Hermit Crab Poop?

[Fballvera22]

This is a question and an update.

I got my first ever saltwater tank up and running. I have about 10 lbs. of live rock and 15 lbs. of base rock in my 29 gallon. I have a Red Sea pryzm skimmer, a PH and HOB filter for circulation.

I also have a blue damsel, and two perc.clowns. I got an attack of hair algea so i got 5 red and 5 blue legged hermit crabs. It was amazing how quickly they mowed down the hair algea. The only problem is now my sand i covered in, what i think to be, tons of hermit crap poop.

Do crabs usually crap alot?
If so, how do i keep my tank looking clean? I have only had the crabs for two days and it looks bad already.

Thanks for the help

 

[Fballvera22]

Also, what else should i be looking for? I am going to get some turbo snails for the glass and maybe a star fish or two? Any suggestions?

 

[S.Reef]

The "poop is not necessarily all from the crabs. It could be the accumulation of detritus over time. A few brittle stars will help get rid of it.

 

[Fballvera22]

ok thanks, the only thing is that i have had the fish in for about two weeks and never noticed any thing, then put the crabs in and within two days, sh*t city. Thanks for the help, i will go out and get some stars.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

I can say that yes, they crap a lot ! If it's grey, looks like a tube then yeah i guess it's crabs or snails. I had turbo snails and they did the job 3 times fasters than my Astrea snails, but they rampage the rock sometimes..they killed a feather duster ( my biggest ), some sponges. I prefer astrea 'cause they will not crash anything, their crap is small and is easily catched with powerheads then skimmer/filter. It is said that if an astrea fall upside dowm and his cone gets trapped in the substrate, he might never get up and he's defenseless against predators. Never happened to me. They're hardy and don't like too fool around my powerheads ( one of the turbo was sucked by one and i had guts all over the tank ).

As soon as the nearest LFS got some atrea, i'm buying a couple more.

 

[RYANRODRIGUEZ]

.

 

[wayne]

You have options
1. Syphon out at water change time
2. Get your substrate live enough that other things disappear the poop.

In reality you will do both. You should be siphoning debris out, but at the same time when you get a truly live sand bed, you might reach a point when brittle stars, other crabs and so on are helping break this waste down.
I'd give stars a miss , they tend to starve to death in small tanks, unless you can get some brittles that will definitely stay small .Definitely get some cleaner shrimp. I'd likely get 3 of the striped Lysmata or some of the blood red ones if I had the cash (I have and I did), rather than the coral banded that can be fairly scrappy.
How much light do you have - 2 NO fluor tubes - you can always try some Zonathids?

 

[Fballvera22]

thanks for tyhe replies guys. The crap problem has begun to get under control.

Wayne, i have two no flour tubes right now and have another set of two no tubes, just waiting to put it together. I have 1 6500k and an actinic bulb. What do you recomend i put in the two empty spots i will have. I have two 6500k laying around and i was gonna put them in there, unless you think something would be better.

 

[wayne]

Well actinic light is essentially only for aesthetic purposes except for a few unusual cases. Try the 6500æs, and see how it looks. If it looks too yellow , swap one for a 15000 or similar.
2 NO , certainly 4 should be good for some zoanthids, palythoa, protopalythoa, mushrooms some others.... I have had briaerium growing ok under 2 NO in a tank, though you need to keep them near the surface

 

[dbacksrat]

whoa wayne, that symbol is really trippy
turbos are probably too big for 29 with "average" algae probs...try some smaller guys like astreas or ceriths

 

[S.Reef]

In my experience turbos knock corals over, when they get big.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

I agree. Turbo are bulldozers