CuC without crabs

[emtguy]

thanks. i'll take the advice and wait to see how much they have ate in two weeks. Problem is i took the good advice on this forum and set my tank up slowly and right ! I dont have alot of algea on rocks and a little on glass but i do feel that there is enough to support the CUC i got.
I dont see how those tiny crabs could kill a snail but if it happens i hope i get to see it...that'll be a good fight1

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by emtguy
http:///forum/post/2472511
thanks. i'll take the advice and wait to see how much they have ate in two weeks. Problem is i took the good advice on this forum and set my tank up slowly and right ! I dont have alot of algea on rocks and a little on glass but i do feel that there is enough to support the CUC i got.
I dont see how those tiny crabs could kill a snail but if it happens i hope i get to see it...that'll be a good fight1
Hm, a snail against a hermit isn't a fight. They flip them over and eat the snail. The snail does not have to be dying for them to do it. Crab legs reach higher than you would think that they do. If in a few weeks you see that you need more then go ahead and buy more. I would urge you to wait until you have actual growth in the tank that they will eat though.

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by emtguy
http:///forum/post/2472511
thanks. i'll take the advice and wait to see how much they have ate in two weeks. Problem is i took the good advice on this forum and set my tank up slowly and right ! I dont have alot of algea on rocks and a little on glass but i do feel that there is enough to support the CUC i got.
I dont see how those tiny crabs could kill a snail but if it happens i hope i get to see it...that'll be a good fight1
emtguy
sepulation is right, hermit crabs will kill and eat snails in order to acquire shells, I've seen them do this also and no doubt you will too in your own tank! Blue-legs and scarlets more so than red-legs but they all do it. If sepulation has a magic formula to keep it from happening regardless of how many snails/hermits or how much food there is the tank I'd be curious to know what it is? I'm willing to bet that its going to happen regardless of how slowly or fast you add your clean-up crew and regardless of how many empty shells or how much food there is in the tank. Its just nature, regardless of how good a job you do on any tank, how great your water parameters are kept and how religiously you change water in your system, things are going to die. Don't get me wrong, I certainly do not advocate adding things simply to see them die! And If I've affended anyone with my advice (sepulation) I apalogize, its certainly not my intention. I do disagree with your observation that snails won't eat diatoms because I've seen them do it - case in point in the photo below you can clearly see two snails radula extended eating diatoms off the glass.

There's nothing wrong with building up a clean-up crew slowly in order to prevent these creatures from starving, and I agree they should not be added to a tank that doesn't have enough food to support them. But once you have diatoms and algae in the tank its time to start adding them IMO. The purpose of a clean-up crew (minus nassarius or super tongin snails which are indeed scavengers) is to eat up left over food and consume algaes - most snails are herbivores (grazers) who eat algae. As for who's been suggesting the 1 per gallon rule of thumb - I believe that all my responses carry my name, so it certainly hasn't been a secret. Not only is this rule based on my own years of experience keeping multiple tanks, but also on all the reading I've done on various internet sites and books written by professional reef keepers. As I've stated previously on this and other forums - individuals have to make their own decisions, advice is simply that, free advice.

 

[emtguy]

how that tank get so scratched?
I have diatoms and what i think is cyno starting. I have 2 hermmits, 4 turbos and one mexican snail. I dont think thats enough.
The algea seems to be on my tank walls everynight. I clean it everynight. Most of it i can wipe off with my hand but down near the LS i have to scrape it with my fingernails b/c the bowed front does not let my scrapper get flush with wall and besides it dont work anyhow. I have a magfloat for acrylic but that sucs to b/c you cant get near the substrate for risk of scratching the walls with a wayward peice of sand.
Is there a snail that will get down on the wall at LS level and eat the algea. Algea just so close to sand that everytime i try to clean it i cause LS to get all in my water column and it looks awful.
My LS look BAD to b/c of the diatoms and cyno. My levels are good so tonight i turned my lights down to 4 hrs a day and im going to see how that helps.

 

[sepulatian]

If you have cayno then you need to find out why. Have you checked your phosphate level?

 

[scopus tang]

Also check you flow rates on pumps. Cyanobacteria usually shows up in low or dead water zones, where you have a pocket of water that is not being moved by pumps/filters. Redirect you powerheads/filter returns to get water flow in the area where it is growing, or add an addition powerhead. That should help. Usually once you get flow there, the cyano will start to bunch up and can be syphoned out or just reach in a scoop it out with your hand. If I'm correct, your tank is still fairly new (still cycling), so you going to experience some algae blooms - its normal. Just don't let them get out of control as they can be self-propigating (old algae dies, adds more nutrients to the tank through decay = new algae bloom).

As for how that tank got so scratched, its pretty old, and when I first started I used tap water because I didn't know any better and there wasn't an excellent website like this one around to ask for advice on. So I dealt with constant and continuous diatom blooms. Magfloats and other new types of scrappers weren't around, so we used the abrassive "aquarium safe" sponges on plastic handles that you can still buy today for cleaning your tank, and you can see the long term effects. I can tell you from what I've seen, the older a tank is the more scratched it will become.