I only have 3 snails a cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimp in my 75 gallon. I feel like it gets pretty dirty in a week. Any suggestions as to what to add or how many more.
I believe you can’t have enough
Are there any in particular that are better. My biggest issue is the crushed coral/aragonite bed gets dirty quickly
When I started in this hobby, and started with crushed coral, someone on a forum somewhere said something along the lines of:
When you have a sand bed, snails, conch, and crabs are a good clean-up crew.
When you have crushed coral - YOU are the clean-up crew.
Boy were they right!
Unfortunately, snails and normal critters that we use to keep our sand turned and clean don’t do so well in a crushed coral environment, too many crevices, sharp edges, and places to trap dirt and crud.
You can purchase full, and replenishment clean-up crews based on tank size from places like Reef Cleaners.
You should probably invest in a vacuum to use to suck the crap out of the bottom of the tank when you do water changes. Don’t get the biggest one you can find, it will drain the water too fast and you won’t be able to clean the whole tank properly.
Another suggestion, if you have a sump, is to put a filter sock on the end of the drain hose. When you vacuum water out to clean the crushed coral, you can discharge right back in to the sump. This will allow you to clean the crushed coral in between water changes, and the filter sock should capture most of the crud.
Last and most time consuming (and frustrating) option, would be to pull out the crushed coral and replace it with sand.
Very helpful cdangel0. Really like the idea of draining it right back in so u can get all of the cleaning done. But yes I see a lot of other tank and they all have the sand bed. Is there a particular sand that is sold for reef tanks. Bc yes I would like to just switch and have a lot more critters cleaning for me
Ok now I’m going against craig. I have aragonite crushed coral and my sand sifting star,pistol shrimp,( Nassarius sp)snails that burrow in my substrate. I think if you go to big craig is completely correct. I tryed the sand thing and holly cow what a mess! I had entirely too much flow for the sand. I couldnt get the tank clear. I took it all out and put this in and so for so good. Thats been my experience. There isn’t any right or wrong answers to most of the questions we might have. What works for me might not work for you and so on. There is alot of difference in opinions on everything in this hobby so sometimes it’s a trial and error. Hope that helps. Sorry craig
Oh but your question, I’m a strong believer in there is never enough! They seem to die often and seem to dissappear. I like lots of snails of all types and hermits,red&blue leg,Halloween hermits,some say stay away from emerald crabs,reef lobster,pistol shrimp they borrow kinda cool. The more the merrier. imo
+1 for reefcleaners.org. I ordered from them and got more than what I ordered. Customer service was great and the price was good. And them an email and I think they’ll work with you to get you what you need.
Sounds good. Will try to look them up today.
[quote=“beadlocked450r, post:6, topic:7844”]
Sorry craig[/quote]
Please don’t ever feel compelled to apologize to me for being wrong. You’ll get it right sooner or later ;D
Seriously though - CC does work for some, I personally found it easier to keep my pH in check when using CC - just couldn’t get my nitrates under control.
For a small tank it would probably be ok - not great - just ok ;D I tried it in a 92g system, and it was hell to keep clean.
Yes if I do water changes every week it stays clean but two weeks and it gets messy quickly. Doesn’t help that I only have 3 snails though.
[quote=“kcbigdogg3, post:11, topic:7844”]
Yes if I do water changes every week it stays clean but two weeks and it gets messy quickly. Doesn’t help that I only have 3 snails though.[/quote]
Snails hermits and sand sifting star fish do great work for me!
i went ahead and ordered a 40 hex package for $35 . seemed like it would be enough for now and g uot $5 off so probalby would have bumped it up to about a 50+ gallon package.