clean up crew

[bergamer]

at the moment I have a 90 gallon
with 8 astro snails
2 queen conks
2 cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
1 orange likia
and roughly 15 or so hermit crabs mixed with reb and blue
I realize I need a larger clean up crew, so I was checking out the reef packages on SWF
I was thinking aboutn the 30-90 gallon reef package which includes:
20 scarlet hermits
20 blueleg hermits
20 turbo/astro snails
10 nasssarious snails
3 emerald crab
1 coral banded shrimp
2 feather dusters
is this enough?
and I am afraid of having too many snails, bc with this packages I will have a total of 40 snails
Are they going to ber ableto eat all the algea and there wont be enough for them
I am also afraid that all I am going to see are snails in my tank and nothing else:nope:
any suggestions?

 

[golfish]

I'd add 40 Astrea snails and 100 Certith (sp?) if it were my tank and maybe cleaner shrimp. Crabs are pretty much useless, IMO.

 

[smarls]

I agree, crabs don't do much for me.
Add more snails, the more diverse a selection you can get the better: turbos, astrea, cerith, nassarius(sp).
After a while your tank will stabalize, and you will either (i) have anough food for the snails, or (ii) a few of them will die (and your crabs will eat them).

 

[dburr]

no more hermits, you have 15. 2 queens are fine, 2 cleaners are good, and peps.
First I have to ask if your having a problem with algae. Hair, bubble, whatever.
Not knowing and going for basic, I would add more like 20 nassarious, 10 turbos, 10 cerths, 1 or 2 emeralds(if you have bubble algae) and the dusters.
IMO

 

[himandher]

ive always heard 1 cleaner per gallon. Ive got about 130 hermits, and 20 or so snails, 4 emeralds, and 2 cleaner shrimp. In 135 gallons. I was also worried about only seeing snails and crabs, but amazingly they spread out quickly, and if you have lots of live rock, you will hardly see them.
I disagree about the hermits. My clean up crew was always pretty weak, I finally bumped it up a notch, and literally there was a huge change in my tank. I didnt think I had a problem in the tank, but the tank was so much cleaner, and water much clearer, in just a couple of days. Remember snails just eat mainly the algae, the hermits will eat ANYTHING, including fish poop, algae, and any excess food, which is a really good thing.

 

[dburr]

the hermits will eat ANYTHING, including fish poop, algae, and any excess food, which is a really good thing.
You forgot each other also.

Yeah, every tank is different. If you have a high fish load and low flow and the poop hangs around on the rock a long time, you need more hermits to eat it. After they eat each other you will have to buy more. What a cycle.
Can't remember who recommended 1 or 2 hermits per 100 gallons. It's a good rule in my book.IMO. In the wild they are mostly on the sand anyway.
Nass snails eat everything and bury themselves in the sand(turning it over). Britle worms eat meaty foods including fish poop.