K1Reef
Community Member
Before I add a cleaner crew... How do I know what to get and how many. I have a 150 gal display and 55 gal sump. Is there a general rule of thumb for these little guys? How many? ... And reef safe.
Cleaner crew ... Any suggestions
- Thread starter K1Reef
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Daimyo68
Active Member
ReefCleaners has "Quick Crews" to choose from for specific tank sizes. Whenever I start a new system, that's where I go for the intial CC.
Lots of other items on their site also
Lots of other items on their site also
_sludgefactory
Valuable Member
+1 they're stuff is dirty cheap and i hear that guy hooks it up so you get a lot more than you pay for. Personally I've been avoiding hermits lately except for scarlet reefs. Stupid blue legs kept killing my snails and stealing food from my corals, literally tearing at their flesh to get the mysis i was feeding them. Scarlet reefs don't seem to be that aggressive.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
mcarroll
10K Club member
Since your tank is new I'll assume your tank is nice and clean or you would have said otherwise. Likewise, I'll assume you are heeding the "Nothing good happens fast" maxim and you will be stocking your tank slowly.
For starters, I would add no more than 1 hermit per 10 gallons of display (zero is okay) - your choice on type as all are omnivores. Similar for snails - and stay away from large snails like Conchs and Turbos. I wouldn't go snail-less. Ceriths an nerites are good. Trochus not bad. Margaritas are nicer if your tank runs a bit cool. Those are all algae snails. If you have a sand bed, I would be sorely tempted to add Nassarius snails (same stock-rate again) to help the Ceriths keep it "aerated". Add more only as needed.
In a nut shell:
-Matt
P.S. Personally I would shop the LFS for stuff like this if possible so you can see what you're getting and get what you want.
P.P.S. I looked at the "Quick Crew" mentioned earlier in the thread. The only circumstance I'd recommend adding what they apparently consider appropriate for a 150 gallon tank (~300 animals!), is if your tank was a disaster of algae, you had no CUC at all, and you needed an extremely quick cleanup. Those should be very unusual circumstances, IMO, and would be subject to "husbandry issues" as noted earlier. Build your crew slowly and to the demands of your tank.
For starters, I would add no more than 1 hermit per 10 gallons of display (zero is okay) - your choice on type as all are omnivores. Similar for snails - and stay away from large snails like Conchs and Turbos. I wouldn't go snail-less. Ceriths an nerites are good. Trochus not bad. Margaritas are nicer if your tank runs a bit cool. Those are all algae snails. If you have a sand bed, I would be sorely tempted to add Nassarius snails (same stock-rate again) to help the Ceriths keep it "aerated". Add more only as needed.
In a nut shell:
- If you don't have excess algae, you shouldn't need any more CUC than you already have.
- If you do have excess algae, chances are you have some husbandry issues to look after. Stop feeding so much and/or so often. Increase quantity and/or frequency of water changes. Clean/remove sponges from system. Check age of lights and that photoperiod is only around 6 hours. (12 is way too much.) Etc.
- If you still have excess algae, try adding a little CUC at a time until you get it balanced with new growth. #1 cause of death for CUC is starvation.
Nothing good happens fast, so don't add a ton of CUC all at once.
-Matt
P.S. Personally I would shop the LFS for stuff like this if possible so you can see what you're getting and get what you want.
P.P.S. I looked at the "Quick Crew" mentioned earlier in the thread. The only circumstance I'd recommend adding what they apparently consider appropriate for a 150 gallon tank (~300 animals!), is if your tank was a disaster of algae, you had no CUC at all, and you needed an extremely quick cleanup. Those should be very unusual circumstances, IMO, and would be subject to "husbandry issues" as noted earlier. Build your crew slowly and to the demands of your tank.
_sludgefactory
Valuable Member
I don't think i would get one of their pre-made crews. They do seem a bit over kill.
I disagree on lighting though, my lights are 12 on 12 off. 250 watt metal halide and I've only had a problem with hair algae because my bulb was really old. Put a new one in and all my hair algae died back pretty quickly.
I would only add a bit of crew at a time though, maybe 10 ceriths and 10 nassarius until your tank matures enough to require more. You can always add but taking them out is a pain.
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I disagree on lighting though, my lights are 12 on 12 off. 250 watt metal halide and I've only had a problem with hair algae because my bulb was really old. Put a new one in and all my hair algae died back pretty quickly.
I would only add a bit of crew at a time though, maybe 10 ceriths and 10 nassarius until your tank matures enough to require more. You can always add but taking them out is a pain.
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Last edited:
mcarroll
10K Club member
Good point, and worth some clarification! In fact, I ran my halide rig at 13 hour days for the first year+ and had no issues with algae and I'm running 11 hour days with my LED's now - no algae to speak of.
Was mostly speaking in the context of fighting off algae...12 hours would not be good for most tanks in this scenario. I might even recommend less than 6 hours for some cases - even 100% blackout days sometimes. With most tanks in this scenario, it's not just the lights.
In fact many people in that scenario actually see their algae get worse when the replacement lights are installed.Algae control is a balancing act and lighting is one of the key players. (It's also one of the easiest to control.)
Since we're on it, about 4 hours of "mid day sun" (what most of us are hopefully trying to approximate) is all our corals really need....beyond 4 hours or so and lighting becomes more and more for our viewing pleasure and the intensity need not be so great. "Most tanks" with "most lights" can do fine with 6 hours or so. I ran my SPS tank on 6 hour days for more than a year just to conserve bulb life a little and saw no difference in my coral. Moving to LEDs and away from expensive bulb replacements, I might be less concerned with keeping the hours down as long as algae is under control. Good "night lights" can be used to extend "daytime" to 12-14 hours, but I wouldn't say there's much to gain by running full intensity lighting that whole time. (Convenience, of course, if you only have room/budget for your main lights.) Just run enough quality bulbs/LEDS to light the tank and make everything look good. "Fish only" style!
YMMV, as with all thing reef.
-Matt
If you are going to add hermits go with scarlet reef hermits because they seem to be the safest. My only come out at night and don't bother anything. I have some blue leg hermits in my fuge that I removed from my DT for killing all my snails. I agree with the others if your tank is clean you need to hold of and start with a small CUC or you will have to feed them which will cause high nutrients and algae problems.
I would not say that the cuc is not worth the money, but on a new tank I do think it is better to go with a smaller cuc that the new tank is able to support and as more cuc is needed to add them. What I have seem to notice is that it seems as a lot of prepackaged cuc tend to be more than what is needed in a new tank and either you end up having to try to feed the cuc or as mentioned above you end up having die off as the cuc is regulated to what is able to be supported by the system.
