one step forward, two steps back.....

[goinbroke]

........this is the way of the salt water fish hobby!
woke up this morning to yet another mexican turbo snail being devoured by my cleaner shrimp! i'm sure he's not the one who took it out. probally more like a raven or crow cleaning up the leftovers.
does everyone have these problems? i bought ten of these to battle my diatome outbreak. i can count at least 6 shells on the bottom. all my little snails are ok, just the big ones get sniped at night!
i think it's time for a lawnmower blenny. what else is reef safe and will eat algae?

 

[mantisman51]

I bought 5 of them in August for the same reason. All five were empty shells within a month.

So, I went to the "auction" site and bought 200 blue and scarlet hermits and 20 turbos for $40. Now, the LR and DSB NEVER have algae. The lawnmower blenny has to suffice with scraping the little algae off the back of the tank. FWIW, I buy most of my fish from SWF. Just got my last shipment yesterday.

The "auction" site has a great deal on cleanup crews, though. It can't be beat.

 

[saltn00b]

yes you are going to have that problem when you buy 10 massive snails for something they wont eat (guessing here), and in a new tank with very little algae. they will starve to death.
what size is your tank? i have 3 mexicans in a 150.

 

[saltn00b]

btw, you dont battle a diatom outbreak. it happens after a new tank first cycles. they dissappear on their own.
in this hobby, the answer is not to just throw money at every little problem. the correct way is to read , learn and research the problem, and understand the underlying cause of it. in this case, it was not even a problem.

 

[goinbroke]

my system started off as a 54 corner about 4 years ago. upgraded to a 75 2 years ago. so in essence tank has been up and running 4 years now. my diatom appeared after a green hair algae problem(took out and scrubed liverock) i think my blue legs waged war on the turbos and won! i still have some hair algae down on the lower liverock. i dont think the snails starved.

 

[saltn00b]

did they touch the hair algae at all? my mexicans wont touch the stuff.

 

[reefboy1994]

Originally Posted by mantisman51
http:///forum/post/2921105
I bought 5 of them in August for the same reason. All five were empty shells within a month.

So, I went to the "auction" site and bought 200 blue and scarlet hermits and 20 turbos for $40. Now, the LR and DSB NEVER have algae. The lawnmower blenny has to suffice with scraping the little algae off the back of the tank. FWIW, I buy most of my fish from SWF. Just got my last shipment yesterday.

The "auction" site has a great deal on cleanup crews, though. It can't be beat.
where is the auction section???!!!!

 

[morval]

hermits will eat snails. thats where they get there shells, as they grow they need bigger shells so they eat a snail and have a new home