brown algae and critters

[jjaroska]

ok. i am at the end of my rope. my tank has been running for 8 to 10 weeks now and i am getting a light dusting of brown algae.

all the research i have done says that i should have a mix of the following critters

Nassarius snails
nerite snails
cerith snails
trochus snails
scarlet hermit crabs
emerald crabs

first question is, is this list accurate and if not what does it need or not need in it?

second question is, how many should i have of each? every source i read tells me a different mix of each and some of them even say 160 critters for my 90 gallon tank. i find that hard to believe so i need some guidance.

thanks in advance.

 

[Dtip]

Diversity is good: more different kinds is better than more of the same. Your mix of snails looks good, especially because it doesn't contain any of the cold water species that end up boiling to death in reef tanks (i.e. some turbos, margs).

However, you should at least consider the no crab option. Crabs are opportunistic feeders: there is no 100% safe crab, no matter what anyone says. That said, most people don't ever have much problem with hermits (often they'll only go after whats already dead or dying), and emeralds only occasionally seem to go "bad" (particularly when they get bigger...)): they are by far the safest crabs of the bunch (sally lightfoots are also in this category). Just don't ever think they are 100% reef/invert safe.

160 sounds a little ridiculous, especially all at once. I would add to your collection over time, building up while making sure new additions have enough food left to accommodate them (of whatever they eat). If you buy 160 snails for a 90 all at once, I guarantee that a decent number will starve to death.

 

[Murphs205]

thats seems to be a bit too much at one time ,,i would go half of that and then see where your at in a week or so, if needed add more (keep the same mix you have listed) with that mix , you will have sand feeders and window cleaners ,,,, skip the crabs of any kind ,,,, they are cool ,,until he eats your best anything you have ,,, wake up and ole crab has made a salad out of your stuff,,,and the little bastards laugh at you when you think your going to catch him ,,,, ,,,, there are way to do it without any kind of crabs ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Murph

 

[Dtip]

Yeah: if you are going the crab route regardless, at least hermits are easy to catch. Most other crabs... good luck ever getting them out without having to completely remove the rock they are hiding in.

 

[Dtip]

The other thing I meant to ask: how new is this 90 setup? And what stock is in there already? If its relatively new (a few months) then this algae probably isn't too much to worry about at all. It will go away primarily as the tank matures and you can cut back on the excess light/nutrients that's feeding it.

As for stock, if you don't have fish in there yet, you can probably skip the Nassarius snails for now. They basically mostly eat leftover meaty foods (which is partly why they are so great at keeping rotting food from building up anywhere), and so only really get fed when fish do. They are also good for turning over substrate some, but honestly, my cerith, being much bigger and burrowing much deeper, do a lot more of that than my nassarius. And cerith will eat some diatom and other algaes.

At least, they did when I last saw one, which was two weeks ago. (Uh oh.... but that's a whole nother issue...)

 

[Burgman]

Hi,

Looks like you are going through a brown diatom bloom which is normal for a new tank. Crabs & Snails don't usually mix as the crabs will dine on your snails. For a 90 I would go with these:

Nassarius snails(don't eat algae, just dead fish or dyingsnails, needed for a tank with a lot of fish & invert diversity)
nerite snails(5)
cerith snails(5)
trochus snails(5)
scarlet hermit crabs(0)
emerald crabs(0)

Most of the snails will eat the brown algae. If you do go with snails & hermits the scarlet or red legged will eat fewer snails
than the blue legs. Just my opinion.

Dave

 

[Dtip]

Yeah that stocking sounds a lot more reasonable.

Snails move slow, and eat slow, but algae actually grows pretty slowly too, relatively. A few snails can cover a lot of ground: not in a day maybe, but in a week or so they can surprisingly cover pretty near every surface in your tank.

I have one large snail which basically takes care of most of my 55 all on his own, with a few smaller snails mostly handling cleaning up after him and areas he can't fit...

