good clean up crew for new tank

[samuel venner]

Hello All,

I was wondering what a good starting cuc crew would be for a red sea max nano with two fish in to start with?

any ideas?
should i add them with the fish or after?

many thanks

 

[T-J]

You'll want to add them where there is something for them to clean up (algae, detritus, etc). I usually don't add any CUC until I start to see the beginnings of food sources for them.
I've always used blue legged hermit crabs and turbo snails to start.

 

[stephenm894]

I can tell you right now I just got a tiger Conch And that’s the best addition I’ve had to my tank I’m new to this whole saltwater aquarium hobby and I’ll tell you my sand is pearly white my whole sand bottom was covered with Diatoms now it’s white as snow, in only 3 days. Turbo snails are great…..hermit crab are good

 

[samuel venner]

I can tell you right now I just got a tiger Conch And that’s the best addition I’ve had to my tank I’m new to this whole saltwater aquarium hobby and I’ll tell you my sand is pearly white my whole sand bottom was covered with Diatoms now it’s white as snow, in only 3 days. Turbo snails are great…..hermit crab are good

So should i add my two fish first then wait a week or so until i add cuc? or should i just add a couple to clean the food leftover as i dont want to much dead food hanging around

and i was looking at a conch as well

 

[T-J]

Conchs need established, dirty, sandbeds. You'll need to wait some time for enough food to be in the bed for a conch.

If you add a cuc too early, they'll either die, or you'll need to supplement their feeding.

If you're properly feeding your fish, you shouldn't have too much uneaten food left over.

 

[samuel venner]

Conchs need established, dirty, sandbeds. You'll need to wait some time for enough food to be in the bed for a conch.

If you add a cuc too early, they'll either die, or you'll need to supplement their feeding.

If you're properly feeding your fish, you shouldn't have too much uneaten food left over.

thank you for the info. I will look at adding them a little later down the line when there's enough food for the cuc. until then i will focus on the fish first.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Just remember that the only thing that you can add to your tank without it being a probable vector for infection is the urchin. And tuxedo urchins are a fantastic addition to any build.

It will be up to you to determine if it's worth quarantining any other invert that you might want to add at a later date. The risk of disease transmission to your fish will be very low, but not nonexistant.

 

[stephenm894]

So should i add my two fish first then wait a week or so until i add cuc? or should i just add a couple to clean the food leftover as i dont want to much dead food hanging around

and i was looking at a conch as well

I’ll tell you what worked for me me personally I added live rock live sand and Fritz 900 and I added two corals two clownfish and hermit crabs in the same day when I started my tank that was three weeks ago it worked for me my fish are still alive my corals are doing good everything is fine but it may not work for you again I’m relatively new to the hobby so you might want to get some other advice.How long has your tank been up?

 

[davidcalgary29]

Cycling a tank without inhabitants is always the kindest, healthiest, and easiest course of action. You can cycle a tank with fish in it, but you have to monitor ammonia levels constantly and have at your ready fresh saltwater and an ammonia binding agent, like Prime, in case of emergencies. If you want to speed up your cycle and don't mind some element of risk, just use live rock instead.

 

[samuel venner]

I’ll tell you what worked for me me personally I added live rock live sand and Fritz 900 and I added two corals two clownfish and hermit crabs in the same day when I started my tank that was three weeks ago it worked for me my fish are still alive my corals are doing good everything is fine but it may not work for you again I’m relatively new to the hobby so you might want to get some other advice.How long has your tank been up?

hiya and thanks for the advice. its been cycling for nearly two weeks now and ammonia is close to 0, nitrites around 0.3ppm and nitrate around 20-30ppm. i was going to wait for ammonia and nitrite to hit 0ppm before i add any livestock to the tank and do a 30-40% water change before adding to lower the nitrates a tad. however i have no algae growth or anything visible atm for the cuc to clean really.

 

[Big_Mclargehuge]

So should i add my two fish first then wait a week or so until i add cuc? or should i just add a couple to clean the food leftover as i dont want to much dead food hanging around

and i was looking at a conch as well

I would wait until there's a little build up of algae/diatoms then add some snails and crabs. Honestly my conch is the best thing i've purchased for a cuc. Seriously keeps the sand bed clean.

 

[samuel venner]

I would wait until there's a little build up of algae/diatoms then add some snails and crabs. Honestly my conch is the best thing i've purchased for a cuc. Seriously keeps the sand bed clean.

okay thank you. hoping i can get my first fish tomorrow if the ammonia is down from 0.2 to 0 and nitrite from 0.3 to close 0. should i also do a water change to lower the nitrates before i get the fish ??

 

[davidcalgary29]

okay thank you. hoping i can get my first fish tomorrow if the ammonia is down from 0.2 to 0 and nitrite from 0.3 to close 0. should i also do a water change to lower the nitrates before i get the fish ??

What fish are you considering, and what's your quarantine plan (if any) for it?

 

[samuel venner]

What fish are you considering, and what's your quarantine plan (if any) for it?

i was just going to either get one or two standard clowns at first. And if im honest i wont get any more fish for 20 or so days unless i get the algae growth i want for some cuc and then add them. Also wont be doing any Quarantine as i sadly dont have another tank at the moment. it may well be something i look at in the future though.

 

[davidcalgary29]

i was just going to either get one or two standard clowns at first. And if im honest i wont get any more fish for 20 or so days unless i get the algae growth i want for some cuc and then add them. Also wont be doing any Quarantine as i sadly dont have another tank at the moment. it may well be something i look at in the future though.

You can consider using your DT for quarantine if you don't plan to use copper-based medications and don't plan to introduce inverts (including corals) until a later date. There are a number of options, including some form of the tank transfer method (you can use a 5g bucket with heater and powerhead for the second "tank"), or hypo, that would be available to you.

 

[samuel venner]

You can consider using your DT for quarantine if you don't plan to use copper-based medications and don't plan to introduce inverts (including corals) until a later date. There are a number of options, including some form of the tank transfer method (you can use a 5g bucket with heater and powerhead for the second "tank"), or hypo, that would be available to you.

ah okey that sounds good. Many thanks.