Slowly getting GHA under control how many Mexican turbo snails for a 75 gallon tank?

[chris124]

How many Mexican turbos should I get? I have a clean up crew with Hermits, Dwarf Ceriths, Florida Ceriths, Nerites, and Nassarius snails.

 

[20LogR]

Those big turbo snails can do work! I would get 2-3 and see how much of a difference they make. You can always add another later

 

[mcarroll]

Turbos get stinkin' huge! They rarely live long in small tanks...usually thanks to starvation.

Stick with Ceriths or other smaller snails...and scale down your hermit population (since they are snail-murderers!).

The best way to lick algae is to feed the tank less and increase removal of detritus.

Too much light can also be a factor...use a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] and be mindful of the tropical day length (always 6a-6p with shorth sunrise/sunset) and peak sun hours (good to use if you don't have sunrise/sunset capability on your lights).

(1000 W/m2 = 2000 PAR = 100,000 lux = direct sun at sea level)

 

[mcarroll]

In fact, you have a decent cleanup crew...just offload some of the hermits.

Maybe stock up the numbers of some of the same snails you already have.

How many black Ceriths and other snails do you think you already have? (algae eaters - don't count the Nass.)

 

[chris124]

In fact, you have a decent cleanup crew...just offload some of the hermits.

Maybe stock up the numbers of some of the same snails you already have.

How many black Ceriths and other snails do you think you already have? (algae eaters - don't count the Nass.)

74 Dwarf Ceriths and 15 Nerites. Those numbers might be off a little. Like you said hermits murder snails.

 

[mcarroll]

Seems like that should be plenty, but they are small....so not too many. I assume they are the .75"-1" Ceriths...not the ultra-tiny 1/4" ones

Do you think you have room to reduce the amount of food AND increase water changes and detritus location/removal?

If you can't find any obvious pockets of detritus to siphon out, your sand bed could be holding it. Use your finger or something to swizzle around in the sand in some likely dead zones like under powerheads and return outlets, around the bases of rocks, etc. If anything but pure aragonite-white comes up into the water, then you very likely have a detritus problem in there. In that case, removing the sand bed a little at a time during water changes is usually the easiest and most economical option for solving the problem. (If you stacked your rocks on top of your sand bed vs on the glass, this is going to be a problem.)

 

[dewboy1127]

Trochus snails all day ...you will not waste your money with these....mine seem to eat everything for most part and best thing is these guys can flip them selves over from basically any position not leaving them stuck to die or be eaten

 

[chris124]

Seems like that should be plenty, but they are small....so not too many. I assume they are the .75"-1" Ceriths...not the ultra-tiny 1/4" ones

Do you think you have room to reduce the amount of food AND increase water changes and detritus location/removal?

If you can't find any obvious pockets of detritus to siphon out, your sand bed could be holding it. Use your finger or something to swizzle around in the sand in some likely dead zones like under powerheads and return outlets, around the bases of rocks, etc. If anything but pure aragonite-white comes up into the water, then you very likely have a detritus problem in there. In that case, removing the sand bed a little at a time during water changes is usually the easiest and most economical option for solving the problem. (If you stacked your rocks on top of your sand bed vs on the glass, this is going to be a problem.)

They are closer to the 1/4" size. I have cleaned out as much of the detritus as I could find. Cleaned the sand bed and blow the rocks off and skimming wet. I;m feeding one cube of mysis four days a week. The algae problem has gotten better since just a few weeks ago.

 

[20LogR]

Those tiny little Ceriths are probably great at getting into tight spots but one Mexican Turbo could probably remove more GHA than 50 of those little things. I had a ton of them in my reef cleaner pack and I didn't seem them do much except get picked off by the hermits for midday snacks.

 

[thegunslinger]

I've had 3 turbos for over a year. I bought them when I set up my first tank (a 55) and have since upgraded to a 75. I also have 3 hermits, and I've lost a few ceriths and nerites, don't know if the hermits were to blame or not. IMO, the hermits do enough that I'm willing to put up with depredation on some snails.