what's missing from my cuc?

[tankedchemist]

So, my CUC currently consists of the following:

3 emerald crabs
1 blue leg hermit crab
10 or 15 astrea snails
3 mexican turbo snails
~5 or so some other snail I can't recall... but they're stripped black and yellow.
and a few of those snails with hardly any shell that were hitch hikers.
Some unknown amount of nassarius snails. Hardly see 'em, but that's okay because my sand sifting goby does a great job keeping the sand pristine.

I'm still having algae issues, and although that's expected in a new tank, I'm getting tired of scraping the glass every other day. So, anyone have suggestions to what else would be useful in the tank? Must be reef safe!

 

[kennedy98]

you can get a nudibranch ,sea cucumber ,or a sea hare go to liveaquariacom and they have cleaner packs that will give u an idea

 

[tankedchemist]

see, I'm pretty sure sea cucumbers poison your tank if they die, so that seems like a bad idea to me. I think sea hares are one of the ugliest things on earth, so also not likely to happen in my tank.

 

[kennedy98]

not all the time sometimes sea hare can be somewhat nice

 

[Hiker4twenty]

A sea hare will only live as long as it has algae to eat in the tank. It will certainly die once it's ate all the algae and it will starve to death. If you do go that route make sure you LFS will take the sea hare back once your algae is gone. No sense in killing a perfectly good creature.

 

[kennedy98]

not all the time i have a sea hare and when the algae is all gone i feed it nori strips or dry seaweed and that helps it

 

[Melosu58]

IF it was me I would go from buying livestock for your algea problems to trying to identify the fuel source and eliminating it. Read this for a good checklist. BTW I still clean my glass off every other day after 12 yrs.

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[tankedchemist]

Thanks Mike. I already have done all those things, and while the algae is better, it's still annoying me. glass cleaning 4x per week seems like a lot.... or maybe I'm just lazy! :mrgreen:

 

[Hiker4twenty]

I have to clean my glass every day. I've got used to it and its a process of owning a tank in my mind. Try an algea scrubber. I've heard they work very well and quite a few LR members have tried them. It's in the DIY section.

 

[mng777777]

Mike and Dave have you covered

 

[Smitty]

You could also add a brittle or serpent star to help out behind the rocks and the top of the sand.

 

[yote]

A couple of shrimp would help.So would the starts that Smitty mentioned.
Think of the green dusty stuff that gets on the front glass,as free phyto for the filter feeders:D

 

[mng777777]

maybe a few more snails too.

 

[rwynn]

THe black and yellow snails are probably Bumble bee snails... Saltwater Aquarium Invertebrates for Marine Aquariums: Bumble Bee Snail

 

[d.french]

i was running gfo from bulkreefsupply.com in media reactor helped keep algae in check.

 

[d.french]

i only use astrea snails, ceriths, nerite snails, and banded trochus snails they do the best job especially on the glass. No hermit crabs for me they kill the snails for shells. Sally light foot crabs do awesome job keeping rocks clean. Good snails to get you can't really buy but you can get from other reefers who have them in there tank and they breed like crazy are collinista snails and stomatella snails.

 

[Bifferwine]

Sally lightfoot crabs can be extremely aggressive and will kill fish. I used to have a pair (before I knew any better) and they killed and ate a sixline wrasse and two firefish right in front of my eyes.

 

[d.french]

not all are bad, my buddy has a male sally that is 5 inches long and doesn't hurt fish, it just swats at them, mine does same thing, there hit and miss some are good some can be bad.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yeah they swat at fish, and if they get lucky they'll catch the fish they're swatting at. That's aggressive behavior towards fish. If yours hasn't killed a fish yet, it's only a matter of time. The fact that it is swatting at fish means that it's TRYING. Like I said, mine killed three fish in a two week period. I had had the sallys for probably about two years before they started trying to catch fish. They turn to preying on fish as they get older.

 

[tankedchemist]

I've had this hermit for a year, and he hasn't killed any snails to get a shell. But then I supply extra shells for him, so I don't think there's a problem there.

What about urchins?