium tank ever actually). I've been searching the forum but haven't found the answer to a few questions.

I'm cycling my aquarium and don't have actual shrimp yet. I'm following the instructions that Mustafa gives for setting up my aquarium. 2.5 gallon aquarium. I got lava rocks and black substrate from supershrimp. I got the reef salt and calcium carbonate rocks from supershrimp as well. I have a clump of chaeto and the magic moss ball as well. About day 5 I added my group of 10 snails (I think they're mostly MTS). My tank has been cycling now for about 2.5 weeks.

2 questions

1-My chaeto started off sitting at the bottom of the tank, and is now floating at the top. Do I need to anchor it down to the bottom? I believe it is floating because it is pearling, which I understand is healthy, I just don't know if I need to keep it down closer to the bottom for better overall aquarium health or something.

This is my Chaeto floating to the surface

2-Are my snails healthy? My burrowing snails don't seem inclined to burrow. They are regularly climbing the walls, decor, etc. at all times of day. One of them was actually upside down crawling across the water surface! I am usually able to spot at least 6 of them, and regularly able to count all 10. Is this normal? I'm particularly concerned because one snail who is lying prominently on a lava rock hasn't moved for at least 36 hours. Is this just a case of me being over-nervous and the snails are wandering because (in such a new tank) the biofilms are still developing so they have to range far and wide to get enough food at this point? Should I be adding a little tiny bit of food for my snails or somthing?

Snail has been lying here closed up for 36 hrs at least

This dude was crawling on the underside of the water surface

I did get test strips for chlorine and for nitrate/nitrite. all 3 were essentially zero according to the strips.

[Aquarimax]

You can either leave the macroalgae floating for now, or gently shake off the bubbles to see if you can get it to sink, if it hasn’t already. It will eventually settle either way.

It is normal for the snails to explore, especially at first, but I sometimes catch mine active during the day in tanks they have been in for years. They are often more active at night, but daytime activity is not a problem, nor is crawling along the underside of the water (and it is fun to see.) If you notice a mass migration of all of the snails up to the surface (or out of the water) at the same time, that can be an indication that there is something amiss with the water quality, but what your snails are doing is fine. I would recommend against feeding them at this point. No need to do so, and it could cause problems.


The one snail that hasn’t moved (if that is still true by now, some days later), is probably not alive, but you have more than enough snails to get a healthy population going.

In general, it seems like your tank is on the right track, it just needs some time.