Am I ready for a cleanup crew?

[wartooth1]

Hey all,
So this is the beginning of week 2 that I've had a pair of damsels in my tank. Since I started this tank 5 1/2 weeks ago, the water has always been crystal clear and I've performed 2 5 gallon water changes (its a 40 gallon tank).
I am starting to notice on most of my rocks either a yellowish brown coloring appear as well as some patches of pale green here and there. Here are pics if some examples:


So my question is, do you think that perhaps in a few adding a cleanup crew consisting of a dozen small snails and hermit crabs be ok at this time or should I wait until I see more growth?

 

[btldreef]

IMO, if you have fish, you need something to clean up after them. If you're going to do 12 total divided between the hermits and snails, that'd be a good starting point.
The brown you're starting to see is diatoms, natural part of a new tank process. It will go away on it's own, but the snails/hermits can help a little. The green looks like some coralline starting, from best I can tell on my phone, not all coralline is purple.

 

[geoj]

Crabs are for eating )*:

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoJ http:///forum/thread/386081/am-i-ready-for-a-cleanup-crew#post_3389078
Crabs are for eating

I agree! Hate the little monsters. I've rid all my reef tanks of them.

 

[wartooth1]

Ok sounds like it wouldn't hurt if I got some little critters for the tank this weekend. Why the hate for the hermit crabs?

 

[teresaq]

hermits tend to kill snails for thier shell and just for the heck of it. Scarlets are about the least likely to do this.

 

[wartooth1]

Ah I see... well I was planning on getting a handful of empty shells for the hermits anyway... and lately instead of many small snails, I'm thinling maybe 2 or 3 of the bigger ones, like the 1 1/2 inchers. Wouldn't that be just as effective and they'd be to big for the hermits anyway?
So maybe this weekend I'm thinking 8 little hermits and 3 big snails?

 

[cidlyled]

Snails. it is good .