Little white things crawling on my glass

[hnf2k]

there are these tiny tiny white things crawling around on my glass. i can't describe them because they are very small. but they are white. leave them alone? what are they?

 

[surfnturf]

Pods, good to have, leave them alone.

 

[hnf2k]

what do pods do?

 

[surfnturf]

They eat algae (haven't checked to see if they eat detritus, suppose they might) and they are food for the other things in your tank, important part of your miniature ecosystem.

 

[nacl-h2o]

Depending on the pod they eat detritus and or algae or are just all around scavengers. You will probably end up with some of all of them.

 

[hnf2k]

will they die if i dont have enough algae in my tank? i think that could be why my snail died. or are they so small that even the smallest amount fills them?

 

[surfnturf]

If it was a turbo, your snail probably died because it tipped onto it's back or from nitrates, why they recommend these snails is beyond me. The pods should be fine, I would assume you have LR since that is usually how they get into the aquarium, they will get most of what they need from the LR, no worries.

 

[surfnturf]

Oops, should have read more carefully, 200 lbs of lr, don't worry about the pods, and I seriously doubt the snail died of starvation. BTW, what do you have for lighting?

 

[hnf2k]

2 36" 50/50 actinic's 2 36" 12,000 k's. regular fluorescent. yes it was on it's back. but i put it upright after. and when i flipped it it was still moving. then the next day i saw hermits all over it while it was still upright and they were tearing it apart. it was a turbo, and i also have another turbo that is even bigger than it, and that turbo is still alive.
what breaks down nitrates?

 

[surfnturf]

Water changes reduce nitrates If you want to break down nitrates, increase the size of your sump, put a deep sand bed in there (5 inches or a little more) and even add some caulerpa with a decent light fixture run on an opposite cycle as the display tank. That would give you the benefits of a DSB without messing around in the main tank.

 

[hnf2k]

my sump is part of my wet/dry. it's barely a sump. it has little to no water in it. if i fill it to the top with water it floods the bioballs. i have a 4 inch dsb. would it be bad to add another inch of sand when i have an already established tank? and if not, how much sand would equal an inch in a tank 6 x 2 x 2?

 

[surfnturf]

I think you can add a dusting of sand at a time spread over a few weeks and gradually build up your sand bed, but a shark would be a better source of knowledge on that.

 

[hnf2k]

well, any sharks care to comment on what surfnturf said?

 

[nacl-h2o]

I'm not a shark, but I'll comment. That is a good way to increase a sand bed depth in an exisiting tank. That's what I did. Just add enough to dust the top every coupls of days, until your at the depth you want.

 

[eaglesfan]

is there a way to figure how many pounds of ls you would need to create a 4" sand bed?

 

[hnf2k]

if this helps, i have 290 pounds of sand in a 180 and i have about a 4 inch. it differens depending on the area.