Turbo Snail Poop

[doverfish]

Ok, as soon as my 15g nano was cycled and ready, I added 8 turbo snails and 2 astrea snails (3.5 days ago) to clean up the algea. I had some brown left over from the initial cycle bloom. Then, when my nitrates spiked,I got a green algea bloom I almost could not defeat. Enter the snails----they are producing TONS of poop. Unfortunately,it does not have enough mass for my vacuum to siphon it up.

 

Are they just producing more poop because of this initial cleanup, or am I gonna have to clean up after my CUC every day?????

[supreme_spork]

Ok, as soon as my 15g nano was cycled and ready, I added 8 turbo snails and 2 astrea snails (3.5 days ago) to clean up the algea. I had some brown left over from the initial cycle bloom. Then, when my nitrates spiked,I got a green algea bloom I almost could not defeat. Enter the snails----they are producing TONS of poop. Unfortunately,it does not have enough mass for my vacuum to siphon it up.

 

Are they just producing more poop because of this initial cleanup, or am I gonna have to clean up after my CUC every day?????

 

wayyyyyyyyy too many turbos. for a 15g, and since you already have 2 astraeas, i'd either take 7 or all of them back.

[jamesnmandy]

i would just leave it alone honestly, after a while it will take care of itself, or the organisms in your sandbed will take care of it, and keeping good flow across the sandbed surface would help too

 

also, dont be afraid to siphon a little of the sand out....if it bothers you that much

 

i have a 75 gallon tank and have 3 turbo's, 6 astreas, and 7 nassarius snails, i think you have too many turbos or too many snails in general

[StevieT]

tooooooooo many turbos! I only have like 3 or 4 in my 34 gallon.

 

After your tank gets going in most cases you won't have very much algae for them to eat.

[doverfish]

i would just leave it alone honestly, after a while it will take care of itself, or the organisms in your sandbed will take care of it, and keeping good flow across the sandbed surface would help too

 

also, dont be afraid to siphon a little of the sand out....if it bothers you that much

 

i have a 75 gallon tank and have 3 turbo's, 6 astreas, and 7 nassarius snails, i think you have too many turbos or too many snails in general

The reason I have so many sails is that I read on this site that I needed one clean up critter per gallon. After seeing the snails, I decided 15 was too many, so I got fewer. I just added a peppermint shrimp today that I had on hold at the LFS since before I got the snails.

[supreme_spork]

The reason I have so many sails is that I read on this site that I needed one clean up critter per gallon. After seeing the snails, I decided 15 was too many, so I got fewer. I just added a peppermint shrimp today that I had on hold at the LFS since before I got the snails.

 

Where did you read that, exactly? Not being snarky -- serious question.

 

There is no such thing as a rule of "one CUC per gallon", and there's a huge difference in the needs of a turbo vs. the needs of an astraea or a cerith or a nerite (for example).

 

You're way over-stocked on snails.

[abe]

wow lotta snail dude! i only have 5 in my 75g. take the turbos back!

[tubatime1010]

You may have read that you should have 1 per gallon...but that goes for only a few types of snails. (smaller snails, dwarf hermits) Astrea and Turbo snails are like lawnmowers...I have one in my 12g that can clean my powerhead completely and an entire 3x3inch patch of cyano in about 1 hour. (I cant get rid of that cyano...I've even just scooped all of the substrate out from under it and it just comes back!)

 

Some eLFSs that sponsor the site will give estimates on how many snails you need "1 for each 2 gallons"...etc...but I see this as an effort to up profits (almost like the whole "cycle your tank with a damsel!" thing). Another thing to remember is that if you ever decide to get nassarius snails, they require additional feeding! (Many LFS will sell them on the grounds that they will survive off of the algae in your tank...)

 

Oh and back to your original question, just keep the water moving in the tank and you almost never see it (unless you actually watch them poop )

 

HTH

[doverfish]

thanks guys...lots of snails going back tomorrow. I thought I would keep 1 turbo (because I like watching them) and both the astreas. Seriously, I watched the one turbo today munching about a 3x3 patch of algea on the glass, and he was regularly contributing to a huge pile of poop immediately below. since my siphon is not sucking the stuff up well, I will mix the waste into the sand bed.

 

to the comment about turbos being like lawnmowers, they cleaned all my live rock within 2 days Now I think they are stuffed and have largely ignored the glass. I have taken to leaving the lights off 2/3 of the light cycle to keep the algea in check while it is eliminated and nitrates come down though water changes.

[Sexy Shrimp]

Nassarius snails are cool! i bought 4 and the promptly disappeared into the sandbed and didn't think I'd see them again. Come feeding time for the fish and they came straight up to the surface in seconds and started snatching brine shrimp. It now lights out and they are all on the glass. Definitely handy little guys. My turbos cleaned the rock within 2 days too.

[Tarbot]

Wow.... That's alot of Turbos... Here is what I have in my AP 12G.... 2 Mexican Turbos, 3 Nassarius, 3 Astrea, 3 Scarlet Hermits, 1 Emerald crab, and 1 Skunk Cleaner shrimp. I was going to go down to 1 Turbo, but my hermits are LAZY little buggers!

[doverfish]

Update:

 

15g--now have 4 turbos, 1 astria, 5 ceriths and 2 nassarius, and 2 red legged hermits. I researched the nassarius in advance and was not surprised when everyone at the LFS told me they were sand-sifting algea eaters. They aren't--but they sure are cool to watch!

 

The ceriths have been a dissapointment. They stay off the sand on the rocks almost all the time. But like someone said earlier, the tank has been cleaned pretty good--so they might need to troll the rocks for food. My sand just struggles with detrius (sp?) now, which I don't think any of the CUC eat. I have a dead spot on my flow which leads to the detrius......

 

Actually, the most active cleaners lately have been the hermits--really great algea eaters!

[HankB]

Where did you read that, exactly?

 

I remember that too. Here it is:

 

"Keep one snail per 1-2 gallons, and one crab per 3-5 gallons."

 

From: Nanoreef Critters

 

It sounded like a lot to me, but I have no experience with this stuff...

 

-hank