CUC?
- Thread starter cysco1187
- Start date
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cysco1187 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547031
I was wondering what I could get that is cheap for my tank to clean up all the excess food/poo in my tank.I have two clown fish and 2 nassaruis snails. These snails do not really do a good job cleaning my tank. What other scavenger can I get?
Hi,
You don't have enough snails...2 isn't going to do much. As the algae develops add more snails. nassarous snails are not algae eaters, they scavenge wasted food and hide in the sand keeping it stirred up and aerated.
On how many, your tank size comes into play....You should over time get have a variety of snails, Turbos, cerith, nassarus, trochus and nerite. A serpant or brittle star as well, they get deep into the rocks to keep it clear of wasted food, peppermint shrimps eat aptasia and cleaner shrimp help clear the fish of parasites...all shrimp eat wasted food.. The bristle worms, copepods, isopods, amphipods, and microstars, that all come on your live rock (that's why it's called "LIVE"...the critters like these living in it) which eat fish poo and detritus. They also eat any fish that dies, preventing ammonia spikes. Lets not forget the tiny bi-valves, and pineapple sponges that live on/in the live rock help filter the water. So a great deal of your CUC comes on the live rock itself...you don't have to spend more money for those unless you used all base rock.
Originally Posted by Cysco1187 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547031
I was wondering what I could get that is cheap for my tank to clean up all the excess food/poo in my tank.I have two clown fish and 2 nassaruis snails. These snails do not really do a good job cleaning my tank. What other scavenger can I get?
Hi,
You don't have enough snails...2 isn't going to do much. As the algae develops add more snails. nassarous snails are not algae eaters, they scavenge wasted food and hide in the sand keeping it stirred up and aerated.
On how many, your tank size comes into play....You should over time get have a variety of snails, Turbos, cerith, nassarus, trochus and nerite. A serpant or brittle star as well, they get deep into the rocks to keep it clear of wasted food, peppermint shrimps eat aptasia and cleaner shrimp help clear the fish of parasites...all shrimp eat wasted food.. The bristle worms, copepods, isopods, amphipods, and microstars, that all come on your live rock (that's why it's called "LIVE"...the critters like these living in it) which eat fish poo and detritus. They also eat any fish that dies, preventing ammonia spikes. Lets not forget the tiny bi-valves, and pineapple sponges that live on/in the live rock help filter the water. So a great deal of your CUC comes on the live rock itself...you don't have to spend more money for those unless you used all base rock.
cysco1187
Member
I have all LR in a 20 gallon tank. My peppermint shrimp didn't eat my aptasia but it died so that doesn't matter now. I have an extremely tiny blue legged hermit also. Nothing is eating the excess food/waste in my tank and I'm looking for something cheap at the moment to help clean up. I was thinking a turbo snail but I don't know how much they are.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cysco1187 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547059
I have all LR in a 20 gallon tank. My peppermint shrimp didn't eat my aptasia but it died so that doesn't matter now. I have an extremely tiny blue legged hermit also. Nothing is eating the excess food/waste in my tank and I'm looking for something cheap at the moment to help clean up. I was thinking a turbo snail but I don't know how much they are.
Hi,
If you have all live rock my dear...you do have something eating the wasted food...bristle worms. Turbos do not eat wasted food, they feed on algae. Nassarous snails do eat wasted food...They run from 59 cents a piece. to $1.59
The question needs to be asked...Why is there so much wasted food in your tank? OR... Why do you think there is so much wasted food?
Originally Posted by Cysco1187 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547059
I have all LR in a 20 gallon tank. My peppermint shrimp didn't eat my aptasia but it died so that doesn't matter now. I have an extremely tiny blue legged hermit also. Nothing is eating the excess food/waste in my tank and I'm looking for something cheap at the moment to help clean up. I was thinking a turbo snail but I don't know how much they are.
Hi,
If you have all live rock my dear...you do have something eating the wasted food...bristle worms. Turbos do not eat wasted food, they feed on algae. Nassarous snails do eat wasted food...They run from 59 cents a piece. to $1.59
The question needs to be asked...Why is there so much wasted food in your tank? OR... Why do you think there is so much wasted food?
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cysco1187 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547073
And yea, I have all LR and one little bristle worm that I've seen.
If you have one bristle worm, chances are, there are more.
Unless Flower wants to correct me on that. She seems to be doing a lot of that lately.
Originally Posted by Cysco1187 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547073
And yea, I have all LR and one little bristle worm that I've seen.
If you have one bristle worm, chances are, there are more.
Unless Flower wants to correct me on that. She seems to be doing a lot of that lately.
pegasus
Well-Known Member
If you have lots of wasted food, you're definitely overfeeding. Stop doing that, and learn what those two clowns can consume in less than three minutes. Once you know how much they will eat in that amount of time, feed them only that amount. No more. Anything more is only polluting your tank. I know they seem voracious at mealtime, but a hungry fish is a healthy fish. If they overeat, they create massive amounts of poo, and if they don't eat all the food, it decays in the tank unless you have a large enough CUC to handle it. It's a good idea to get the critters Flower mentioned, and if you start seeing nuisance algae, include Astrea snails as well. They eat film algae as well as hair algae. A good variety will cover most scenarios that can arise in saltwater tanks. A lot of online vendors offer CUC packages that can save you some dough over individual species purchases.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by silverado61 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547083
If you have one bristle worm, chances are, there are more.
Unless Flower wants to correct me on that. She seems to be doing a lot of that lately.
LOL...I'm a butthead, I can't help it.
But this time...you are correct, if you see one there are others.
As for the overfeeding...DON"T DO THAT!...STOP IT...STOP IT RIGHT NOW! All kidding aside, if you know you are overfeeding, why keep doing it?
Originally Posted by silverado61 http:///t/397797/cuc#post_3547083
If you have one bristle worm, chances are, there are more.
Unless Flower wants to correct me on that. She seems to be doing a lot of that lately.
LOL...I'm a butthead, I can't help it.
But this time...you are correct, if you see one there are others.
As for the overfeeding...DON"T DO THAT!...STOP IT...STOP IT RIGHT NOW! All kidding aside, if you know you are overfeeding, why keep doing it?