Will my CUC survive?

[joeyswife]

My tank has been cycled now for 2 weeks. I thought I had enough algae and diatoms to warrant a CUC (3 astrea snails, 3 nassarius snails, and 3 hermit crabs). I had so much algae that I cut back on the lighting from 9 hrs a day to 7. Now the CUC has done its job I think too well. I have nothing left, the LR isn't a barren white but pretty close. Is my CUC going to wither away to nothing or is there something I can feed them until some stuff grows back. I've increased the lighing back to 9hrs. I do feed the nassarius snails shrimp and pellet food. I put some nori in there just to see what would happen, no takers. Any suggestions on what to feed them or will every one will okay?

 

[melosu58]

Every couple days maybe give them a few flakes. The LR will turn white but will come back with a vengence later on with various colors of green, orange, pink and purple. Make sure your calcium, alk and magnesium levels are OK.

 

[joeyswife]

Thanks for the info. Ya'll are great! Next stupid question, Where should my calcium and mag levels be?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Calcium between 380 and 420, and magnesium should be about 3x your calcium levels. (So if your Ca is 400ppm, your magnesium should be around 1200ppm roughly.) Your Ca can be higher with no issues - and may be depending on your salt mix.

I don't think with that cleanup crew, you'll have any problems. There's algae in there that you can't see, but the snails will find it!