CUC Questions

[henryhahn]

Good Afternoon,
Thanks to the wonderful folks here, my tank cycled and I am again enjoying the reef tank obsession.
I have now added my CUC and I now have:
2 Blue Claw Hermits
2 Zebra Turbos
2 Banded Trochuses
2 Nassariuses
All are happily working and cause me to search at GREAT LENGTH each day to see how they are fairing (Seriously - Especially the Nassarius)
Is this a good set to start with?
Am I missing something I should definitely have?
I have a Camelback Shrimp, a Goby Firefish, 2 Oscellaris (I went to the store to only get CUC, but couldn't resist a buddy for my clown), 12 pounds of dry rock, and about 20 pounds of live rock in a 50 gallon tank.

 

[Brew12]

Looks like you are missing about 2,000 snails, 800 hermits, 64 emerald crabs, 13 shrimp, and a few nudibranch.

Or, maybe you have exactly what you need. IMO the best way to know if your clean up crew is complete is by looking at your tank. Are they keeping it the way you want it? If so, you are good. If you have a problem with something the CuC isn't taking care of the way you want then you should address adding more.

Consider this the opinion of someone who has done a ton of research but has little practical experience. Others may offer better advice.

 

[henryhahn]

Looks like you are missing about 2,000 snails, 800 hermits, 64 emerald crabs, 13 shrimp, and a few nudibranch.

Or, maybe you have exactly what you need. IMO the best way to know if your clean up crew is complete is by looking at your tank. Are they keeping it the way you want it? If so, you are good. If you have a problem with something the CuC isn't taking care of the way you want then you should address adding more.

Consider this the opinion of someone who has done a ton of research but has little practical experience. Others may offer better advice.

heheh I know I'll need to expand, but I tried to get a CUC that is diverse enough. As I am brand new to the hobby, I wanted to be sure I was headed in the right direction

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Why are you wanting a bigger clean up crew? If there's nothing calling for it, then I would refrain from adding more. Additionally, adding a CUC does not address the root issue(s) of the problem. Find out what exactly is causing the imbalance within your tank and work from there. You'll learn a lot about YOUR tank as well.

 

[henryhahn]

Why are you wanting a bigger clean up crew? If there's nothing calling for it, then I would refrain from adding more. Additionally, adding a CUC does not address the root issue(s) of the problem. Find out what exactly is causing the imbalance within your tank and work from there. You'll learn a lot about YOUR tank as well.

No problems to the best of my knowledge. Just starting out and making sure I am making a good go of it.

 

[Joey waid]

No problems to the best of my knowledge. Just starting out and making sure I am making a good go of it.

If there is nothing to clean then they suffer. In the begining it's a balance of just enough vs to much. You might want to Phantom feed to give the cuc something to munch on...

 

[henryhahn]

If there is nothing to clean then they suffer. In the begining it's a balance of just enough vs to much. You might want to Phantom feed to give the cuc something to munch on...

I think (hope) there's plenty in there for them. I am just a week past the cycle, so there's lots of diatom around the tank and stuff in the live rocks. All have been happily munching for the past few days.

 

[Joey waid]

I think (hope) there's plenty in there for them. I am just a week past the cycle, so there's lots of diatom around the tank and stuff in the live rocks. All have been happily munching for the past few days.

Awesome!!