Clean up crew?
- Thread starter simo
- Start date
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Im just planing ahead sorrry lol. Ok im cooking my rock atm so im a month or 2 il be putting it in my 50 gal. 20 kilo.of live rock wich is 50 pounds. What else u need and i got a 3 foot sump too. Alot of planning ahead i heard is better then impulse buying thats all im trying to do here lol. Thanks if u can help
mcarroll
10K Club member
I like Cerith and Nerite snails, if you can get them.
Not a fan of hermits unless they are tiny...like 1/4" or so. TINY. However, you don't find them for sale that size very often in my experience.
Bigger than that and they seem to spend just as much time eating snails as they spend eating algae and detritus.
You have a small tank or I'd also recommend Trochus and Turbo snails....excellent, hard workers, but will outgrow a 50 gallon and starve to death usually within a year, but often much sooner than that.
Even little snails can have this problem if you don't get much algae growth. The first sign is that they start getting weak...you'll start finding them upside down on the sand and in the rocks more often. Then you'll stop finding them alive.
So it pays to keep your CUC matched to your bio-load just in the interest in keeping them from starving to death.
Not a fan of hermits unless they are tiny...like 1/4" or so. TINY. However, you don't find them for sale that size very often in my experience.
Bigger than that and they seem to spend just as much time eating snails as they spend eating algae and detritus.
You have a small tank or I'd also recommend Trochus and Turbo snails....excellent, hard workers, but will outgrow a 50 gallon and starve to death usually within a year, but often much sooner than that.
Even little snails can have this problem if you don't get much algae growth. The first sign is that they start getting weak...you'll start finding them upside down on the sand and in the rocks more often. Then you'll stop finding them alive.
So it pays to keep your CUC matched to your bio-load just in the interest in keeping them from starving to death.
I got a 50 gallon yea with 3 foot sump and 300 watt cree ledI like Cerith and Nerite snails, if you can get them.
Not a fan of hermits unless they are tiny...like 1/4" or so. TINY. However, you don't find them for sale that size very often in my experience.
Bigger than that and they seem to spend just as much time eating snails as they spend eating algae and detritus.
You have a small tank or I'd also recommend Trochus and Turbo snails....excellent, hard workers, but will outgrow a 50 gallon and starve to death usually within a year, but often much sooner than that.
Even little snails can have this problem if you don't get much algae growth. The first sign is that they start getting weak...you'll start finding them upside down on the sand and in the rocks more often. Then you'll stop finding them alive.
So it pays to keep your CUC matched to your bio-load just in the interest in keeping them from starving to death.
For that size tank you might want to start off with 5-7 Trochus snails and maybe a couple Scarlet hermit crabs. Use something like a Mag-Float to keep the glass clean and either stir up or vacuum your sand bed on a regular basis too. If everything goes right you won't have to add anymore janitors to the tank later on. GL.
i have a 40g also. i would start with a couple Nassarius Snails (they are the busiest cuc in my tank, always on the move) a couple small hermits dont hurt either, i have 2 tiny cortez hermits that are like 1/4" or so and they are super active as well but since they are so small i dont think they really eat too much, i also have 3 scarlet hermits about 1/2" they are so lazy, a skunk cleaner shrimp is always a cool addition, hard worker and quite comical, i also have a fire shrimp who's not the hardest worker but not too lazy either, he hides a lot but does munch on all the pellets that sink to the sand, i have a small peppermint shrimp as well that is not very active but always munchin on something if you can find it, and i have 3 other snails i think they are trochus 1 of is on the verge of death i think because he dont move much but the other 2 seem to be moving around and doing ok....
nervousmonkey
LPS Lover, SPS Enabler
Agreed with Vinnie on contacting Reef Cleaners, they can really help. With that in mind, here are a couple of articles from them about CUC:
https://www.reefcleaners.org/when-to-add-a-clean-up-crew
https://www.reefcleaners.org/bad-snails
With that being said, I love @mcarroll 's advice. Match bioload to CUC, you can research how many of what you need for a specific bioload, be it light or heavy, etc.
Like Adam stated, I love Nassarius snails, but they may be too early to add, as there will not be much buildup of detritus in the sandbed yet, although you can feed them pellets once a week or so and they'll be fine. They notice as soon as food is added too, like little submarines they cruise around under the sandbed with a tentacle out of the sandbed like a periscope. They'll pop out of the sand really quickly when they sense food.
Since you are planning your tank progression pretty well, or appear to be, for your tank, start off with the CUC that matches the stage of the tank, as mcarroll referred to. When you have diatoms appear, add some Ceriths and Nerites to clean that up, when you start having algae appear, you can start adding some hermit crabs and more snails (Florida Cerith for example) if you want, but definitely no big hermits, as the only thing they'll do is kill your snails for their shells. You can alleviate that behavior to a degree by purchasing random assortments of empty shells from Reef Cleaners, but isn't a 100% guarantee in the slightest. If you want to add hermits, I would recommend one or two blue or red-legged hermits, and get them really really small like Greg said, so they don't immediately turn into your tanks first felons and your tanks first mass killing by hermit. You don't need crabs until you get algae or something for them to munch on, although you can add your CUC all at once, just have to feed the ones that don't have enough natural food.
Just take it by stage, research, ask question and plan like you are doing, and add the appropriate CUC members to your tank when they are needed. Then prepare to add different types as the tank progresses (limpets, urchins, conchs, etc.) that can help get rid of what you are trying to get rid of.
One last point is that having a large CUC at the end of the day will not adversely affect the parameters of your tank, as they all have pretty slow metabolisms compared to the fish you will add. Have fun on your new journey buddy!!! Welcome to reefing!
https://www.reefcleaners.org/when-to-add-a-clean-up-crew
https://www.reefcleaners.org/bad-snails
With that being said, I love @mcarroll 's advice. Match bioload to CUC, you can research how many of what you need for a specific bioload, be it light or heavy, etc.
Like Adam stated, I love Nassarius snails, but they may be too early to add, as there will not be much buildup of detritus in the sandbed yet, although you can feed them pellets once a week or so and they'll be fine. They notice as soon as food is added too, like little submarines they cruise around under the sandbed with a tentacle out of the sandbed like a periscope. They'll pop out of the sand really quickly when they sense food.
Since you are planning your tank progression pretty well, or appear to be, for your tank, start off with the CUC that matches the stage of the tank, as mcarroll referred to. When you have diatoms appear, add some Ceriths and Nerites to clean that up, when you start having algae appear, you can start adding some hermit crabs and more snails (Florida Cerith for example) if you want, but definitely no big hermits, as the only thing they'll do is kill your snails for their shells. You can alleviate that behavior to a degree by purchasing random assortments of empty shells from Reef Cleaners, but isn't a 100% guarantee in the slightest. If you want to add hermits, I would recommend one or two blue or red-legged hermits, and get them really really small like Greg said, so they don't immediately turn into your tanks first felons and your tanks first mass killing by hermit. You don't need crabs until you get algae or something for them to munch on, although you can add your CUC all at once, just have to feed the ones that don't have enough natural food.
Just take it by stage, research, ask question and plan like you are doing, and add the appropriate CUC members to your tank when they are needed. Then prepare to add different types as the tank progresses (limpets, urchins, conchs, etc.) that can help get rid of what you are trying to get rid of.
One last point is that having a large CUC at the end of the day will not adversely affect the parameters of your tank, as they all have pretty slow metabolisms compared to the fish you will add. Have fun on your new journey buddy!!! Welcome to reefing!
nervousmonkey
LPS Lover, SPS Enabler
You are welcome buddy! Have fun! The adventure awaits!
