starting back up. have a couple questions

[Lovango]

Hi everyone,
I recently purchased a 15 gal. pillar to put some reef fish and inverts in. possible some corals down the road. I kept a 75 gal reef tank while I was in college but that was some time ago. I also live in the Caribbean so that helps. I don't have the space for a sump or skimmer so I know I am somewhat limited. I did up the HOB filter from the point of sale 100gph to 200gph and have a 500, 700 mph power heads. I have about 20-25lbs of live rock. My water test kits are in the mail so I'm kind of guessing at this point. I have a few questions about a few topics, one being cycling with ocean water? since i am lucky enough to live on a tropical island in the middle of the sea I am fortunate enough to have fresh clean seawater at my disposal for water changes. My question is there a difference in cycling when using seawater or does the cycle still take place in the same manner as using RO store bought stuff? does it have to do more with the filter building bacteria?

I have a 3 small snappers, a small damsel, juvenile surgeonfish and a couple gobies, six peppermint shrimp that I have caught with my son. My three year old son is always on a mission to catch snails and hermits for the tank and we have about 25 hermits and a dozen snails. other than competition for food is there an issue with having so many hermits? I figured that they would kind of sort it out amongst themselves, strong surviving, eat or be eaten, type of scenario.

Also with lighting, the tank came with a 12'' t5 light and I purchased a small 8" blue LED to add.
My question is would it be better to put a 12'' fluorescent actinic bulb in the hood with white LED or use the white T5 bulb with blue LEDs. Again I'm not going crazy with corals at this point but I may add one or two down the road if I come across a good specimen.

So long story short:
1.is there a difference with cycling with seawater?
2.can you have too many hermits?
3.fluoresent actinic vs blue LED/white flouresent vs white LED

Thanks
T.

 

[sbash]

Alright...

1. Likely not, the beneficial bacterial is going to be in the rock, so harvesting fresh rock would be more useful. I have also head/read that the 'good' to use is quite a ways out from shore.

2. As long as they have room to move around, I am sure it would be fine. Their population will either self regulate, or require feeding.

3. I would go full on LED, I have recent acquired a used t5 fixture for my quarantine tank, but I get much better colours from my LEDs and will be getting rid of the t5 fixture. LEDs would be incredibly cheap for a tank this small. I have some nice SPS frags which are growing quite nicely under my LEDs.

Unless I am misunderstanding something; 25 lbs of live rock should cycle a 15 gallon tank (almost) instantly. I would give it a couple days to make sure the parameters are acceptable, but the nitrogen cycle should be quick. You are still going to have some different algae blooms, but the nitrifying bacteria will spread very quickly.