CUC in a 90gal Reef

[Balanje]

I asked ReefCleaners for a custom CUC quote and got the following:

70 Dwarf Ceriths
21 Nassarius vibex
32 Florida Ceriths
28 Nerites

That seems like a heck of a lot for a 90 gal... 70 Dwarf Ceriths!? Is it just me or have I been doing this wrong? My LFS suggested 10 "sails", 5 hermit carbs and only 2 Nassarius. Pretty big discrepancy between the two pieces of advice!

 

[Balanje]

Tank info:

90 gallon reef tank, new. Moving a 30 gallon tank with the following:
- 2x clowns
- cardinal
- file fish
- starry blenny
- neon goby

- green star polyp
- red mushroom

about 90lbs of rock with 40lbs of sand

 

[Killamanjaro]

Seems overkill to me but then again I'm a newbie.

I'm planning my 135g reef now and I've got the following for clean up,
Skunk cleaner shrimp x2
Scarlet hermit crabs x9
Nassarius snails x 9
Trochus snails x9

You can always add more snails/hermits etc later, I feel like 70 Cerith snails will run out of stuff to clean up and start to starve unless you feed super heavy.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.107/ This thread may be of help to you.

 

[Balanje]

Ah, brilliant thread linked. Thanks for the reply and the input!

 

[BigJohnny]

I asked ReefCleaners for a custom CUC quote and got the following:

70 Dwarf Ceriths
21 Nassarius vibex
32 Florida Ceriths
28 Nerites

That seems like a heck of a lot for a 90 gal... 70 Dwarf Ceriths!? Is it just me or have I been doing this wrong? My LFS suggested 10 "sails", 5 hermit carbs and only 2 Nassarius. Pretty big discrepancy between the two pieces of advice!

That's absolutely absurd. Unless your tank is completely dominated by algae the majority will die and create nutrients/fuel algae growth. I have a 90 and have like 10 trochus, 5-10 cerith, 6 nassarius, 5-10 hermits and 2 emerald crabs. Watch the brs160 video on clean up crews, they explain it pretty well. I feed 3x-4x a day heavy and they mow down any algae that grows, even when I slack off.

 

[BigJohnny]

That's absolutely absurd. Unless your tank is completely dominated by algae the majority will die and create nutrients/fuel algae growth. I have a 90 and have like 10 trochus, 5-10 cerith, 6 nassarius, 5-10 hermits and 2 emerald crabs. Watch the brs160 video on clean up crews, they explain it pretty well. I feed 3x-4x a day heavy and they mow down any algae that grows, even when I slack off.

I recommend starting small (especially if it's a new tank and there is no algae) and then add more incrementally if necessary. You will easily be able to witness the algae eating capacity of what you start with and multiply that out to decide how many more you need if necessary. All of the cleaner packs are overkill. I recommend trochus, cerith, and nassarius. Best 3 snails by far ime. Trochus are my favorite and eat the most but cerith go different places. Nassarius stir the sand bed and eat left over food. Hermits are good too (scarlet reef, dwarf red tip) but they can kill snails just fyi.

 

[Killamanjaro]

@Balanje here you go bro, good shout from @BigJohnny forgot to mention it earlier.

 

[Saltyanimals]

I usually buy smaller assortments than what is recommended. You can always add more if they don't seem to keep up. But remember to allow a few weeks to give them a chance to see if you see improvements. Again you can always add more otherwise they'll starve, die and add cause nutrient issues as BigJohnny mentioned. Besides.. I own a fish coral tank.. not a CUC display tank. lol I don't want to see them everywhere.

Here's a tip for when ordering large amounts: I put a small hang on clear box like the following and dump my CUCs in there to settle in. I'm watching to verify the ones that are indeed alive and start dropping them into the tank...leaving dead/empty shells behind for the trash. That way I don't liter my tank with dead or empty snails.

https://www.amazon.com/Loghot-Acryl...rylic+hang+on&qid=1556895048&s=gateway&sr=8-7