housing clean up crews in bulk

[riche]

If buying clean up crews, and housing them in separate tanks Like snails and shrimp I have 2 questions.

One can they live in a bare tank with just a air driven sponge filter and 2 what would you feed them so they dont turn on each other?

Im thinking of doing something like this kinda like sell corals out of the basement, I want to do it with clean up crews

 

[reeferfoxx]

If buying clean up crews, and housing them in separate tanks Like snails and shrimp I have 2 questions.

One can they live in a bare tank with just a air driven sponge filter and 2 what would you feed them so they dont turn on each other?

Im thinking of doing something like this kinda like sell corals out of the basement, I want to do it with clean up crews

You can disregard my statement on this as I don't have first hand experience. Based on observation of local fish stores, sand of some sort might find itself beneficial. Especially if breeding were to take place. There is one store I'm thinking of that has so many snails in one 60 gallon cube, I think they just reproduce there. The shop never has to order snails. Other snails like tronchus and nassarius will need sand to burrow.

 

[reeferfoxx]

As far as feeding goes, just keep phosphates and nitrates slightly elevated with full spectrum white light for algae growth.

 

[riche]

As far as feeding goes, just keep phosphates and nitrates slightly elevated with full spectrum white light for algae growth.

Thanks for the quick response

Will air driven sponges pr filter boxs be ok for filtration?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Thanks for the quick response

Will air driven sponges pr filter boxs be ok for filtration?

I think a hang on back filter will do for running carbon. You still want live rock for biological filtration. Once things are established, you will need to test for no3 and po4 to make sure nutrients are in line.

 

[riche]

I think a hang on back filter will do for running carbon. You still want live rock for biological filtration. Once things are established, you will need to test for no3 and po4 to make sure nutrients are in line.

The reason I want to use the air driven box filters is I have a ton of them and I can run 10 or so off of one of the pumps I have and fill them with carbon. A piece of live rock wont be a issue along with sand

 

[cloak]

Thanks for the quick response

Will air driven sponges pr filter boxs be ok for filtration?

That's fine.

Your Nitrates will kind of give you an idea of how hard this filter is working though. If they're high then it's struggling to process all the crap, food etc and you might have to add something else. If they're kept within limits then you should be ok. GL.

 

[riche]

So would hob filters like a aquaclear with carbon be a better filter?

 

[cloak]

Not necessarily, being that they both accomplish the same thing. With the HOB unit you do have the abilty to run chemical filters such as GAC or GFO though, which might not be needed in the first place.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Exactly, maybe in the future though. Live rock with minimal water flow might be enough. Again, you need to produce food for snails. When algae grows it will also absorb nutrients.

 

[riche]

Exactly, maybe in the future though. Live rock with minimal water flow might be enough. Again, you need to produce food for snails. When algae grows it will also absorb nutrients.

So if I have a box filter with some gravel in it and a little carbon and just control the flow of air and some sand and a piece of live rock they should be fine or could I just use live rock sand and put the air line in the water?