Clean-up Crew

[musho3210]

What clean up crew should i get?

 

Okay, finally my reef log has come up, although a bit early (tank will start around the beginning of july at the latest although i will try and have it start sometime at the end of may/early june) it doesnt matter since its always best to get info before you start.

 

Here is my plan for those of you who dont know

 

NON-LIVESTOCK:

20H gallon tank

100w Visi-therm Heater

Orca pro-fuge (skimmer and refugium in one)

1 Maxi-jet 1200 with Flo attachment

150 watt 14,000k MH lamp

Milwaukee Refractometer

20-30 pounds Sealife AquaCultured Live Rock

5-10 pounds base rock depending what would look good in my tank

20-30 pounds Carib-Sea Ooltic sugar grade aragonite sand, not live, aiming for 2.5 inches

Reef Crystals Salt

LIVESTOCK:

2 O. Clownfish

Mushroom Coral, exact species will depend on the stock the online shop has

Polyp Coral, exact species will depend on the stock the online shop has

Frogspawn

Brain coral

Bubble Coral

Other LPS corals (will be an LPS dominated tank)

A few SPS corals may be considered.

May include a maxima clam but that depends on price.

May include some macro algae.

Various hitchhikers i will be expecting from the live rock

 

What i already have:

Tank

Stand

Maxi-jet 1200

Heater

Sand

Salt

 

What clean up crew and other motile invertebrate should i add that arent too expensive (blood shrimp although awsome are out of my price range)

 

And can you keep sexy shrimp with the cleaner shrimps (peppermint, scarlet skunk etc)

[c est ma]

Ooh, I like the idea of an lps tank. They're some of my favorites!

 

Here's my philosophy on CUC's. Add slowly and see what you like/what works best. Too often we're guided by the advice to get so many snails and so many hermits per gallon. If you're ordering online, I guess you have to go for quantity to justify shipping, but if possible I'd avoid adding all at once.

 

I prefer to go to lfs's, see what they have in, and try what I've heard are good cleaners. Though many of the grazing snails perform similar functions, they each have their own idiosyncracies, and a variety is often valuable to have.

 

Turbos are great eaters, may even go after filamentous algae, but can get large. I always try to have a couple of small ones, though. Nerites and Astreas are great at going after diatom films, Ceriths do that too and in addition burrow into the substrate and do some cleaning and churning there. After 3 years I just found some Trochus today at an lfs--I grabbed a couple as I've heard they're great.

 

Nassarius are great scavengers but will not graze, i.e., they do nothing about algae, diatoms, etc. They bury themselves in the substrate and erupt at the slightest whiff of fish or coral food. They will also be quick to find any dead animals.

 

I have 2 hermits (my tank is only 5.5g), a Scarlet & a Mexican red-legged, who are ALWAYS picking over the rock and never cause any problems. I'm a fan of these guys. Others feel no hermits are ever safe...

 

While you want a big enough CUC to take care of any problems, you can add so many (especially Nassarius, and especially right at first) that they may actually starve. I prefer to add them as necessary.

 

Another advantage of buying snails locally is that you can observe if they're moving and eating rather than lying upside down, say, on the substrate...

 

Just my $0.02.

 

--Diane

[musho3210]

so i shouldnt get nassarius until my tank is more mature (say a month after the end of cycle or after i get fish or whatever)

 

And would you recommend scarlet reef hermits with blue legged hermits?

[c est ma]

Yes to your Nassarius question.

 

As far as the hc's, let's let someone else chime in on the blue legs. I've heard good things about them but have not had one personally. I've had my Mexican red-legged since 2003--it's a very tiny hc, smaller than the scarlet which I've had for maybe a couple of years. Neither has ever interacted agressively with the other, nor harmed any snails. But since I don't see many MRL's lately, that's not much help!

 

I do think a lot of the problems with hc's come from overstocking, not enough for them to eat ("fortunately" my tank never has that problem), too few extra shells (though I have very few myself), and, of course, from adding certain species that are definitely known to be agressive.

 

In addition to the snails you buy, you may be lucky enough to get hitchhiker Stomatella and/or Collinista, which are great little grazers in their own right!

 

Snails are fascinating in themselves, highly evolved specialists that too often get overlooked in the concentration on corals, other inverts, and fish...It's a good idea to remember to give them some credit once in a while!

 

--Diane

[Drez]

Nassarius are fun to watch! Be sure to get a few at some point. They also stir the sand some. I also am a fan of hermits, I keep blue legged and also had one zebra that got inwith my blues too. He was eated by my CBS though after left or lost his shell (RIP little buddy). They may kill a snail or two or even each other from time to time, though the 10 hermits and 4 nassarius I got initially only dwinded to 8 and 2 (zebra inclusive) over about 6-7 months which I think is well worth hours of fun watching them scuttle, fight, fall, chase and eat. I quite enjoy them. They do a good job cleaning as well.