falconut
New member
I've had my tank running for over 3 years now. I purchased the following cleanup crew in the beginning. About 25-30 Astrea Snails, about 25 BL hermits, about 10 Cerith Snails and about 25 Nasarius Snails. The nasarius slowly declined in a few months, so there was only a few left in about 6 months. Later I found that that was too many for my 90, so no more of them. The Astreas seamed to do well, but slowly decreased in numbers to where there were only about 4 after 1-1/2 years. The Ceriths did well, I think I only lost a few in the 1-1/2 years. I also purchased 3 Banded Trochus and they are still alive after over 2 years.
After the 1-1/2 years I purchased another batch. This time about 40 Astreas, about 20 Ceriths. Again the Astreas were OK for about 1-1/2 years now there's only about 4-6 left. There's also only about 2 Ceriths.
I recently started to get a nasty algae, that grows on the rocks, pipes and side & rear glass. I resembles a hair algae. I have checked my NO3 and it is 0. The only thing I did recently was replace my (2) 250W SE 14K MH Hamiltons with (2) 250W SE 14K MH Plus-Rites (Ebay Bulbs). From what I can remember the algae started growing a few weeks after switching bulbs. So maybe it's the bulbs, so I switched back and I'm going to start doing larger water changes.
But since my cleanup crew is again week, I should probably add some more. The Astrea are the most common, but they never seam to last. I would like to get them from my LFS and this is what they have:
Mexican Turbos - $3/ea.
Astreas - $2/ea. or $20/12
Margaritas - $2/ea.
Ceriths - $1.5/ea.
The Mexicans are about 1-1/2", the Astreas are about 1/2", the Mararitas about 3/4" and Ceriths about 3/4".
I was thinking about adding maybe 3 Mexicans and maybe 5 Margaritas, what do you think?
After the 1-1/2 years I purchased another batch. This time about 40 Astreas, about 20 Ceriths. Again the Astreas were OK for about 1-1/2 years now there's only about 4-6 left. There's also only about 2 Ceriths.
I recently started to get a nasty algae, that grows on the rocks, pipes and side & rear glass. I resembles a hair algae. I have checked my NO3 and it is 0. The only thing I did recently was replace my (2) 250W SE 14K MH Hamiltons with (2) 250W SE 14K MH Plus-Rites (Ebay Bulbs). From what I can remember the algae started growing a few weeks after switching bulbs. So maybe it's the bulbs, so I switched back and I'm going to start doing larger water changes.
But since my cleanup crew is again week, I should probably add some more. The Astrea are the most common, but they never seam to last. I would like to get them from my LFS and this is what they have:
Mexican Turbos - $3/ea.
Astreas - $2/ea. or $20/12
Margaritas - $2/ea.
Ceriths - $1.5/ea.
The Mexicans are about 1-1/2", the Astreas are about 1/2", the Mararitas about 3/4" and Ceriths about 3/4".
I was thinking about adding maybe 3 Mexicans and maybe 5 Margaritas, what do you think?
