Do you help your snails clean?

[Vanphyre]

I was curious if you cleaned the front and sides of your aquarium on the inside at all, or do you let the snails do 100% of the work? I haven't helped them yet, and they are losing the algae battle.

Does this mean I need more snails, or should I actually clean the front and sides?

My cleanup crew is as follows, added slowly over the last 4+ months. This is a 46-gallon Bowfront Tank.

9 - Nassarius Snails
7 - Hermit Crabs
10 - Astrae Snails
6 - Cerith Snails
2 - Peppermint Shrimp
2 - Emerald Crabs

 

[Gatorfreak]

You''ll have to help them out if you want to see what's inside your tank.

 

[hackteck]

even with a cleanup crew i still have to clean the glass off every now and then

 

[Vanphyre]

8O I guess I'll do some cleaning then! LOL, I was afraid if I cleaned off the glass then I would be taking away their food source and they wouldn't survive! I feel like a dummy, been staring at algae for the past month. hehehe.

Thanks!

 

[SuperWade2]

I acutally don't have to do much on mine... I got a 30Gal Cleanup package (*Minus the 3 PepShrimp that were accidently left out)... They have been pretty efficient and I wsa beginning to worry about them having enought food... I have seen a few empty Snail Shells, so I think the hermits are displaying the "oppertunistic" feeding trait that I have heard about. I have probably been "overfeeding" my tank, trying to get my Clownfish to eat, so I think the Cleanup crew has been eating some of that leftover stuff (I have been watching my levels and done a couple PWC over the past week). The One that made it looks to have started eating some, so I will cut back on the feeding...

SW2

P.S., I see you added the longer tube from the Pump into the Skimmer... looks SO much better than that big honking pump hanging there.

 

[jasno999]

IT all depends on your parameters, tank size and crew (both size and type). Soem of the snails you have are not realyl algae eaters. They are the cleaners of the sand bed and will eat foods (rotting or new). I have a massive amount of Nassarius Snails in my 10 gallon tank. They do nothing with algae. They however do love pieces of shrimp and algae tablets that I used to use in my freswater tank.

However I had horriable algae issues (hair, stuff in the sand bed, everywhere). SO I started usign a phosphate remover in my filter (HOB) and I added two large Mexican Turbo Snails. I probably should have only purchased one becasue within a week they had completly cleaned the tank. I am now worried about them starving. But I have not had to clean my glass in over a month. So those guys do a great job keeping everyhtign algae free.

Even the ares on my glass where I let large amounts of algae build up- these guys ate it all.

 

[austinsdad]

Curious. How long are your lights on daily?

 

[Vanphyre]

I modified my light cycle a few weeks back to the following:

10,000K Daylights (36" 2 bulbs)
460nm Actinics (36" 2 bulbs)
3 LED moonlights

Basically like this:

11pm to 3pm - moonlights only
3pm to 5pm - Actinics on, moonlights off
5pm to 10pm - Actinics on, Daylights on, moonlights off
10pm to 11pm - Actnics on, Daylights off, moonlights off

I used to have an extra 2 hours of daylights on, and 2 hours less of moonlights.

Any suggestions on improving this timing cycle? I really like the 5pm to 10pm, cause that's when we get to view the tank when home from work.

 

[zenn]

I only the the front glass. And i only do that maybe 2 times a month. I like to leave all the coralline algae on the other 3 sides.

 

[Fluff]

You'll always have some film algae on the glass. I only ever clean the front glass though.

 

[Vanphyre]

I appreciate everyone's input, the tank looks so much nice already just doing a light cleaning of the front glass. I may do the sides at some point, but right now this works for me. hehe.

Now hopefully I'll be ready to add some fish.

Thanks Superwade, appreciate the tip for using a longer tube, I hated it when the pump was up at the top of the tank. Glad to hear one of your Clowns is surviving, it is always tough to lose a fish!

 

[lando]

Wow, that looks better. I do clean the front/side glass of my tank a couple times a week.

 

[austinsdad]

Lighting looks good.