Clean up crew for a 30gal

[lowend]

What would be the best clean up crew for a 30gal long tank. i had to go out of town for two weeks and came home to a diatom algae bloom. tank has been set up for three months, i have one blue damsel and a brittle star. also have about 6 blue leg hermits. 50lbs live sand, 70lbs live rock. 196 PC lighting. prizm skimmer with an emperor power filter. 540gph turnover rate. please help me, i would really like to get my tank back to its original state.

 

[mobikobeyob]

In my 36 gal I have roughly...
50 blue leg hermits
20 astrea snails
30 nerite snails
25 cerith snails
Needless to say, no algae.
Hope this helps. Mobi

 

[diddley]

i'ld get about 8 red legs, 10 astrea snails, 10 cerith snails, 3 or 4 nassarius, and maybe a small fighting conch for the diatoms.

 

[beth]

In my mind, 50 blue leg hermits, 20 astrea snails, 30 nerite snails, 25 cerith snails is way too much for a 30gal. Most will starve to death.
Do you have a sandbed? Frankly, I would replace the hermits for snails. Hermits have little value as clearners and more often than not they kill snails, which have considerably more value as cleaners in aquaria.
1 fighting conch
10 Nassarius
10 ceriths
1 Trochus [Mexican Turbo]
5 asteras
You don't want to add so many that most starve to death. Most snails have limited diet choices.
Also, unless someone was taking care of your tank during those 2 weeks, I would certainly expect diatoms in most tanks to really take hold. Diatoms is usually not a problem and it is a food source for many snails, so its not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[lowend]

i have roughly a 3 inch sand bed.

 

[diddley]

beth and i are pretty close on what to add, i just suggested more atreas since turbos are kind of rare around here. red legs seem to be more docile than the blues but are more expensive. the nassarius are for your sand bed and so is the conch, you don't feed conches, but the nassies have to be fed or they will starve. they are meat eaters. good luck.

 

[lowend]

would the reef package for a 30 -55 gal be ok, or would that still be over kill?

 

[lowend]

also, i have noticed green hair algae growing on my live rock. what would be the best crew for that? any suggestions would help. thanks.

 

[ncsc117]

Hey, Lowend....
A Lettuce Sea Slug will clean up all the hair algea. The lettuce sea slug is harder than the others. Plus, it feeds on all types of algea to. And not some crazy diets like some of the others are on.:joy: :happy:

 

[lowend]

well, i took your advice and got a lettuce sea slug. thank you for that info, my tank has never looked better. also got a coral banded srimp and a royal gramma. just need to get some snails that will stir the sand bed and i think i will have it made. thanks for the wonderful advice.

 

[slappy]

i have a 30 long and i have about 20 or so snails and 20 or so hermits. imo the snails will slowly dissapear from time to time (damn hermits) so your going to have to get some more troops as needed. i also had a cbs in my 30. it was fine for a real long time but as it got bigger it seemed to get aggressive. it finally took out a few of my peppermint shrimp, dont know if it was because the tank was to small or if they just get cranky when they get old. i know alot of people say to put them in a 70 gal or bigger. good luck

 

[jotade]

Lowend and NCSC, you guys convinced me to try out a lettuce slug/nudi or whatever they are. I've had a hair algae problem for months that I haven't conquered with manual cleaning/cleanup crew/RO DI water, etc.
And the fact that lowend was so pleased with the results after less than a month makes me want to try the same process.
BTW, did you sell the lettuce back after the hair algae is gone so as to not starve it?

 

[lowend]

i have been putting algae sheets that i used to fed my tang when i had a 90gal set up and the lettuce nudibranch seems to eat it right up. is this ok? everytime i come home from work, the slug seems to be feeding on it.

 

[jotade]

Cool, I actually happen to have a box of dried Nori.
BTW, is that you playing the sunburst or honeyburst LP that axe looks sweet?
Although with your screen name I'd have to think your on the bass...

 

[pyro]

I've heard nudibranches always tend to go suicidal and run themselves into powerheads ect...
Your thoughts/opinions?

 

[jotade]

I've heard that too, that's why I was thinking if he can last a month and clear out my tank of hair algae I'd sell him back to an LFS...

 

[lowend]

well, i have had the sea slug for about 3 weeks. It cleared up every single peice of of hair algae in my tank. yesterday morning i saw it eating on the algae sheets that i had put in there to fed it, but today i have not seen it. hope it is still around. checked my powerheads. they seem to be clear. anyway, if anyone is looking for a fast way to get rid of hair algae, i would highly recomend a lettuce nudibranch. they do a wonderful job at cleaning.
also, you are right, i do play bass guitar, and which pic are you looking at on the website? some of the pictures show our singer with his old LP, which is about $10,000. others show some of our old guitar player that quit with a cheap Epiphone LP, which may have cost, $400.

 

[lowend]

here's my tank as of today. wish i had an older pic to show how much of a difference the slug made. any suggestions on what kind of coral to add?

 

[jotade]

It was from the '02 biker show, the long haired dude had it.
Heh, I've got the $400 Epi version also - I'd be divorced if I shelled out $2000+ on an axe and probably committed if I spent $10k on it!
Too bad some of those photos are all that visible
BTW, I put a lettuce in my 29 gallon today.
I hope that my hermits don't mess with him, I've 1 med-large green legged guy that loves to eat snails so I'll watch him like a hawk.

 

[lowend]

Yeah, its a Gibson original. you have to look at the pics of last summer to see it. got it for 800 bucks at a garage sale. brought it to a music store and they told him it was one of only 500 made. nice guitar.