D
david melczer
Guest
To anyone with experience with reef "clean-up crews"...here are a few quick questions that I hope you can answer.
I have a 90-gallon setup that currently contains 1 red volitans lion, 2 clarkii clowns, 2 yellow tangs, 1 purple tang, 1 banana wrasse, 2 condylactis anemone, and 1 snowflake moray eel.
I attempt to minimize water changes as much as possible, preferring to get the best filtration I can get my hands on, and use supplements to replenish the nutrients that are lost through filtration (protein skimming, nitrate reduction, fluidized bed, etc.)...I figure 5 gallons per week in evaporation adds up to about a 22% water change over the course of the month anyway...which is about par for the course for wat I've read is recommended.
One problem that I currently have is small patches of green and brown algae growing on the front and side glass walls (and green algae on the back wall). It's been drastically reduced since the introduction of the nitrate reductor, but is still a nuisance. I am looking for a natural solution to get rid of this problem. I am currently looking to use turbo snails and perhaps a cucumber or two to clean the aragonite base layer (brown algae grows in layers on the aragonite as well). The questions I have are as follows:
Being on the "agressive" side, will either the volitans or snowflake eat the snails or cucumbers?
Will the turbo snails also clean the live rock in the tank (and will they eat the coraline algae, or leave it alone)?
And, finally, will the tangs pick at either the cucumber or the snails?
Thanks for any insight that you guys (and gals) can provide. It is much appreciated.
-Dave Melczer
I have a 90-gallon setup that currently contains 1 red volitans lion, 2 clarkii clowns, 2 yellow tangs, 1 purple tang, 1 banana wrasse, 2 condylactis anemone, and 1 snowflake moray eel.
I attempt to minimize water changes as much as possible, preferring to get the best filtration I can get my hands on, and use supplements to replenish the nutrients that are lost through filtration (protein skimming, nitrate reduction, fluidized bed, etc.)...I figure 5 gallons per week in evaporation adds up to about a 22% water change over the course of the month anyway...which is about par for the course for wat I've read is recommended.
One problem that I currently have is small patches of green and brown algae growing on the front and side glass walls (and green algae on the back wall). It's been drastically reduced since the introduction of the nitrate reductor, but is still a nuisance. I am looking for a natural solution to get rid of this problem. I am currently looking to use turbo snails and perhaps a cucumber or two to clean the aragonite base layer (brown algae grows in layers on the aragonite as well). The questions I have are as follows:
Being on the "agressive" side, will either the volitans or snowflake eat the snails or cucumbers?
Will the turbo snails also clean the live rock in the tank (and will they eat the coraline algae, or leave it alone)?
And, finally, will the tangs pick at either the cucumber or the snails?
Thanks for any insight that you guys (and gals) can provide. It is much appreciated.
-Dave Melczer
