Someone lied when they said CUC don't increase Nitrates and Phosphates [Pic]

[marquiseo]

I was going through some old pics on my flickr account, when I came across a pic of the amount of waste that my CUC (only snails) left after doing their job every few days. Because of that, I had to do water changes twice a week or I would have abundance amount. No fish were in this tank and the tank size was 10g.

100% Snail poop. Check out the pellets! They kept the tank algae free though for a long time.

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[saltbubbles]

How many snails did you have in there? That's a lot of waste or one week. All animals gotta do their business sometime so it makes sense.

 

[marquiseo]

saltbubbles;988345 wrote: How many snails did you have in there? That's a lot of waste or one week. All animals gotta do their business sometime so it makes sense.

If I remember correctly, there were 9 at the time.

 

[saltbubbles]

MarquiseO;988353 wrote: If I remember correctly, there were 9 at the time.

That's a lot of poo :yuk:

 

[marquiseo]

saltbubbles;988354 wrote: That's a lot of poo :yuk:

They were hard workers like turbo snails but I can't seem to buy any snails that will work the same way besides the 1 turbo that I have.

 

[dawgface]

Who told you they didn't is the question?

Food going through the snail is converted the same as a burger through a human in rough. No one wants the aftermath of the burger in their living quarters same as snails waste in your tank. End game is something needs to remove the waste left by the snails, fish, crabs and even creatures as small as Copepods.

 

[marquiseo]

DawgFace;988359 wrote: Who told you they didn't is the question?

Food going through the snail is converted the same as a burger through a human in rough. No one wants the aftermath of the burger in their living quarters same as snails waste in your tank. End game is something needs to remove the waste left by the snails, fish, crabs and even creatures as small as Copepods.

It's a general statement that I have seen on other sites. If I recall correctly, it was on nano-reef and R2R, years ago. The statement was that CUC have a small impact on nitrates and phosphates through wastes and death.

 

[kilralpine]

I've always believed that the stuff coming out isn't quite as bad as the stuff going in; some of it gets absorbed into their bodies. They definitely don't just get rid of nitrates and phosphates tho.

 

[dawgface]

kilralpine;988363 wrote: I've always believed that the stuff coming out isn't quite as bad as the stuff going in; some of it gets absorbed into their bodies. They definitely don't just get rid of nitrates and phosphates tho.

I'd agree with that, some is broken down and used for energy. However isn't as bad is relative, it certainly is not good what's coming out.... Unless it's a cucumber, which recently its poop has been acclaimed with providing key components necessary for a successful reef. Wish I knew where that article went, read it one night half a sleep. Actually may have dreamt it.

 

[jrhunter0000]

Poop fest. Lol

 

[marquiseo]

DawgFace;988369 wrote: I'd agree with that, some is broken down and used for energy. However isn't as bad is relative, it certainly is not good what's coming out.... Unless it's a cucumber, which recently its poop has been acclaimed with providing key components necessary for a successful reef. Wish I knew where that article went, read it one night half a sleep. Actually may have dreamt it.

It was a video. I remember seeing it. It cleans the sand which has lots of detitus and poops out new clean filtered sand.

 

[acroholic]

There won't be much difference with end product between a cuc or fish, unless the cuc incorporates po4 or similar into its shell, cells, or somehow organically binds the stuff up somehow.

I have always felt the nitrogenous waste impact of a photosynthetic coral to be less than any fish or cuc, since their zooxanthellae consume waste product.

 

[jennm]

Everyone poops. (There's a book about it, even.)

Corals and anemones poop too, so chances are some of the detritus came from them, as well as the other organisms both seen and unseen.

That's why I advocate vacuuming so much. People say, "But I have XYZ that sift sand"... yeah, and those animals poop too.

It always comes back to poop. Always.

An aquarium is just a pretty septic tank. Septic tanks need to be emptied from time to time.

Jenn

 

[marquiseo]

Great responses everyone. Thanks for contributing!