Help! CUC only comes out at night?

[maxemorris]

I’m going through the “ugly phase” with my new tank, and got sufficient cuc to deal with it. The problem is that my melanurus wrasse has scared them all to where they only come out at night when it’s in the sand sleeping. This means I wake up to a perfect clean tank, but within a few hours of the lights on the tank is covered in algae with nobody to eat it.

I know I have to get rid of the wrasse if I want to solve this problem, but my question is, do I have to get new cuc or will my current cuc learn to come out during the day?

Never thought i’d ask how to train snails..

 

[ReefEco]

Sounds like you have a pain in your wrasse. Ok, seriously - if you are getting algae cover in only a few hours enough to detract from viewing pleasure - I don't think the issue is your CUC - it is likely nutrients. Or, the "algea" that grows that fast is likely cyanobacteria, and not something that most snails will eat...

 

[jx.reef]

Yeah agreed with the above poster. If it grows quickly within a few hours, it’s probably either cyano or Dinos.

 

[Lavey29]

The majority of my snails are most active at night also. I have 5 wrasses and there are quite a few visible snails hanging out during the daytime too and they do not hide from wrasses. Just not as active with bright lights on. It's like the outdoor snails in your yard. They come out at night but generally inactive during bright sunny days.

 

[Jekyl]

Pics of the algae would help. If presenting itself during the day like you describe it could very well be dinos, not algae. CuC won't help with that.

 

[catiebartholomew]

I’m going through the “ugly phase” with my new tank, and got sufficient cuc to deal with it. The problem is that my melanurus wrasse has scared them all to where they only come out at night when it’s in the sand sleeping. This means I wake up to a perfect clean tank, but within a few hours of the lights on the tank is covered in algae with nobody to eat it.

I know I have to get rid of the wrasse if I want to solve this problem, but my question is, do I have to get new cuc or will my current cuc learn to come out during the day?

Never thought i’d ask how to train snails..

just wait it out, maybe run some gfo and/or activated carbon. it should clear up on its own in a few months; ive always had cyano carpets in new tanks and they always end up going away on their own.

dinos are only likely if you’ve already bottomed out your nutrient levels )

 

[stevolough]

I’m going through the “ugly phase” with my new tank, and got sufficient cuc to deal with it. The problem is that my melanurus wrasse has scared them all to where they only come out at night when it’s in the sand sleeping. This means I wake up to a perfect clean tank, but within a few hours of the lights on the tank is covered in algae with nobody to eat it.

I know I have to get rid of the wrasse if I want to solve this problem, but my question is, do I have to get new cuc or will my current cuc learn to come out during the day?

Never thought i’d ask how to train snails..

Tank is new. A new tank doesn’t have a lot to support a large clean up crew. The ugly faze is what it is. Your need to let it play out.

 

[maxemorris]

I hope you guys can see that. If not there’s dark brown stringy algae all over the rocks and sand, and some bright green (just coloration no structure) in other areas. I’m also dealing with a bacteria bloom. All normal new tank stuff.

Right now I have 2 nass snails, 5-6 hermit crabs, 4 trochus snails, and a sand sifting star in a 40BR. Tank is close to 3 months (not including 1 month boosted cycle) with a tomini tang and the wrasse.

I’ve been holding off on my normal gravel vacc and water change to fight off the bloom, should I continue or clean the tank out and do a water change?

 

[maxemorris]

Should also mention my tests are all coming out perfect, i’m going to take another one tomorrow to make sure.

 

[HB AL]

All my snails and hermits are purely nocturnal, they are smart, with 7 triggers swimming around along with the broomtail wrasse. I have no algae issues, if algae grows that fast in your tank I would find the root cause.

 

[mdb_talon]

I would not worry about the algae or the parameters in a new tank at all, but to your original question i think the answer is "it depends". In my tanks zebra turbos for example only come out at night. Standard turbos graze all day as do my urchins, astrea, etc.

Agree with you though that the first step is getting rid of the melenarus if you want them out during the day. I love melenarus, but they are tough on the cuc for sure. I remember trying nassarius snails with my melenarus. Jerk would grab them by their "snorkel" and bang them against glass until they died