How many astrea snails equal one turbo?

[dtruitt]

We recently added 5 astrea snails and 3 emerald crabs to pick up some of the slack left by our CUC workhorses.

The turbo snails eat a huge volume of algae, but they arent very thorough. When the glass is dirty (thankfully it's not these days) the turbos leave squiggly lines of clean glass.

I've been watching the astreas polish the overflow (which is overdue for a scrubbing) and its unbelievable how little they leave behind.

Currently we have 5 turbos in a 65g tank. I think I want to replace some of them with astreas.

I'm thinking that for each turbo a system can comfortably sustain, it could sustain about 5 astreas. Does this sound right?

 

[Phycodurus]

aiming for a ‘baseline ratio’ of astraea snails to turbos is likely too unique a number going from one person’s tank to another. someone may say 2:1 and another may say 3:1, etc.

if the turbos are leaving behind noticeable algae, i’d generalize and say there’s sufficient ‘ecological room’ to add a couple more astraeas, and then observe for a month; then repeat the assessment.

respectfully,
rick