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

I would not fret the diatom bloom for two reasons. First, diatoms are actually quite beneficial in that they serve as a food for small critters such as copepods. They aren't really harmful like some algae that will overgrow corals. Second, in most every tank, diatoms come and then rapidly disappear. This is mainly due to the fact that their growth is limited to the availability of silicate in the water. Silicate is quickly used up by them and other things, such as sponges, and when the diatoms reach critical mass, their population quickly crashes and they disappear. If you have a sustained growth of diatoms in your tank for months on end, it can mean only one thing - silicate is getting into your system. This can happen if you top off with tap water, which sometimes is high in silicate. But again, I would not fret it at all. Worry more about sustaining good overall maintenance of your tank and have patience about this kinda stuff. All tanks need to go through a maturation process, and a diatom bloom is typically part of that process.

 

[serpentman]

In my experience this is completely normal. No matter how many snails you add, it has to go through its processes. Once all the available nutrients for that specific species are used up, it will go away. Likely to be followed by something else. And so on and so forth until you are stabilized.

 

[jjaroska]

to answer the question about fish in the tank, i have a spotted hawkfish, a small clown and also a sleeper head goby.

The goby has taken care of sifting through the sand and keeping the diatom off the sand.

if i do go with snails then, i will go ahead and populate with 5 of each species for a total of 15. i am still deciding.

thanks for all the good feedback.

 

[Dtip]

Sounds good. Should be plenty for the nas snails to eat then.

Where are you finding nerites and trochus, by the way? They seem less common on both online and LFS.

 

[Burgman]

Hi,

I know Aquatic Tech has both nerites & trochus. Salty Crittter might have them also. Remember the 5 is just a guide. You can always add more later or try a different type of snail. It's a good excuse to go to the local reef store.

Dave

 

[itZme]

I have a 92g corner tank with about 80-100 lbs of live rock. I added 50 astraea snails, 30 ceriths, 15 trochus, 30 blueleg hermits and 15 nassarius snails.
The Mexican turbo snails that are harvested in Mexico are used to water temps from 72 to 80 degrees F so they do not "boil to death" but the constant reef tank temps of 77 or 78F will speed up their metabolism and may shorten their lives. If this does happen they will just get old and die earlier. The average life span is said to be about 3 years so they may only last 2+ years or so in a reef tank depending on how old they were when collected.

I have added a dozen Mexican turbos to my 92g to help with a red cotton candy algae problem and they are absolutely ripping through the stuff. I will divide them up and move them to my other two 75g tanks after they finish in the 92g and then eventually to the 140g refugium while probably leaving 2 or 3 in each tank.

I had lots of algae issues before owning tangs and realized I would never keep a reef tank again without at least one tang in it. They cruise the reef all day picking it off the rocks and then they still love the sheets of nori and usually add lots of color to the tank.

Hope that helps.
-- Kevin

 

[tru2nr]

def. good advice i think im starting to deal with that cotton candy algae so ive been on the look for actual mexican turbo's the closest thing i found which i was mis-sold were margarita snails but also in my defense i didn't know the difference of looks at the time

 

[jjaroska]

serpentman said something that interested me. he said until your tank is stabalized. how do i know when that happens? what are the indicators?

 

[serpentman]

When you first set up an aquarium, after it goes through the cycling phase, there are various available nutrients still available in the water. What happens is a specific strain of algae or diatom will begin using a specific nutrients. This is often referred to as a bloom. Once those are exhausted, that strain dies off and usually disappears as fast as it appears. Then another strain comes around and so on and so forth until all available nutrients are exhausted and your tank is relatively free of nutrients and algae/diatoms. Often it goes in this order: cyanobacteria (brown slimy mats) first then hair algae (Bryopsis, Derbesia, and Cladophora species) last.

This doesn't necessarily mean you won't see algae ever again as blooms come and go, although fewer and far between for the first 3-6months of set up. Down the road you may see spot patches etc or a bloom out of nowhere which means somehow nutrients are being introduced into the system faster then they are being taken out. Usually overfeeding or a death of a fish, etc, are the culprit.

With all that being said, when all available nutrients are uptaken, ammonia, nitrite are zero and nitrate levels are very low <5-10 and temp and salinity is kept constant, the tank is generally considered "stable". Stability in an aquarium is a bit of a misnomer as so many factors can knock it out of whack. You will generally know this has happened when blooms cease, water is clear and parameters don't vary.