Snails in the sump. Good or bad?

[jandb]

Hello. In the 75 gallon sump of my planted tank I'm noticing quite a few rams horn snails. I was going to throw in an assassin to take care of them but wondered what folks opinions were as far as them being a benefit or nuicense.

My initial thought was they would make more waste and try and climb into the intake of the MagDrive pump. They seem to gravitate to the foam strainer. As I was going to grab the assassin I thought the snails may take care of the uneaten food that makes it into the sump. Any ideas?

 

[convict360]

I'd always looked at it as, they are good to break down fish waste; but perhaps try and limit the food going into the sump, so you aren't overwhelmed

 

[monkeybike]

I get a few pond snails in my sump, they climb out of the filter socks and get in there. I haven't worried too much about them. I take a net and scoop them out occasionally and feed them to my loaches. I do see them working around in the slight amount of mulm in the sump.

 

[duanes]

I agree that although snails produce waste, they do help to break some waste down further and this may help with biofiltration , but...... I have had the tiny ones (especially hard shelf Malay type) get into the volute of Mag Drive pumps and score the impeller casing, which can necessitate replacing the impeller.

 

[Mr Pleco]

Ive had the little maly snails ruin so many impellers on sump pumps and canisters specifically Fluval FX series. I tried copper treatments , assassin snails every treatment to get rid of them .. they always came back ..now I use empty baby food jars in the sump , place some food in the submerged jar .. in the morning I take it out and dump the hordes for snails in the trash ..just to control numbers GL

 

[thacarter546]

I have several in my little sump on my spec. I was kind of hoping to have a reason to upgrade the pump, but no such luck. Any snail I catch gets thrown in with my loaches. Every time I clean the canisters they know it's feeding time.

 

[celebrist]

Ive had the little maly snails ruin so many impellers on sump pumps and canisters specifically Fluval FX series. I tried copper treatments , assassin snails every treatment to get rid of them .. they always came back ..now I use empty baby food jars in the sump , place some food in the submerged jar .. in the morning I take it out and dump the hordes for snails in the trash ..just to control numbers GL

This concerns me since my sump is getting colonized by mts and I use a FX 6 for polishing. I love them in my display tank I haven't seen a pleco turd in months
I plan on putting assassin snails in my sump but now I fear for my fluval

 

[duanes]

Over time a combination of grit and MTS snails stripped the outer part of the impeller below making it wobble, and ruining it. I realize that if I had been better at, and done more frequent pump maintenance, this may have been avoided.

The wobble can also ruin the pump body itself. I know its not easy to see, but the wobble has worn a figure 8 groove into this pump body.