CUC in Refuge?

[Rands88]

Is this a good idea? I have roughly a 10gal fuge lit by PC and DSB/LR combo.

Thanks

[n00by]

I'm curious about this too... tagging along. But what type of CUC were you thinking of? Crabs, shrimp, snails? Depending on what you have in there, chaeto, other algae, they might eat it, no?

[cdness]

I was thinking of adding some snails. Crabs and shrimp would possibly eat the pods and other life in there. Snails seem harmless enough.

[Rands88]

I was thinking snails. They should leave the big macro-algae alone, no?

[WaterKeeper]

Right, snails are fine but avoid crab or cukes. The latter tend to eat all the good things that breed in a fuge.

[jyuen]

agreed... i now only have sand and chaeto.

[cloak]

There really shouldn't be any CUC in the refuge if your growing algae to begin with.

;)

[EnglishRebel]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15331311#post15331311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by WaterKeeper
Right, snails are fine but avoid crab or cukes. The latter tend to eat all the good things that breed in a fuge.
Tom
So crabs in a fuge is not a good idea (do they eat pods)?

[thegrun]

Chances are sooner or later you will have snails in your refugium, like it or not. Either they or their eggs will go on walkabout and end up in the fuge. I have a several of them in mine, they don't cause any problems.

[SirToppemHat]

I keep a pistol shrimp in mine, just to add some life down there.

[steamer51]

If you have a FOWLR that contains fish that may eat your CUC is it ok to keep all in the fuge and will they do their job there? Thanks.

[WaterKeeper]

Alan,

I'm not much on hermit crabs anymore. In the past I added them in multitudes to a tank but discovered they probably did more harm than good. They will eat pods, worms and just about every beneficial sand dweller they can get their claws on. A few in the tank is fine but I tend to avoid adding them to the fuge.

Steamer,

Snails and such really should be in the display to help control algae. As was pointed out, they do tend to end up in the fuge and sump over time. While not harmful, they don't do much for display housekeeping there.

[n00by]

WaterKeeper,

Your snail opinion on algae control. What do you use in your own tank or tanks :D

Also, this can be aswered by anyone, I guess... How far out of the water line do snails go? I'm sure at some point they become more heavy than they can bare.

[WaterKeeper]

n00by,

Heck I have a mixed bag of Astrea, Turbo, Trocus Cerith and I think some Nassarius but I haven't seen much of them for awhile. I just throw a couple in when from time to time. My thoughts are toward having a variety of snail provides better clean up ability than having just one.

To read all about them check out-
Grazing Snails Part 1 (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php)
Snails Part 2 (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rs/index.php)
Snails Part 3 (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-07/rs/index.php)