Worthless snail

[alicel]

I have a 16g biocube. All that is in there right now is a few coral frags and one snail that I've had since it first cycled.
My snail seems to be a bit worthless. I may see it once every 8-10 days or so. It seems to typically hang out under the rocks. So, of course, I'm not seeing it cleaning up any algae on the glass, on top of the rocks, or the sandbed.
But I also realize that there may just be too much work for one snail to keep up.
It's been a month since my last tank cleaning/water change. I am going to clean the tank this week and after a couple days I want to get something else to add to the CUC.
Any suggestions on CUC members that won't disrupt corals in the sand-bed or on the rocks?

 

[Zer0]

You’ll be hardpressed to find a perfect CUC that won’t disturb your coral to some extent, that’s just the nature of it. They see/smell what they want to eat and they take the shortest path to get there, though some inverts do avoid certain coral and difficult obstacles of course. Snails will still be your best bet for causing the least amount of disruption/irritation of your coral, but hermit crabs are really good algae grazers I will admit. Though hermit crabs will definitely bulldoze their way through things when/if they get big enough, and any coral that isn’t glued down has a chance of getting tossed around. I have a single medium sized scarlet reef hermit crab in my 10G, and it’s one hard worker. I’ve found the scarlet reef hermit to be much more gentle in general than the two blue legged hermits I have.

 

[alicel]

You’ll be hardpressed to find a perfect CUC that won’t disturb your coral to some extent, that’s just the nature of it. They see/smell what they want to eat and they take the shortest path to get there, though some inverts do avoid certain coral and difficult obstacles of course. Snails will still be your best bet for causing the least amount of disruption/irritation of your coral, but hermit crabs are really good algae grazers I will admit. Though hermit crabs will definitely bulldoze their way through things when/if they get big enough, and any coral that isn’t glued down has a chance of getting tossed around. I have a single medium sized scarlet reef hermit crab in my 10G, and it’s one hard worker. I’ve found the scarlet reef hermit to be much more gentle in general than the two blue legged hermits I have.

Thanks for your response! I have been considering scarlet or blue legged hermits. I think I may get a scarlet next time I can run across one.

 

[zukihara]

Hermits will disturb your corals for sure.

I would also suggest more than one snail for your tank. Check reefcleaners for an appropriate stocking amount.

 

[Ghost25]

Trochus and ceriths are my favorite for rocks and glass. Fighting conchs are good for sand. Most hermit crabs will eventually kill a snail.

Don't except snails to leave your rock all clean. They will eat algae but they aren't magic, for example when they eat algae of the glass they leave track marks not a totally clean surface.

Don't believe the massive stocking numbers given by retailers selling you cleanup crew packages. Start small, especially if your tank is new.

 

[DDenny]

Thanks for your response! I have been considering scarlet or blue legged hermits. I think I may get a scarlet next time I can run across one.

My hermits are aver my corals. They close up then once they move away they will open back up. I have one astraea snail several dwarf cerith snails ( think some came ready to lay eggs as I have like 50 tiny ones now) and 5 mixed hermits. the Cerith snails are the calmest cause they are small but the rest up and over coral frags all the time.