How many and what kind of snails for a 300G

[Anonymous]

Diatoms are kicking my arse right about now.

I put 12 astrea's and 4 mexican turbo's in there a couple of days ago. Wanted more Turbo's, but the LFS only had 4.

I not a real big fan of clean up crews, but give in to them for the purpose of algae control in a new tank.

What kind and how many of each would you use?

Also, are fighting conch's good diatom eater? Is there a real down side to them?

Thanks!

Louey

 

[Tackett]

I like conchs man. I am fairly sure they make a good dent in diatoms, the only downside that I know of is the larger ones tend to inadvertently rearrange the rockwork. Speaking of which, why not just chuck it all and go for a couple queen conchs in a tank that size?

 

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't a queen conch be even worse at rearranging the rock due to it's larger size?

Louey

 

[Ben1]

I love clean up crews and in your 300 I would have added 300-500 ceriths and 150-250 astreas. Conchs are good for the sand and fighting conchs dont get huge.

keyscritters.com has good pricing and if you get a deal going with your reef club you can save a ton, and they wave the box charge for clubs.

 

[Anonymous]

My tank is BB. Do conch's need sand?

My tank has reef sand glued to starboard.

I can't imagine having 750 snails in my tank. Though I have no doubt they'd clean it up. lol

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

I do not think a conch would fare well without sand. Ceriths neither. Turbos eat just about everything. Astreas may help. I would average about one snail per gallon.

 

[ChrisRD]

IME Trochus, Astreas and Ceriths are all good diatom eaters.

 

[Anonymous]

Something that is in the same genus as the queen conch, and will not rearrange rockwork, are strombus snails, Strombus maculatus http://www.ipsf.com/strombusfaqs.html

I love the little guys. They are very small and reproduce easily. I had them for a few years and traded numerous offspring with people, I eventually lost them all, and I blame that on the mantis I found in my tank.

I got mine from IPSF, I don't know who else has them.

 

[mattstewart]

great column on snail choices from Reefkeeping magazine:

The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php

The Grazing Snails, Part II - Abalones, Limpets and Nerites
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rs/index.php

The Grazing Snails, Part III - Conchs, Ceriths, Cowries, and Columbellids
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/rs/index.php

i highly recomend it.