Lazy CuC

michaelr

Young Reefer
Hello,
I currently have a 120 gallon tank and i have a problem with it. I currently have a cuc of a chesnut cowrie, turbo snails, astreas, margarita and 2 blue hermit crabs. The problem is that none of my cuc seems to eat the diatoms on the sand. They focus only on the rocks and glass even when there is slim pickings. Why would they not eat the diatoms on the ground. Is it just because they simply dislike diatoms? Thank You
 
It sounds like you may have too small of a crew for a 120. I think nassarius (sp?) snails will eat diatomes. At the very least they will sift sand.
 
Thank you. Yeah i do have a very small cuc so i guess its time to enlarge it. I will look into nassarius too. Thanks again
 
A fighting conch will most likely help with that. Is it a new setup? If so, the diatoms will usually go away on their own. Nassarius snails will definitely not touch the diatoms but will stir the sand up a little. Only problem I see is that those Blue Leg Hermits may kill the conch when looking for a new shell :(
 
Haha far from it its a year and a half old and ive always had diatom problems. I even have an overpowered skimmer. Its one of those things where ive never gotten a huge CUC i guess so i just need to enlarge it. Got it ill get a fighting conch too
 
Nassarius snails will definitely not touch the diatoms
Doh, you are right. I was thinking they would, but i didn't look info up. They are leftover food eaters.

Cerith snails is what I was thinking of. The ones I have are Dwarf Ceriths and they are quite small, but those ones do eat diatoms (and algea, and Cyano, and Detritus). Since they are small, they can get everywhere in the rocks and stuff. I have probably a hundred or so in my DT (but only ever see 10-15 at a time).

Good resource to see what snails eat what: http://reefcleaners.org/ Check out the tank cleaners section

Warning: they will send you waaaay more than you will order :-D. I ordered the 29G Quick crew for my 40B and it was just about right (IMO).
 
Back
Top