help me order clean up crew please

[mascencerro]

I have a friend, who has a 55 gal set up. It is getting towards the end of cycle, and time to order clean up crew. No big problem there, except for what he has.

 

He doesn't have sand or crushed coral as substrate, but what appears to be white aquarium gravel. I tried to talk him into getting sand instead of using that pea gravel looking stuff, but he insisted on using that.

 

He has given me $70 to order a clean up crew for him. That includes the crew and shipping. I've looked around at Liveaquaria (both the normal and e-tropicals), and tried to build a package, but just couldn't get anything worked out well because most of the stuff I would put in it were unavailable.

 

I planned to get some hermits, and non-burrowing snails (nass and cerith out of question), but they're all out of trochus, astrea, etc.

 

Any ideas what I should get for a 55 gal with pea gravel substrate for a 55 gal, and where I could get them from on a budget of $70?

[ReeFur]

From what i hear Live sand can serve as the main base for biological filtration in a saltwater aquarium so how about you buy him sand.....just my opinion though

[mascencerro]

I actually thought about it, but I don't think I want a 400 lb truck driver ###ed at me because I spent $50+ of his $70 on sand.

[shag26272]

Here you go, I think the shipping is 12 bucks. He always gives free stuff too.

 

http://sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php?cP...d84c4c404a83d50

[jimbro]

400 lbs? get him some diet pills.

 

seriously though, try sealifeflorida, decent prices and cheap shipping. and try again to talk him out of that gravel.

[mascencerro]

I've already tried to do the gravel vs. sand argument before he even bought the tank, but he was dead set. The guy had a reef 8 yrs ago, and is set in his ways.

 

How does this sound:

 

15 astrea

20 blue legged hermit

10 stocky cerith (on the fence, mine like sand but also rock)

10 nerite snail (not sure, any feedback on these?)

2 emerald crab

2 peppermint shrimp

[jimbro]

Looks good to me, but not sure on the nerites (never had any). Try sending Ken at sealife an email and see what he thinks or if he can recommend anything else. He's usually very helpful.

[yankeereefer]

don't spend money on sand - find a local reef club - many times there are people taking down tanks that will give their sand away

 

not sure where you / they are located, but here's an OK based reef club:

 

http://www.omas.org/

 

HTH

Yankee

[mascencerro]

my local reef club is non-existent. My LFS used to carry live sand, but I now own the tank that they used to keep it in until they changed their display.

 

edit: I shot him an email, maybe he'll have some further suggestions.

[BustytheSnowMaam]

I don't know if this will help, but what about the place that was giving away the "free" cleanup crew? does anyone remember where that was? You just paid for shipping.

[yankeereefer]

people here might freak at the suggestion, but you can go to home depot or similar and get a bag of quickrete sand and use it. Sorta like southdown. It will work fine. I have a local that has a 300g and a 250g that he put it in.

 

Your friend would then only need LR or a couple handfuls of LS from your or someone else's tank to get it seeded.

[mascencerro]

all the sand suggestions are great, except for one simple problem:

 

He does not want sand.

 

I tried and tried and tried to talk him out of the crap he has, but he insisted that was what he wanted.

 

He explained that years ago when he had a reef tank, he had that, and all he had to do to clean it was scoop it out monthly and wash it.

 

I tried explaining the sand, and that he would not need to do any scooping and washing, etc, but he was adamant on the gravel. Maybe once I get the clean up crew in there, and it keeps it nice and tidy, I can convince him to switch, but he's an old trucker and set in his ways.

 

oh, and Tashayar, I do plan on giving him a handful of those little snails you sent me. They do a pretty good job at whatever it is they do.

[seahorsedreams]

Nerites are great film algae eaters... unless you get the intertidal variety.... you may have to send out a search and rescue mission daily for those that have convinced themselves the grass in greener on the other side and what to see how the critters on the air side live.