how many grazers? What are codepods?

[Sean Smith]

Three weeks into a new tank set up. The live sand and rock have done an amazing job very quickly and the water parameters all look good (so far). I now have a brown algael bloom spreading across my rocks and sand, which I expected..... I have bought a tang to start to graze and was wondering how many hermits/snails to add?

Also I have tiny white creatures on the inside of my glass that are almost too small to make out with the naked eye. They look like tiny tiny translucent spiders. Could they be codepods? What are codepods?

[fishfreek]

Some people say as many as 1 per gal for snails and 1 per 2 gal of hermits. I find that to be to many for lots of smaller tanks.

It really depends on the tank and how much algae growth you have.

As far as what a pod is or what a pod looks like you can look at this thread here.. http://www.reeflounge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=411

In it I show what a bristleworm and pod look like

[Sean Smith]

Well you should perhaps know that I am new to marine purchasing and this was my first fish…. So what I thought looked ok in the shop I quickly realised was a relatively dull fish. Put simply, this is not a bright yellow fish. The fins are but the majority of the body is a much paler yellow. I don’t think that the fish is unwell… I am speculating that this is because it is a maturer fish that the colour is not as vivid as in younger specimens……?

[Blodlizrd]

Diet has a lot to do with how bright your tang will be. A friend of mine brought a lot of his tang's color back by adding Spirulina to its diet. I haven't heard from anyone else if this has worked for them though.

[DANNY]

sean a couple of good grazers i can suggest are a royal urchine reef safe and a lawn mower blenny. they both will eat more algea than anything you could purchase stay away from the crabs they will kill all of your snails . snails are better than crabs.
danny

[RazerCorals]

Snails are great. Now you gotta decide what kind you want thought. I would recommend Turbo/Astrea. Also a few shrimp may be good to clean up waste. Shrimp > Crab. Lawnmower Bleeny > Tang

[drscheck]

I would definately stay away from mixing hermit crabs and snails. As you can imagine, hermit crabs use snail shells for protection, they usually will find abondoned shells, but... if there is no abandoned shelss, where dot hey get new shells? Live snails.

Mithax crabs and/or Sally lightfoot crabs can help with microalgae and detritus cleaning. Also, some of the rabbitfish will cleanup rocks pretty good.

[BrianH]

As far as the tang goes, I would test the water for ammonia and nitrites. IMHO yellow tangs do not lose their bright yellow color no matter what their age.
Brian

[Sean Smith]

thanks folks....

The tang is slowing regaining some colour as it has been in my tank for two weeks now. There is about a 10% improvement but a long way to go before it is bright and fully coloured (if ever it gets there). I admit to being concerned/annoyed with myself/LFS that I bought a fish that is not on top form.

The water parameters are all good. This fish is three years old.

I plan to steer clear of crabs but I am tempted by some peppermint and blood red shrimps I have seen. Any problems with these guys? Reef/fish and snail safe?

I have found one of the best marine specialists in the UK now. They refuse to ship me any livestock because the UK is just too cold at the moment. I take that as a good sign.

[phistio]

peppermints are great, and entirely reef safe...they eat aiptasia as well!

one thing to say though...a camelback shrimp, and pepermint can look very similar...and if a LFS didn't know, they could easily mislabel the two...

camelbacks have been known to eat some soft corals (mushrooms, toadstools, etc.) so, just be sure you get peppermints...

peppermints also have a season...and typically aren't avaiable this time of year...not saying you wouldn't be able to find one...

scientifically peppermints are lymsata w. species. good luck! :D