Refugium help

[Will C]

I have a 90 g mixed reef with a 40g sump and a 29g fuge. My fuge is full of life and has a 3' sand bed. My problem is I cannot keep any snails in the fuge as any time the snail is off the glass and on the sand it is eventually eaten by worms! I am contemplating separating my fuge from my system and clearing out the sand and replacing it (I have 5 mongroves that are growing well) but don't know what to do. Please help!

[skeeter_ca]

What kind of snails have you introduced to the refugium? Sounds like if it has alot of life than it is doing well. Do you have to have snails in it?

skeeter

[solarmoonman]

well I have found sand in the fuge to be a pain..IMO.. having a good bed of live sand in the display has allways worked better for me...
I have two 100 gallon fuges.. LV and cheato.... and whatever else wants grow in there... But this way every so offen I can pull the rock move the cheato aside and do a nice detrus vacuming...I do have snails,shrimp and crabs down there aswell... but decided to eliminate the sand bed....just my two cents worth..

as far as the lose of snails to the worms..Have to say I havnt heard that one before... unless of corase the they are dieing or dead first..?

good luck..

[Smnparish]

Why do you have snails in a fuge? Isn't the point to grow algae (or at least one of the points)? It may not look pretty but it would serve that purpose better with no predators of algae.

[SushiGirl]

and has a 3' sand bed.

Do you mean 3" (inches)?

What kind of snails are they, what is the temperature, and what is your mag reading?

[Will C]

Thanks for the replies- I'll try to provide some info/answers.

3" sandbed is correct - oops. I believe the problem is bristle worms. The snails are primarily mexican turbos and they become a meal if they are off the glass, my mg is around 1250 -1300. I don't want to remove my sand bed because my mangroves are doing well and their root system is throughout the sand bed. Snails are not a inflexible 'must' but they serve an purpose. The purpose of the fuge includes nutrient export (algae growth) but I want to keep it somewhat clean. I looked into buying an arrow crab or some animal that will eat the worms but I don't believe it will make a significant dent. I would rather have an animal rather than a trap since a predator will control the problem better over a longer period of time. Does that make sense?

[SushiGirl]

Bristleworms only grow in nunbers if there's food available & they don't actively hunt other healthy living animals. The snails are dying for some reason (high mag will do that, which is why I asked) & the bristleworms are doing their job by cleaning up the dead snails. If you have Eunicid or another type of worm, I would be inclined to think they might be killing the snails, but not just regular bristleworms.

[Will C]

Interesting, I'll re-check the Mg but the snails in my display and are fine. I found an RC thread on this and another worm a Polyclad. It is starting to look like I have to seperate the fuge from everything and start hunting. Unless anyone knows of a device or trap.