Breakdown of 110 Tall and going smaller - vermetid snails issue

JDT1234

Member
My first marine tank is a 110 tall and have had it for 6 years now. At the end of the day I just find it hard to work in….can’t get to the bottom to do things for example. That being the main reason, but I can also get just as much enjoyment out of a smaller tank with less cost and maintenance I believe.

Here is a is a dropbox link to my tank…. Tank.HEIC

The link doesn’t seem to be live when I click on it, but you can copy and paste into your browser…worked for me

Going to downsize to a 90 or even maybe a 75, but I have a question.

I have a nice 16 head hammer, nice duncan and some nice zoo colonies I’d like to take with me to the new tank, but there is a vermetid snail issue in my tank now. So far they have not taken root on the corals I mentioned above - at least not topside of the coral - but more than likely on the bottom. If you zoom around the pic you can see them on my returns and in the candy canes….what is hard to see is them in the rock, but they are there.

I know short of new rock I probably can’t eliminate them, but with the new tank and having better access to being able to work in there, would I be able to control them by cutting out any new snails that pop up on top….and not worry about what happens underneath?

Or….am I better to just start over…..but of course there is no guarantee this won’t happen again, and probably down the road it will anyway….so I go back up to the sentence above, can I control them and be happy, or will it become a ongoing PITA situation. I don’t mind chopping a few off every week when I do my water change, but not chopping off 20 or so. They seem to grow slow so I’m thinking it wont be that big of an issue to deal with a couple when they pop up.

Now for those who suggest I just start from scratch, which I’m open to…..what are my options of selling the pieces I already have? Have the snails ruined any chance of selling off the corals? Can the more experienced take the corals and frag what they want and toss the rock?

One more question regarding the cycle. If I do end up using the old rock, will that keep the tank from cycling? My live stock is only two clowns, six PJ’s, two serpent stars and crabs.

Thank you.
 
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At todays prices for Euphyllia (and other corals for that matter), I’d try to keep what you can/want if it seems the Vermetids are not bothering them. That said, provided you don’t have a huge infestation (doesn’t look terrible), I think it’s controllable and I’d get some bumblebee snails to help as well as they can eat them.
 
I will say as well, like anything in this hobby, your results may vary. Mine seemed to love them but I’ve heard of them not seeming to put a dent in them either
 
So upsizing vs downsizing….not sure I have the funds to do that. I made the base to fit the 110 tall and a quick search tells me a 120 tall wouldn’t fit. Would mean new base and tank. But it is a good point I didn’t even think about…..room the corals need as they grow, downsizing would definitely be an issue. Thank you for that.

I’ve actually been reconsidering keeping the 110 since the post, and this pretty much seals the deal. 102 suggested the bumblebee snails for the vermetid snails, plus I think I can control them as they pop up. Cleared out a bunch last week.

Appreciate your feedback everyone.
 
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