Snails

[kendec65]

What are recommendations for snails in relation
to a clean up crew?

[m12x13adass]

Nerite, Astrea, and Nassarius snails are my favorites. Hope that helps.

[aleonn]

I like Nerite (they stay a relatively small size compared to turbo snails, which can knock down frags), nassarius, ceriths, trochus (they can flip themselves over if they fall on their backs, unlike astreas), and fighting conchs (one per 50 gallons).

[tony53176]

I have personally found nerites to be somewhat worthless. I bought 6 of them from reefcleaner.org and all they do is stay towards to top of the water in one spot bunched together all the time. Sometimes I'll see 1 or 2 move down a little bit to get a bite to eat but then they are back up doing nothing. and trust me its not like there isn't anything for them to eat cause there are diatoms everywhere lol.

My favorites are the dwarf ceriths (work horses) and the florida ceriths. the florida ceriths were a little slow to get started but they did eventually get to work and do a great job. The dwarf ceriths like I said are work horses they got right to work on the diatoms as soon as I placed them in the tank, I plan on getting more cause I don't think 15 is going to cut it in my 75.

[aleonn]

I do notice my nerites typically hanging out above the water level during the day time. They're always under my Euro-bracing, but come out more when the lights are off. The nerites don't do anything for my diatoms, but do keep my glass clean (I haven't had to wipe the glass for 6 months or so).

[leicalux]

check out the quick crew form reefcleaner, they have a good mix with good price

[cloak]

Trochus snails will give you the most bang for your buck IMO. Turbo snails come in a close second followed by margarita snails in third. Nassarius snails are a whole different story. They behave more like a hermit crab than a snail. (scavenger)

[Jocko]

Watch out for nassarius though. They can wipe out the microfauna in a live sand bed. And then they die of starvation unless you feed a ton.

Although I guess that last part is good advice in general. Don't overdo it on the cleanup crew. Not surprisingly, cleanup crew vendors recommend way more critters than is practical for a given tank size. The food runs out and you end up losing 2/3 of them.

I like building up a CUC over time rather than dump a huge package deal into the tank at once.

[bnumair]

good info, i didnt know about nassarius

[jrjones800]

+1 to reefcleaner

[cloak]

Watch out for nassarius though. They can wipe out the microfauna in a live sand bed. And then they die of starvation unless you feed a ton.

Although I guess that last part is good advice in general. Don't overdo it on the cleanup crew. Not surprisingly, cleanup crew vendors recommend way more critters than is practical for a given tank size. The food runs out and you end up losing 2/3 of them.

I like building up a CUC over time rather than dump a huge package deal into the tank at once.

I never had any problems with nassarius snails feeding on the microfauna within a sandbed. I had a 4" DSB in a 60 gallon breeder along with 7 of those larger tongan nassarius snails one time. The substrate was littered with spaghetti worms and such, but I never saw any of the snails preying on those critters. They couldn't miss them. I'm not saying that nassarius won't eat the life within a sandbed, but if they were, the damage was obsolete.

[sslak]

Nassarius are great. I have had good luck with them. (sand burrowing bottom feeder/scavanger)

Nerite I feel are pretty useless...most of mine crawled up over the water line and fell into my overflow and apparently perished there. The rest stay on the glass all day.

Turbo snails are incredible if you have hair algae, they are relentless grazers. They get big and might knock over frags...but hardly a problem.

Astrea are nice, the downside is they fell off the evolutionary bandwagon and if they fall off the glass or get tipped over upside down they die because they can't flip themselves over. Stupid.

[Barrier Grief]

Trochus, Cerith, Nassarius, and the mighty Fighting Conch!

[lokii_37]

All the quick crew packages ship free from reefcleaners so if you get a small quick crew you can get another small crew with free shipping later if you end up needing more.

[cloak]

Astrea are nice, the downside is they fell off the evolutionary bandwagon and if they fall off the glass or get tipped over upside down they die because they can't flip themselves over. Stupid.

That's not necessarily true IMO, it just takes time. If your tank has a bunch of hermits in it, they might be doomed in 30 minutes or less. It just depends on who comes across them first, time or a predator. There's no reason they shoud die on their back after 24 hours...

[DrBegalke]

nassarius, ceriths, trochus are my favorite snails for a cuc.