CUC for Sump?

[CoralReefer1019]

I like Trochus and Astera Snails which I have only in my display. But does anyone have a CUC in your sump? My sump consists of sock, skimmer, gfo reactor, return pump

 

[LBehr]

A lot of people will throw some snails in their refugium. If you aren't running a give I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[CoralReefer1019]

A lot of people will throw some snails in their refugium. If you aren't running a give I wouldn't worry about it.

ok

 

[LBehr]

My favorite snails are nassarius.

 

[hartin461]

Make sure they don`t plug up the skimmer intake..why would I think of that?

 

[cloak]

Assuming your sump is kept dark your best bet IMO is to just let things grow wild down there but vacuum out the detritus on a regular basis though. Snails, crabs etc can get stuck in the pumps, mess with float valves etc. They just end up becoming more of a problem than anything else.

 

[CoralReefer1019]

Assuming your sump is kept dark your best bet IMO is to just let things grow wild down there but vacuum out the detritus on a regular basis though. Snails, crabs etc can get stuck in the pumps, mess with float valves etc. They just end up becoming more of a problem than anything else.

ok

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I wonder about adding something like peppermint shrimp or hermits to the sump. It seems that might be a better match than snails. I've never had a hermit or a shrimp get stuck in an intake. It seems less likely to me. Thoughts?

 

[Winschuc]

Make sure the snails cant get to float switches... Learned that after 40 extra gallons of top off water was pumped in during it's cleaning of the float.

 

[cloak]

I wonder about adding something like peppermint shrimp or hermits to the sump. It seems that might be a better match than snails. I've never had a hermit or a shrimp get stuck in an intake. It seems less likely to me. Thoughts?

I don't see how a hermit crab would be any different than a snail. A far as the shrimp goes I guess it would all depend on how strong the pump is. In most cases it will probably just get ripped to shreds and spit out the other end, but clogging the pump is definitely a possibility too. Neither the shrimp or the hermit crab is really going to do all that much when it comes down to keeping a sump clean though so it's a no brainer for me. I'll just do the work myself. Best CUC member that tank will ever see.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I don't see how a hermit crab would be any different than a snail. A far as the shrimp goes I guess it would all depend on how strong the pump is. In most cases it will probably just get ripped to shreds and spit out the other end, but clogging the pump is definitely a possibility too. Neither the shrimp or the hermit crab is really going to do all that much when it comes down to keeping a sump clean though so it's a no brainer for me. I'll just do the work myself. Best CUC member that tank will ever see.

Well, my thought is that if detritus is the issue, it's not likely to be on the walls of your sump, just on the bottom (making it an easy meal for shrimp and crabs). I'm also thinking that things like float switches aren't easily accessible to crabs. IME crabs also aren't as likely to get stuck in things like powerheads in a DT, so it seems like a transferable principle to say they'd also be less likely (though not impossible) to get stuck in pumps.