Cleanup crew help

[mrhasan]

I got two torchus snails in my 20 gallon and they do GREAT job at keeping rock works clean. I had hermits in the tank too but their movement disturbed the zoas so they are out (maybe two or three are still there in the tank).

My only problem is with the tank walls which get the brown filmy algae in like 3/4 days. Not any severe outbreaks but still irritating to see patches. So I was wondering what should I do to keep those wall hugger at bay. Till now, I have come up with a list:

5 cerith snails
5 nerith snails
2 nassarius snails

Will this work?

[toytech]

thats a good list , i find asteas do a good job on glass too . Nerites do try and crawl out sometimes so hope you have a top.

[mrhasan]

thats a good list , i find asteas do a good job on glass too . Nerites do try and crawl out sometimes so hope you have a top.

I removed my top few days back since it seems to hold salt creeps and cut down light penetration.

Yah I also saw nerites crawl out of water. Should I remove those from the list and get something else?

[reefwars]

run gfo through a reactor and algae takes a longer time to grow on glass, and it isnt as brown or thick.

[reefwars]

fwiw i have zero cleaning crew just natuarl ones like worms and stars etc.

[mrhasan]

run gfo through a reactor and algae takes a longer time to grow on glass, and it isnt as brown or thick.

No place for reactor :( I use two bags of chemi pure elite for some gfo. The algae is, I would say, very light and thin (cannot notice from front side but by looking through the side) and scrubber easily takes care of it. So snails should work maybe?

[mrhasan]

fwiw i have zero cleaning crew just natuarl ones like worms and stars etc.

Yah never noticed any in your tank :P Plus you have a whole room dedicated for all sorts of things to keep the water perfect which I lack so I am trying to follow the typical low cost methodology :P

Worms are starting to build up I guess (took out five small bristle worm from the sandbed, thinking they might be something else).

[reefwars]

No place for reactor :( I use two bags of chemi pure elite for some gfo. The algae is, I would say, very light and thin (cannot notice from front side but by looking through the side) and scrubber easily takes care of it. So snails should work maybe?

imo snails are junk lol sure they eat algae but they are slow,destructive,hard to keep track of and inconsistent.

if you dont want algae starve it its that simple, algae needs certain things to grow.

if you do it right all you will see of algae is that tiny little film on the glass a once over with a magfloat will take care of that stuff in seconds.

all your rock shouldnt be too close to the glass that a magfloat or algae scraper cant get to it.

cheers:)

[reefwars]

Yah never noticed any in your tank :P Plus you have a whole room dedicated for all sorts of things to keep the water perfect which I lack so I am trying to follow the typical low cost methodology :P

Worms are starting to build up I guess (took out five small bristle worm from the sandbed, thinking they might be something else).

if its low cost your after consider the price of snails ...all the free hermits you just gave away and possible treatments to battle algae in the future.

my advice is to never rely on animals , their behavior is always unpredictable .

i guess i just hate snails lol

[mrhasan]

if its low cost your after consider the price of snails ...all the free hermits you just gave away and possible treatments to battle algae in the future.

my advice is to never rely on animals , their behavior is always unpredictable .

i guess i just hate snails lol

Haha I can see that :P

Ok then no snail. I don't want anything to bug my zoa :mrgreen: The long closed pink zoa is actually opening now after the crabs are gone :)

Any way to run gfo with a HOB reaction? (if there's any thing such I mean)

[reefwars]

tlf reactors are cheap and can be used as hang on back , if your clean with the tubing its not even unslightly . the only thing thats needs to be in your tank is a maxi jet.

running gfo aggresssively(through a reactor) is much better than passively(media bag)

your corals will have better color and grow faster with phosphates being absorbed and removed reguarily.

[mrhasan]

tlf reactors are cheap and can be used as hang on back , if your clean with the tubing its not even unslightly . the only thing thats needs to be in your tank is a maxi jet.

running gfo aggresssively(through a reactor) is much better than passively(media bag)

your corals will have better color and grow faster with phosphates being absorbed and removed reguarily.

Thanks Denny. I will look into TFL now. That Way, I guess I can cut down on chemi pure too. How much would be the upkeep of running gfo?

[reefwars]

For a small tank like yours a large can of rowaphos could last a year or more. Maybe 1/2-1 cup every 2-3 mths