General Algae Control

[whatsareef]

General Question:

I would like to know about how many (approx) snails and crabs everyone have in their reef tanks. For instance I have read, for say that a 125 gal tank should have 50-75 snails and approx 125 crabs.....

I look at this and say wow!!

In my 120 I probably have about 25 live snails and about 30-40 crabs..

This is just for general knowledge.

Thanks

[JeffCo]

On my 75 I have about 20 snails and only a few crabs. I try and stay away from the crabs because they can get to be a nuisance. The few I have were hitch hikers. But, I think I am going to add a few more snails in the near future. I have to clean my glass at least once a week.

[Henry]

I'm agree with the previous post. In my 215g I have three crabs and about 50snails in my tank. I've just setup my tank and I need to get more snails.

[GaryP]

I hate to keep bringing up GARF but they recommend 1 hermit grab/2 gal. and 1 snail/gal.

Gary

[Henry]

The only thing with crabs, beware of the species and some will also kill the snails for the shells.

[matt]

GARF is often at odds with other sources of information about reefkeeping. (This doesn't mean they're wrong, just unconventional) Eric Borneman and Ron Shimek both do NOT recommend hermits for reef aquariums; Borneman calls them "eco terrorists". While that may be a bit extreme, hermits will basically eat anything they can catch and often deplete a sand bed of essential micro fauna. They'll only eat algae as a last resort. I have 2 in my 100 gallon reef, and just banished the larger one to the sump. A variety of snails, bristleworms, and an urchin or two (diadema sp.) would probably be more effective as a clean-up crew. If your tank is big enough, a fighting conch is reputed to be a good cyano eater.

[Sherri]

I have 2 hijacker crabs that came in with LR that I haven't be able to catch...I haven't lost too many snails to them, but I'll make sure I don't run low on them to make sure they don't start messing with my fish. They are a nuisance. These 2 crabs will make a total of 5 hijacker crabs that I've had to deal with that came with LR. One I think was a fiddler crab...Had a huge claw - named him Spike...big crab...had to tear down all my rock to finally get him. Don't like crabs... :scold:

Sherri

[Instar]

I have a 125 reef, no live rock, other than what I grew, 100's of tiny brittle stars breeding in the gravel bed, chitons breeding in there, those odd little brown snails (forget the name), 400 snails (cerith, margarita, some others, mostly asteas and a few limpets), 116 hermits (mostly micro blue legs, 12 carribean red legs), one hitchhiiker sponge or crab that is the best algae eater ever!, and one emerald crab that only eats what he can get if he can turn it over and dump it off a rock to the bottom of the tank (he should be called the decorator). Got lots of coraline and still have some aglae, believe it or not. Hermits have to be the right kind for the application. Species matters. Mine do a great job. The copperbands kill more snails than the hermits ever will. Got plenty of little crustaceans for the seahorse to snack on, gorgonians, sponges, corals, oysters, polyps, and of course mushrooms. The undersides of the rocks are coated with little feather dusters and there are tunicates popping up here and there as well as sponges. I think 2 or maybe 3 snails per gallon would be enough, but, I don't like algae. The best formula is a mix and at 1.5 to 2 per gallon. Hermits can mess with snails on a live DSB becasue the silly things can't right themselves on that fine sand and get worn out. I've not had much success in the sand with snails. They sure do contradict the theory of evolution don't they? What kind of creature always falls on its back and can't get up anyway?

[alexwolf]

i just gave away 6 big mex turbo snails because they cant move on my sugar sand bed. I got tired of flipping them over and over

[matt]

I guess their natural habitat must be on rock/coralline algae only.

I really need something to eat caulerpa. Anyone have a suggestion? There supposedly are some slugs that really go for caulerpa. Finally i have a reef system with practically NO nuisance hair algae, no cyano, no diatoms, etc, but I made the crucial error of storing some live rock in my refugium, where the grape caulerpa got a hold on it. Then I made the second crucial mistake of using this liverock in my tank. Then I made the third crucial mistake of not scrubbing the affected rocks before it spread throughout my tank. It's not ugly, but it grows FAST and I'll never be able to pull it all out.

