turbo poop

[Butters]

man do these guys ...POOP ALOT. how in the heck can you controll this? i have 3 turbos in there now and i have to remove the poop once a day.

i feel like bob saget in the movie dumb and dumberer. this stuff is everywhere. kind of a sick question but are there any "clean up crew" creatures that eat er...this?

 

[fishfreek]

Well the amound of waste is directly related to the amount of food taken in. So I would assume you have an over abundance of turbo food in the tank. Just syphon out the waste with your water change.

 

[Zack]

What are the turbos eating mostly, brown algae?

 

[Butters]

yeah brown algae. i have a diatom bloom. ive got about 1 week left of traceable nitrite levels from the looks of things. ammonia is almost 0.

how ive been removing it is...i use a fish net hold it in the water and then use a turkey baster to syphon the poop. then i blow it into the net. anyone got any better ideas that might make this easier?

right now the only thing i have in my tank are the 3 turbos. my sand has a ton of little critters moving all over it and some very small critters swimming around. no idea what this stuff is.

only thing ive bought was the snails cus the lfs said they can survive the ammonia near the end of the cycle. also said that they would help keep diatoms under control. bought 6 of the snails and 3 died right away. other 3 turned into a poop factory.

 

[Butters]

update...just checked my readings and the ammonia levels rose from 0 to .25 in less than a week. im thinking its cus of this. nitrites are 0 and nitrates are 10 (ppm)
ph is 8.1,calcium is 400 ppm (maintained at 400 from top off tap water ,cant afford the alternitives) alk reading says "normal"

i also have noticed a green algae that looks like hair bloom. could all this with the ammonia spike and everything be a effect of my lights being on longer? i know the algae is the result but would that make the snails more "active"?

should i leave the lights off til my levels go back to 0 and let the algae die out? seems that the diatoms are going away though.

im so confused on what to do and also worrying about my tank being unlevel about 1/8th" on one side. someone pls tell me that everyhting is ok.

sorry for the whining.

 

[fishfreek]

how big is your tank?

Is it unlevel on a side or on a corner?

Depending how you acclomated the snails the first 3 could have died due to internal cell damage from salinity change shock.

The algae your describing is something that is normal for a new tank that is still young.

 

[Butters]

the front of the tank is off by 1/8".

looks like its leaning towards you when your looking at the tank.

whats should i do about the lights and the ammonia problems? i hate going to my LFS cus everything they say is wrong. unfortunately i dont really get a clear answer here either

i drip accimilated my snails for about a half hour, i still think they couldnt handle the ammonia. it was around 1.5 ppm

 

[fishfreek]

Well ya 1.5ppm of ammonia is a bit high for anything saltwater related.

 

[mulron]

I also have noticed a green algae that looks like hair bloom. could all this with the ammonia spike and everything be a effect of my lights being on longer?

NH3 spike is not because you're lights are on longer. You are going to have algae blooms while the tank matures especially with tap water. I know I use tap also. You can cut back the hours of light and it will help with the algae some.

Mainly you just need to keep scarping and getting the algae out.

im so confused on what to do and also worrying about my tank being unlevel about 1/8th" on one side. someone pls tell me that everyhting is ok.

Use a shim under the tank STAND to raise it up the 1/8".


Algae blooms are normal, you must just keep cleaning it out of the tank. Also since you are using tap water, make sure you have some phosguard on hand to get rid of the phoshates and silicates from the water. Phosguard is avail at the LFS.

Hope this helps.