trouble with turbos

[MNgirl]

I am giving up with the turbos......
We have only had one in there lately that was doing well, the others kept tipping over and dieing because they would tip over when no one was home and I am guessing they were upside down too long and died. The one that we have now has never tipped upside down, we have had him for about 9 weeks and he has grown quite a lot. Problem is......he has gotten himself stuck to the underside part of the powerhead numerous times at night.....when I check on the tank, I have had to turn off the powerhead to unstick him. Usually it is his shell that is suctioned in the PH but this time it was his slimey body that was stuck and now he does not look so good. He is laying in the sand, he is partially suctioned onto the glass but I can tell he is not doing good. His flappy thing is hanging out and he is just laying there....he will only move if one of the nassarius snails comes by him and even then, he is moving slow. I expect him to be dead by this afternoon.
SOOOOOO, I have decided not to get any more turbos. Is there a snail that will do the same job as he did?? I don't have a sump so all our equipment is in the tank and he has done a wonderful job at keeping it sparkly clean, along with working on the glass and rock.
Thanks much!!!!!:rollface:

[Teraphage]

IME I've been unable to find another snail that'll eat as wide a range as Turbos. Trochus and Astreas will do a pretty good job, but not nearly as thoroughly as turbos, and they also still tip over. Ceriths do a fairly good job too and can right themselves. I don't understand why, but it seems snails tip over quite a bit more when tanks are fairly new, and it becomes less common as the reef ages IME. Maybe you just weed out the clumsy ones :)

[roberts722]

I agree. Turbos are great. Turning them over once a week or so is well worth the effort..

[MNgirl]

Yeah, I didn't mind tipping them over but if they were upside down all day then I would come home to check on the tank and they would be dead when I would flip them up. Unless of course, they were dieing to begin with and that is why they tipped in the first place. Who knows......BUT I will take your advice and get some more because they did do a wonderful job for us. I even got somewhat attached to him because my son named him snailey and we would play a game to see who could find him first in the LR :)