- Joined
- Oct 2, 2019
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Hello R2R!
I currently have a 13.5g fluval tank mixed reef that I want to keep as many different types of snails as possible for collecting purposes. Currently this is the only tank I can keep right now.
My CURRENT livestock is as follows:
1 Exquisite Firefish
2 Porcelain Anemone Crab
2 Trochus snails
2 Nassarius snails
3 Astarea snails
2 Fire Shrimps
I desire to add even more snails to this tank, however I don't think my tank is dirty enough (in terms of algae) so I am trying to figure out how to grow more algae. I've increased feeding to perhaps 2-3x of what I normally do and I don't see any significant increase of desirable algae growth. Last week I have undergone a dino bloom, which has gotten much weaker now. I don't want my nitrate to get crazy high (100s) if it barely increases algae growth. I have noticed when I feed my custom frozen food blend (oyster, shrimp, mussels, and squid) it does increase algae growth, but I'd prefer to use dry food that I can use with my auto feeder. I feel as though this is attributed to high phosphate in the food blend?
My future goal is to facilitate snail growth and spawning.
Here's a few novel thoughts:
I've thought of dosing silicates to grow more diatoms - this seems like a nice idea to me because I also want to keep sponges in the future. Any thoughts on this?
I have thought of buying nori and algae wafers to supplement the diet of my snails - has anyone done this before?
Increase feeding even more? Dose phosphates (currently don't have a phos kit, only nitrate)?
I currently have a 13.5g fluval tank mixed reef that I want to keep as many different types of snails as possible for collecting purposes. Currently this is the only tank I can keep right now.
My CURRENT livestock is as follows:
1 Exquisite Firefish
2 Porcelain Anemone Crab
2 Trochus snails
2 Nassarius snails
3 Astarea snails
2 Fire Shrimps
I desire to add even more snails to this tank, however I don't think my tank is dirty enough (in terms of algae) so I am trying to figure out how to grow more algae. I've increased feeding to perhaps 2-3x of what I normally do and I don't see any significant increase of desirable algae growth. Last week I have undergone a dino bloom, which has gotten much weaker now. I don't want my nitrate to get crazy high (100s) if it barely increases algae growth. I have noticed when I feed my custom frozen food blend (oyster, shrimp, mussels, and squid) it does increase algae growth, but I'd prefer to use dry food that I can use with my auto feeder. I feel as though this is attributed to high phosphate in the food blend?
My future goal is to facilitate snail growth and spawning.
Here's a few novel thoughts:
I've thought of dosing silicates to grow more diatoms - this seems like a nice idea to me because I also want to keep sponges in the future. Any thoughts on this?
I have thought of buying nori and algae wafers to supplement the diet of my snails - has anyone done this before?
Increase feeding even more? Dose phosphates (currently don't have a phos kit, only nitrate)?