onthefly Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 Ok, so it is time! The cycle is finished, no cyano, diatoms, or algae yet, but the LR could use some TLC. This is going to be your garden variety "fish-less" 5.5ga. So that being said, I need something to stir the sand (ceriths and/or nassarius?) and something to keep the glass and LR clean (the usual snails or crabs debate). So, do I forget the crabs and just load up with snail to avoid the potental shell-jacking? Does anyone have a crab/snail combo that seems to work? As for snail species: Bumble bee's.........look good, but pretty much worthless Marg's..............good? Astrea's...........good, but dumb as snot and will die if they fall Turbo's............too big!.....demo derby with your corals Anything else? Tank parameters: 5.5 AGA 2.5 inches of Quikcrete sand 8lbs of sweet Fiji LR Temp 82-84 (it's been boo koo hot lately) pH 8.2 SG 1.023 NH3 0 NO2 0 NO3 trace PO4 trace Alk 3.6 KH 10.2 Thanks, OTF Link to comment
myelin Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 I've heard that fighting conches stir the sand up pretty good. Link to comment
~_~ Posted August 2, 2003 Share Posted August 2, 2003 I don't trust crabs, and I have allot of tiny snails, so I stay away from them...I would only get them if you liked them allot. (or maybe if they had tiny squeegee's in there claws to clean the glass..) Avoid the evil bumblebee snails. Stomatella snails are good...get at least 2 of them so they can breed =] nerite snails are nice glass cleaners Peppermint snails = they look good, but thats about it =] Trochus - i dunno. I avoid margarita snails since there colder water snails and my tank is like 83f+ usually. I would get something like, 2+ Nassarius snails (they eat meat, so get more/less depending on how much food there will be for them..) 2 Astrae snails 2 Nerite snails 3 Stomatella snails 2-3 Cerith snails. 0 hermit crabs (unless you want em for some reason) Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted August 3, 2003 Share Posted August 3, 2003 ~-~ has got it bang on imo! but i'd add at least a hermit or two just for the fact that if and when something acually dies they are the first on the scene to devour it! A snail cant do the clean-up a hermit can do. imo Link to comment
penguin87 Posted August 3, 2003 Share Posted August 3, 2003 trochus snails eat like crazy and they look awesome. just 2 of them keep my minibow 7 spotless! Link to comment
Masoch Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 Here in southern Ontario, there's an infestation of what look like tiny trocchus snails (2mm adult size) that breed like crazy in many reefers' tanks. They're harmless grazers, and their population seems to swing with food availability (a good thing). My piece of advice: ask any local reefers you know in your area to see if they have reproducing grazers. They'll be cheap (or free) and should scale to meet your algae demand. Link to comment
onthefly Posted August 9, 2003 Author Share Posted August 9, 2003 Thanks fir all the input! Went with 3 good sized astreas and 3 small baja red legged hermits......gave them plenty of shells to change into......but I'm sure they fill my eye as I do my daily snail count! Just these guys alone have really mowed thru all the loose debris that came on the LR and what little algae and diatoms I've had. Thanks again! Link to comment
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