poop problem

[davidhughes85]

I have a 55 gallon that has been set up for about two weeks and im having a small issue.I have six turbo snails that are pooping EVERYWHERE. I have a ton of stuff thats sitting on top of mysand and when the sand is disturbed it all flurries up. I just did a water change and tried to get some of it up with the gravel vac but thers still so much more and i just sucked up a lot of sand. So how do yall deal with this??or is it just supposed to be liek that??? Is there something that will eat all this junk...I have 6 turbos, about 20 other smaller snails and about 10 to 15 hermits.

 

[davidhughes85]

anyways???

 

[tedmc2]

Nassarius and cerith snails will eat that and break it down further. You might want to increase your flow to get that stuff off the sandbed and into the water column so it is picked up by your skimmer or filter.

 

[Sk8r]

A skimmer helps in breakdown. Flow is very important in keeping waste from piling up. Any tank sand when stirred will kick up a lot of detritus, but as your tank matures, the detritus will get more complex, and feed your microlife which feeds the fishes and corals, etc. Alas, tanks are never pristine after they cycle.

 

[Joshthenosh]

maybe you could get a snad sifter liek a brittle star or somthing or one of them slug things that eat sand. my sands lookign a bit crappy im gonner get a bristle star i think

 

[gtriamy]

increase flow over ur sand, but just enough before it becomes a sand storm. are you curing rock or anything? 2 weeks isn't enough time to start worrying, relax, let nature take its course.

 

[davidhughes85]

Im not curing, I do have a sand sifting goby but he is making my water cloudy with his constant nest building so i dont know how long ill keep him...I ll try to get my powerhead on teh problem

 

[amazingbobby]

clean up crew dumpage

clean up crew dumpage

I have also noticed the incredible amount of waste produced by 8 astrae and 2 turban snails. Even with good flow, the crap accumulates in some places. I move a powerhead and it created the storm as well. What I did (anyone let me know if this is a bad idea) is run an aquaclear filter for a day that sucked up much of it. I don't run the aquaclear all of the time, but it was good for removing a bunch of the waste.

 

[PatMayo]

I would leave the aquaclear on there. Nothing wrong with that. I had a 110 on my tank. Just put the foam block in it and change it out weekly. It's a good thing to use. If it is the 110 its real nice to put some activated carbon in a bag on top of the sponge.

I would leave the aquaclear on there and run it 24/7. It will clean your water right now. Just be sure to change out the foam every week. It's reusable. Get a couple change it out clean it and let dry then reuse it.

Blow off your live rock with a powerhead and have good flow, it will keep the stuff in suspension and the aquaclear will take it out.

Regards,

Pat