CUC for a 20 Long Reef

Baby Ray · Aug 23, 2016

I am setting up a tank at my school and I am having a hard time coming up with a CUC. I defiantly want a tuxedo urchin for the little kids. I also like fighting conchs a lot. I want a variety of snails. I want nassarius, turbos, and cerith snails but I am not sure of how many of each to get. I will also probably get a couple electric blue hermit crabs. How many of each do you guys think I should get?
Thanks

cromag27 · Aug 23, 2016

Personally, I would do five nassarius, five red band trochus and a dozen small blue leg hermets. the other snails you listed have a hard tim righting themselves if they fall on their backs, which usually ends up in their death. a large, dead turbo in a small tank can wreak havoc on your water quality.

esolo16 · Aug 24, 2016

A conch will starve in that size tank. Trochus are a great choice instead of turbos since they can right themselves. I would do a couple of those as well as a couple nassarius. I personally like scarlet hermits the best, since I think they are less prone to go rogue and eat corals/snails. A couple ceriths wouldn't hurt and they can fit into tight spaces. My last piece of advice would be to go slow. A lot of people tend to overdo it quickly with cuc and end up having way more than they need.

Baby Ray · Aug 24, 2016

esolo16 said:
A conch will starve in that size tank. Trochus are a great choice instead of turbos since they can right themselves. I would do a couple of those as well as a couple nassarius. I personally like scarlet hermits the best, since I think they are less prone to go rogue and eat corals/snails. A couple ceriths wouldn't hurt and they can fit into tight spaces. My last piece of advice would be to go slow. A lot of people tend to overdo it quickly with cuc and end up having way more than they need.

Thank you!! I don't think a fighting conch is too small for a 20 long. I have one in my 29 gallon and it is the same amount of sand bed. He is probably the hardest worker in my CUC and he is NOT going to starve in my tank

This tank isn't going to be super "clean" because I will be keeping softies and some LPS and they both like a little bit of nitrates and phosphates. This will result in more algae and "gunk" for the conch to eat on

Baby Ray · Aug 24, 2016

What does everyone else think?
Also, should I get a brittle star? I personally don't like them but do you think it would be good to have in a school tank?

reeferfoxx · Aug 24, 2016

Astrea snails like diatoms. However they have a hard time righting themselves. Tanks should be looked at on the daily, anyway. So , not sure if it's a big deal as they can survive 24 hours on their back.

cromag27 · Aug 24, 2016

Brittle sea stars would work but you would need to keep them well fed.

Baby Ray said:
What does everyone else think?
Also, should I get a brittle star? I personally don't like them but do you think it would be good to have in a school tank?

Baby Ray · Aug 24, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
Astrea snails like diatoms. However they have a hard time righting themselves. Tanks should be looked at on the daily, anyway. So , not sure if it's a big deal as they can survive 24 hours on their back.

Well, during the summer, I will only be able to check on it once or twice a week max.

reeferfoxx · Aug 24, 2016

Baby Ray said:
Well, during the summer, I will only be able to check on it once or twice a week max.

True. Might need to look into a controller as well.

Baby Ray · Aug 24, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
True. Might need to look into a controller as well.

I have been looking at apex but I don't have any budget for the tank so.... I did make a GoFundMe to raise some money but I doubt I will get $800 from it

reeferfoxx · Aug 24, 2016

Baby Ray said:
I have been looking at apex but I don't have any budget for the tank so.... I did make a GoFundMe to raise some money but I doubt I will get $800 from it

Yeah! haha! Tunze was working on a controller. Something like that might be more affordable. They've yet to release them

Baby Ray · Aug 24, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
Yeah! haha! Tunze was working on a controller. Something like that might be more affordable. They've yet to release them

Ill look into them. Thanks!!

BlueCursor · Aug 25, 2016

Best cleanup crew member I have ever had is an urchin. I have a tuxedo and a Halloween urchin. The tuxedo is ok, but nothing special. The Halloween urchin will eat about 5 times more than the tuxedo. If you are going to get one, get the Halloween from a CUC purpose.

My second best CUC is a yellow tang. But your aquarium is too small.

My third best is emerald crabs. I think they do much better on the rock than any snail.

Baby Ray · Aug 25, 2016

BlueCursor said:
Best cleanup crew member I have ever had is an urchin. I have a tuxedo and a Halloween urchin. The tuxedo is ok, but nothing special. The Halloween urchin will eat about 5 times more than the tuxedo. If you are going to get one, get the Halloween from a CUC purpose.

My second best CUC is a yellow tang. But your aquarium is too small.

My third best is emerald crabs. I think they do much better on the rock than any snail.

I have a bad history with crabs and I can hardly trust hermit crabs