Hi have just set up a new sump with dsb in has been running for 2 weaks now with 3" argolive sand and some cheato will it be ok to add snails to sump and will i have to put in any food am new to using a sump
Peter

Have you seeded the DSB and what depth is it?

DSB's are great when they are working but can be fiddly to get going.

Ideally you need to seed it with some live sand (ideally from an existing DSB) or with some live rock the best stuff to use is the grunge from the bottom of live rock curing vats.

Both can be purchased from www.stm-shop.co.uk

As far as snails go burrowing snails are the best especially if you have not seeded the DSB yet as you do not want it to go totally anaerobic as this is a smelly bugger to deal with if it happens. It is a recoverable situation though if you deal with it early.

Critters to add should all be algae eating you do not want any carnivores in there as you will need to cultivate a large worm population as well as a large zoo plankton population.

I would go for the following snails:

Cerith
Nassarus
astrea

The top 2 snails will burrow a lot this will help you to keep the DSB turning over.

With the Cheato the best thing to do is have the sump lit 24 hours a day it won't crash in the same way as caulerpa but being lit 24 hours a day will maintain greater stability in the system.

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Alan

Thweeerp!

Hi alan
I have put in half a dozen peices off rock from my tank which are covered in coroline algie the tanks contents are about 2 years old as i upgradeg from an aqua medic 90 do you think i should stillput in some more grunge the argolive i have in is 30 lb
peter