[Instar]

What sized tank? What do you intend to keep in there? There are many things that eat compound algaes, but, may not work with what you want to keep. Lots of cool fish eat macros.

[Jimnorris]

I have a 240 gallon reef tank with 4 turbo snails. They do a great job of keeping my tank clean.
Jim

[GaryP]

Matt,

Most surgeon tangs will clean out caulerpa. A yellow, purple, or sailfin tang should do the job. Anyone else have the same experience with tangs?

Joshua,

That's funny that you mentioned that GARF got fined for curing live rock. They are a big proponent of NOT importing live rock. They advocate culturing their DIY live rock they call aggragocrete (crushed coral and concrete). Wouldn't curing LR in fresh water kill everything on it anyway?

The hermits I have gotten from GARF are the dwarf mexican hermits and I have never had any problem with them killing snails. Besides, the Cerith and Nerites snails I have gotten from them usually do really good job of reproducing in my tanks.

Gary

[Jimnorris]

Joshua,
Interesting on the GARF deal. That river is really a hot spring that flows right thru their backyard.
Jim

[GaryP]

From what I've read on their site aggragocrete does have to be extensively rinsed to remove the excess lime. I bet that was awfully embarassing for them. Saving marine environments by polluting a freshwater one?

Gary

[witecap4u]

There is also a large intricuit system of man made irrigation canal's that runs around through Boise/W. Idaho area that is sourced from a large river and used for farming in the South I think. Its been a couple years since I was up there, but thats what I rem. about it.

BTW, In my 100g I have about 25turbo snails and somewhere around 100micro bluelegs(about the size of a pencil eraser) and a couple larger blue legs, and one red leg. that I've had forever. I also have a serpent star which cleans up alot of waste off the top of the sandbed.

[Tim Marvin]

75 gallon corner tank. I started with about 25 blue leg hermits, 30 small black turbo, 1 small atlantic brittle star, 5 emerald crabs, 2 cucumbers, 2 tangs (yellow and hippo), 2 queen conchs. I now have about 6 hermits due to fighting, and about 20 snails. All the rest are still going strong. I won't be adding any more for a while. 0 micro algae light diatoms. I clean the front about every 3-4 days.

P.S. Hermits are very interesting to watch fight. They are very intense little critters for the size. I don't find this barbaric as they usually getting eaten by the inhabitant when they loose. Oh yeh, 25 nassarrius (sp?) snails as well.

[cubera]

IMHO striped Trochus sp. (Pacific) which can right themselves when upside down at 5 per 20 gallons make great snail additions. Very hardy in warm water and won't bulldoze. Scarlet hermits are mellow and keeping a few of these will help your DSB. Blue hermits and B/W hermits are fairly aggressive and could truly be classified as reef terrorists. Pacific Abelone are very hardy, great substrate cleaners, won't bulldoze, and only grow to about 4 inches. Bang for the buck snails are Astreas from Florida. They are cheap and very hardy but can migrate into impellers and other places causing nightmares of epic proportions. Anyone having to do an emergency impeller replacement on an Iwaki, for example, due to snail munch can truly understand. Strainers always on all intakes and returns:)

[Tim Marvin]

My blue legs don't do much terrorism, but they do fight it out with each other and an occasional snail gets munched. I still don't recommend but a couple at most. The scalets I have don't seem much nicer. I think hermits in general are fairly aggressive and will eat ANYTHING given the chance. There are much better choices for control like cubera said, astrea and trochus. Also Lettuce nudibranchs, but you must have protection over the intakes and overflows or this will be gone very quick. Not an easy task for most of us with heavy flow tanks.

[Instar]

I've gotten snails from GARF a couple times. First time all the cerith snails died. Most of their snails don't live long for me. The last time I got cerith snails from them, they laid eggs all over the place for about 6 weeks. They are still alive at least.
GaryP You say they reproduce in your tanks. Do you see any baby snails of the cerith or nerite type? These egss hatch, but, I don't see any little snails of that type. I see others, but not those.

[GaryP]

Larry, yea I find the babies in my overflow. I usually move a bunch to the main tank every couple of months. Leroy from Garf has told me that only about 10% survive. I think the corals or skimmer gets most of the larvae. I've never had a problem with either the Cerith or Nerite snails surviving.