Snails and Macro die

S

stuey223

AC Members
Aug 29, 2005
11
0
0
I am not able to keep snails or macro algae alive. The snails (turbo and margarita are the 2 I've tried) usually last about 5 days before they die and if I put macro in my sump it just slowly wastes away. I have tried cheato and caulerpa.
I have a 75 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump that has been up for several years. In the tank there is about 70 lbs of live rock and some extra pieces in the sump. I run a mag drive ( I think it is a 9 ) in the sump and I also have a Fluval FX5 running. Lighting for the tank is a twin tube coralife T5 56 watt total. On the sump I have a 16 watt 6500K compact flouresent that runs about 16 hrs.
I do not keep any coral. My fish are a Coral Beauty Angel, a Blue Damsel, a Royal Gramma, a Zebra Dart Goby, 2 Clowns, and 4 red leg hermits.
I have tested my water and no copper, phosphates, ammonia, or nitrites. Nitrates are kinda high at around 40 but that is what my make up water tests at. I guess I need to put a RO unit on my water source to fix this. I feed very little on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Temp is 80, Salinity 1.022 I do 20% water changes about once a month.
Any ideas why I can't keep snails or macro alive?
 
My understanding is that snails require a slow acclimation to salinity changes. If the change is too great, they will live…but only for a short period of time. Do slow acclimation. Real slow.

I’m not real familiar with the nomenclature, but if a Fluval FX5 is a canister filter, either do very frequent cleanings (daily or every other day) or get rid of it. It is a nitrate factory. Great for freshwater tanks, but unless cleaned frequently, not for salt. Get a skimmer!

Your macro algae, I can’t help you. I have a compact florescent bulb over my refugium, and the stuff grows like a weed.


One more thing...need to go RO/DI with the water.
 
I'll be honest in that I think that the macroalgae issue is that you don't have that much light at all. Try more intense lighting and make sure it is ~6500K or lower. They can be tolerant of lower light, but only to a certain point, then they just fall apart.

As far as the snails go, I agree with the above. In addition to that, the damage redfishblewfish spoke of due to salinity changes often has already taken place before you even get the snails, dooming them from the start. If you do manage to find healthier ones, acclimate them carefully. What are you using to test salinity? Have you calibrated whatever you are using? If so, then I recommend you slowly raise the salinity a bit, as that will be a bit better for any invertebrates overall, unless they are shipped in very low salinity water to begin with. If the latter, then you'll need to acclimate very, very slowly over the course of several hours.

One last note is that the snails you listed are usually subtropical and/or temperate species and don't survive well or long at temps much above 70-72 degrees.
 
I will try a different light and another skimmer. I had a Proclear skimmer in the past but it never seemed to work well no matter how I adjusted it.

I like the FX5. It keeps the water very clean and I do not think it is contributing to my nitrates. My tank water tests the same as my make up water. It also provides good circulation.
 
I put my skimmer back in and it seems to be working. I also got an ro/di unit and have done two 20 gallon water changes over the past couple of days. I have cleaned my Fluval FX5 which was not all that dirty but I will continue to use it because I have red slime algae that is coming off the rocks and it is cleaning that out pretty good. Maybe after I get things cleaned up I will take the sponges out of the filter and just use it for circulation. My nitrates must have been a lot higher than I thought because I have not seen a change in the test results since the two water changes. I have tested my make up water for nitrates since buying the RO unit and it does read 0 so I guess it is only a matter of doing more water changes. Thanks for the help. Blaine
 
Water changes seem to have a yo-yo effect when it comes to nitrates. They are immediately reduced and then suddenly bounce back. This is usually due to nitrate diffusing from the interstices in the rock and sand back into the water column. Depending on the concentration in those areas, they could be "leaking" nitrate and also phosphate for a long time after making the switch to RO/DI water. Try to work on getting your macroalgae growing and that will also help out at least a bit in the whole process.
 
My nitrates are coming down...It is around 40 ppm using an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kit. It's kinda hard to tell because the color seems to change depending on how you hold the tube. Phosphates are 0. I bought some more cheato and put it a plastic container inside my main tank. It has a bunch of 1/8th inch holes drilled in it and a return emptying into it for circulation. I have a Coralife T5 fixture (56 watt) and the macro still seems to be dying off. The only thing I can think of is that I used chemiclean red slime remover in the tank about a year ago. You think that could have some residule effect and is killing the macro?
 
No, it should not be having that sort of effect. How much water flow is the Chaetomorpha in? I recommend enough to make it tumble a bit.
 
Try putting some Purigen in your filter, as well.
 
The water flow is pretty strong. It is my return from my mag drive 9 that has the return split three ways and one of them goes through the side of the container. It is good flow but the macro ball is not tumbling. I will try the Purigen. I have Phos Guard and carbon in there now. I did another water change last night and I am down around 20 ppm. No change in the macro though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom