Nerites VS Algae

[Arakkis]

Ok, lot of people haven't seen what these little guy can do to algae problems so I've set up a little thread to show their effectiveness.

So I've set up 3 10gal tanks using a fishless cycle three weeks prior. Lighting is Flouro, lighting period is 24 hours to promote algae growth. Now that the tanks are ready let the destruction begin...

This will be a work in progress and should last about 5~7 days with daily posting

Here is the clean up crew: 10 Olive Nerites (Vitta usnea aka Neritina reclivita), each tank will get 10 except the control tank

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=2986


Tank 1 Day 0: Just threw in the 10 Olive nerites
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=2984

Tank 2 Day 0: Also got 10 Olive nerites
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=2985

Control Tank Day0: Nothing added
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=2983

[calivivarium1]

That's some ugly lookin algae.... I am interested to see how this works out.

[Arakkis]

I set them up on with the intent to grow the algae.. BTW the control tank is where I grow the algae for my snails to eat.. I guess they aren't eating for the next week

[calivivarium1]

YUp, I've been wondering when someone would set something like this up.

[faun]

This is a very cool experiment can't wait to see the daily pics, good job Arrakis.

[msjinkzd]

I can't wait to see the results either, NONE ofm y tanks with nerites have any visible algae at all. I can guess what is going to happen ;)

[SchizotypalVamp]

I'm completely sold on nerites after seeing what they did to my algae.

[Arakkis]

Nothing major has happened today so I'm not posting pics, will probably post some pics tomorrow. Everything pretty much looks the same.

[Arakkis]

Sorry for the late post, I just got back from a fish auction. To all those who attended, it was an awesome night!Anyhow back to the topic at hand:Algae tank #1The snails just started on the glass, many are busy on the substrate right now as there is about a 5mm thick layer on this tank's gravel
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3041
Algae Tank#2 Day 2Similar thing as the first but they are still working on the bottom of the tank. There are two pics showing their progress. Sorry for the second blurry pic, my camera had trouble cutting through the moving water on top
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3042

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3043
Control Tank: Day 2Nothing much happened, I saw some insect larvae that got into the tank eating the algae so I put 3 guppies in there to eat them up.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3044

[DarkDH]

That is my nightmare tank right there...

[Arakkis]

Ok now on to day 3:Tank#1 Not much has changed.. I'm thinking they're working on the bottom still as I only see a few on the sides. I see that the right hand upper corner is cleaner now though, it was already going that way yesterday. I'm thinking of adding more snails to this tank? Crank the heat up a little to increase metabolism? Yay or nay?http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3051

Tank#2 : Also looks the same but when you look inside they are still busy cleaning.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3052
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3053

Control tank: Looks the same as it did on day 2 so I'm not going to put up a picDo you guys think I should increase the number of snails or increase the temps? I'll leave it up to the readers.

[justahannah]

I say keep everything as is. We saw the snails in hand...they aren't that big, and even if it takes a little longer than the original 5-7 days...that looks like a lot of algae to plow through and this is a fun thread to watch. Maybe make it a race between tank one and two, see which snail crew cleans up the fastest :P

[excuzzzeme]

You set the test parameters in place already. You can't modify it now and have a reasonable conclusion. Modifying anything negates the whole test. You can not change the length either if you are trying to disprove a hypothesis. If not, then let it run for as long as you want to "prove" plausibility..

[Arakkis]

fair enough, let see which comes out ahead

[1oooop]

cool experiment... all I have to say is... EAT SNAILS EAT!!!!!

[PuppyFluffer]

I let a 10 gallon tank get just about this bad in June after my little baby boy was born. My husband was calling the tank "Green Eggs & Ham" it was so bad!

Four olive nerites and about 9-10 days and you could see clear glass on all four sides. They are amazing!

I'm cranking the veggies and algae wafers to them in my other 10 gallon because I am concerned that my cories and otos are not getting enough to eat with them in there. (the "GE&H" tank got broken down due to eradicating freshwater leeches I imported with some live food, so all 4 nerites are in my other tank)

[Arakkis]

Ok now on to day 4
Tank#1 : Still not seeing too much change yet, the top part of the glass is clean so they are probably still working on the sides. It'll take a while before we see a huge change.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3083
Tank#2: Pretty much the same thing though since the algae is thinner they have done a lot of work cleaning the bottom.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3084
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3086
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3085

[Bubbles2112]

This is very cool! Can't wait to see the results!!!

[Arakkis]

Camera's dead so I'll probably post pics tomorrow.. still chargin

[snoopy65]

So any updates?

[Arakkis]

Will have some up in a bit, work got really hecktic, but the tank has been running on it's own, I'tll be most likely up in a day.

[item2302]

So far this is my favorite thread. Keep up the good work Arakkis!

[snoopy65]

What happens in this thread will help me to decide whether to get some or not. Thanks for doing it.

[Arakkis]

Sorry for the delays:
Day 16:
Tank#1: Pretty good though there now seems to be a chlorella algae outbreak due to the snail poop. Note there isn't any filteration on these tanks so I'm going to do a water change on Sunday. to see what's going on with that.
Did however find one empty.. I guess there might have been some nitrate buildup. I'll test the water next week at a LFS
http://aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3630









http://aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3631


Tank#2: Looking good now.. lots of detritus on the bottom though. Cleaned all the petrified wood and ceramic pot in there.. They're now busy working on the sides.
Also found an empty.. Maybe I should have added filtration on both tanks

http://aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3632

http://aquariacentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=422&pictureid=3633

[John7429]

Cool thread. I've heard lots of good things about nerites but a visual is always better

[DrNo]

That's pretty dam impressive actually for a tank with no filtration.

[item2302]

It's amazing at what those Nerites can do. My guess is, after your water change, the glass will look very clean in the areas the Nerite worked on.