Snails help with cycling?

[Southerrrngirrl]

I have a tank that was previously fully cycled tank, which broke down prior to christmas, (powerhead stopped working) and I removed all fish to my other tank and left it just sitting there as I was too busy with christmas stuff/holidays/work etc to do anything about it.

I finally got around to having a look at the powerhead, pulled it apart, put it back together and its now operational again. I assume the bacteria will have died off though, i've done probably a 60-80% water change and left it just running for about 3 weeks now. I was inspecting it the other day and found it heavily populated with snails. Will they aid the cycling process at all?

[tHEcONCH]

Not directly, but they will consume food that would otherwise rot - I'd leave them in whilst you are re-cycling the tank.

[Southerrrngirrl]

Ahh ok, just wondered... I will leave them there, they will be a tasty tankwarming snack for the future inhabitants.

[Ianab]

The snails will be producing some bioload, they eat and poop just like fish.

Not a heck of a lot unless you have about a zillion of them, but the filter will cycle to some small degree with them in there. After 3 weeks it should have a low level of bacteria just from the snails. I would check the water parameters, if they are OK, add a couple of fish and check again in another week.

It would take a LOT of snails to fully cycle a tank, but a mob of them are probably equlivant to a couple of small fish in there.

Cheers

Ian