Clean up crew in trouble?

[J & Jr]

On the new tank i just filled with live rock from old tank and new sand I'v been keeping a close watch on the water everything seems good except PO4 it has climed to between 0.5 and 1.0 I'v never had it show up higher than 0.1 befor and just worried about my new cleanup crew should I be concerned? how high can it go without hurting snails and hermitcrabs? is it best to just do lots of waterchanges or try to run some of that phosban in the sump till this stabilizes?(scary)

[impur]

I'm pretty sure PO4 won't affect them. Its the same for calcium and alk (if it didn't effect pH).

[Nyles]

Nope not a problem but it will encourage algae growth and stop corals from growing effectively

[andy]

I'd get phosban in there ASAP. The phosphate will bind somewhere, better to get rid of it with phosban than have it tied up in algae.

[J & Jr]

Thanks guys for the reasurance I just got the cleanup crew from the GARF center with 50 hermits and 100 snails and would hate to become a mass murderer in the first week.

just tested water again and everything else seems fine PH8.1,NO3 5.0,NO2 0.0, amm 0.0,KH 9.0,

CAl. 390 so i'll cross my fingers and see how things go.

by the way with that large of a crew and no alge to speak of does the crew need to be fed?

[Nyles]

hard to say, but on a side note if you have a nice skimmer just skim really wet and it seems to clean up the PH04 in combo with good water flow, and make sure when you start feeding do it sparingly to start, then at that point if you still have ph04 after a few weeks do some water changes to help, if its still a problem then go with phosban but keep in mind running a chemical is not getting to the problem only hindering it till you run out. There is also a good chance the phosphate has come in part by your tank start so I wouldn't panic unless the number does not decrees slowly over time.

Good luck, phosphate can be a real nightmare, you are running ro/di right?

[andy]

How large is your tank? That's a pretty big cleanup crew -- I've got like 6 or 8 hermits, and as many trochus and nassarius snails in my 60gal and they seem to be a pretty balanced population.

[J & Jr]

Luckily I have all the di water I can use its a comercial system makes waterchanges a snap. as to the cleanup crew I got what GARF recomended for a 55gal my tank is a 75gal this is what came

55 GALLON TANK X 1.5 = 82 JANITORS

25 MIXED HERMITS 57 MIXED SNAILS

 

I was reading the wrong one when i wrote the above quote. I still think it seems like alot I may have to give some away:) will see what happens

[impur]

Yah seems like a lot to me too. In my 75 i have 6 nassarius snails, about 12 ceriths, 15 astreas, 4 nerites, and about 10 hermits.

[Nyles]

In my 155 I have 70 snails and 40 or so hermits / another 15 snails and 2 hermits in the 60 gallon refugium

[powdertang05]

i would recommend the aluminium phosphate remover it will remove it at a much quicker pass and also last much longer. but yes as other said phosphates will not affect you clean up crew it will just feed them lol.

[CCR]

Hay Tang, I'm not into the aluminum base, but the iron base. From severall different studies i have read and a lot of other forums. It seems the iron is safer. JMO

[Nyles]

Agree, I got some aluminum based you can have, but I don't recommend it, sorry.

[dsoz]

I'm sure that if you find that you have too many members of your CUC, you could find a few good homes for them... Mine is a nice home with a lot of algae. The store that I went to today was nearly out of snails. I only got 3 nassaris, 1 turbo, 1 aresta, and a cerenth (? spelling for all of these???) I wanted at least 3 or 4 of each to start with. I figured that I could always add more later if they were not keeping up with the algae.

 

I could use a few more snails. I'll even pay you for them. My wife will go ape if the tank does not get cleaned up soon.(wife)

 

dsoz

[andy]

Nassarius, Turbo, Astraea, Cerith (check out Marine Snails). Ceriths have cool shells, but I like Nassarius the best -- their 'snorkel' makes me laugh, poking up through the sand like a periscope. Trochus are good snails, though I have no idea how a creature that so often ends up hopelessly upside-down and defenseless could possibly have continued beyond it's first generation.

[J & Jr]

DSOZ with the new cuc I got when I transferd to the new tank I have some turbo snails (the size of golf balls) and some hermits I got at waves that I just dumped in the sump I might donate. the tank is in clackamas next to napa just let me know.

I'm running my skimmer verry wet and that seems to be helping some I think I will try to be patient and not go the additive unless it gets worse but thanks for the Options guys I will keep them in mind.