Turbo Snails: That's One Big Snail!

If you want a little help with cleaning your saltwater aquarium you can purchase some different types of snails. One common snail that people purchase are Turbo Snails. These snails can get about 3 inches in length and they will clean the algae and green hair algae off of your glass and live rock. This snail is very easy to care for, since it eats algae. You can also purchase invertebrate food to give to your snails if you keep your tank nice and clean. These snails are very peaceful and will not hurt other snails in your aquarium.

The only problem I have noticed with Turbo Snails is their size. They will often knock over different parts of coral and live rock when they are trying to move around. They will also not fit into tight spots to clean around all of your live rock. You will have to purchase smaller snails to take care of this job. The good thing about larger snails is that the hermit crabs will not kill them and steal their shells. They will also not be able to sneak into your filter system if you have a filter built into the backside of your saltwater aquarium.

Another good thing about this snail is the fact that it can flip over and get back up. Some types of snails are completely unable to get back on their feet once they fall over. It's a lot of work flipping over snails all day long. With these snails, you will not have any problems.

You will need to keep the salinity in your tank somewhere between 1.022 and 1.024 in order to keep these snails alive. They require the same salinity as most soft corals and mushrooms will require. Fish are not as touchy as certain types of snails and corals. You can keep your salinity at 1.023 and your fish, invertebrates and corals will do just fine. You may want to leave the back wall covered in a little bit of algae to give these snails something to do and provide them with something to eat. They will quickly start to work on your green hair algae problem if you have one.

A good thing about purchasing snails is that they do not cost very much money. You can purchase one snail for about $1.50. If you have a 125 gallon tank, this might cost quite a bit of money to purchase enough snails to take care of cleaning your glass. You may have to purchase about 50 snails for the tank to get the job done. Snails and hermit crabs are usually about the same price depending on what pet store you are visiting.