New tank

[morphx]

After a year of reading, planning and some more reading my tank is in the last stages of it's cycle. Amonia and Nitrites are at 0 with a the crest of the Nitrate bloom going on right now.

 

This tank is a 12g and will probably end up with two small fish (clown goby and something yet to be determined). I'm going with a pepermint shrimp for a little easy apsasia prunning. I'm planning on some zoo's, shrooms and maybe a sun coral in the future.

 

What about cleanup crews there's so many opinions and options. I've narrowed it down to something like this:

4 Astrea Snail (Algae)

4 Pepermint Snail (Detritus)

2 Cerith Snail (Diatioms / Sand Shifting)

2 Nassaria Snail (Detritus / Sand shifting)

Porcaline Crab

 

What about mini/micro critters. Should I look at ordering mysis and mini-stars to seed the tank? Should I order about half the snails to start off with and add more as the bio load increases?

 

Tank Specs:

12g

56w 10k/actinic

12lb LR, about 1lb broken and placed in divided area.

Fine sand bed about 1-2in deep.

[CSMReef]

morphx, are you planning on ordering your cleanup crew online or going to a LFS? If you plan on ordering online I would do it all at once (shipping is outrageous). If you plan on going to a LFS I would do about half, see how they do with the algae and then add more if needed. I personally like the cerith snails and nassaria snails. Cerith snails are great sand sifters. Have you also looked at a emerald crab? They are a great way to take care of bubble algae that might occur in your tank. You might want to look into atleast 3-4 scarlet reef hermit crabs also, they do a great job on different types of algae. I would not recommend more than one actual crab though (emerald, porcaline, etc.).

 

This is just from my experience and it worked out well =)

[morphx]

I'm going to stay away from the hermit crabs for now. And I've heard emerald crabs can be kinda iffy.

 

Anyone think I should get some kind of LS activator to jump start my micro-invert population or any pod starter to get those rolling. Or will they all eventually come out of the LR?

 

I'm looking for a lot of bio diversity.

[morphx]

Any other helpful opinions?

[reillyse]

why are you staying away from hermit crabs. My Red Leg Hermits do nothing but good.