Cleaning crew

[h0peless]

Tank has finally cycled...30gal - 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm trite, 20ppm trate. I am ready to add my cleaning crew. I was looking at the reef packages that swf.com has for sale and like the nano or the 20-55gal packages. I prefer the nano just because the 20-55 gal seems like a lot of creatures. I have 30lbs of LR in my tank as well as LS. would these be decent choices for my tank? I plan on adding a few corals down the road but nothing immeadiate. Hence my appeal to the reef packages just because I know everything is reef safe. Also, I don't have any fish yet, I will add just a few once the tank adjusts to the new bioload of the cleaning crew. Should I drop some flakes in the tank once I put my crew in? I have tons of diatoms algae, will that be enough to feed them?

 

[trigger11]

IMO you would be ok with getting about 5 snails and 5 hermits each. Any more than that and there will probably be too many. I agree that SWF has too many in their reef packages as well. I dont know if that is because several seem to die during shipping or what.
For cleaning crew you also have the option of going with some kind of shrimp.
If you only get the snails and hermits then could get away with letting them eat the algae for a few days. After that you will want to put some flakes in there for them to eat. My hermits know when those flakes hit the water because if they happen to be up in the rocks they make a mad dash down and it is a feeding frenzy. If you do choose to have a shrimp then would need to put a few flakes in there for them.
Hope that helps.

 

[h0peless]

thanks alot trigger. Any other thoughts from others?

 

[h0peless]

alright added 5 scarlette hermit and 5 nass. snails as well as a skunk cleaner. how long till I can add fish.
30gal-0 ammonia 0trites 20trates

 

[trigger11]

Now that you have your cleaner crew in there I would give them about a week and see how things go. If water parameters still good then could add a fish or two depending on what kind you get.

 

[pettyhoe]

I have well over 25 assorted hermits, 40 assorted snails ( 10 astrea, 25 nassarius, 5 stomatella) with a conch and emerald crab. My tank stays perfectly clean and I never really touch it except water changes. I work for the fish store cleaning business and afluent peoples tanks and our number one problem is people who have too little of a clean up crew, resulting in a hair algea problem, along with other reasons for hair algea. (too long light cycle and overfeeding). I would recommend a large clean up crew, and nature will take its course and dwindle down to the appropriate level that your specific tank desires.

 

[earlybird]

In my 29 I have only been able to keep 8 astraea, 10-12 hermits, and 8-10 nassarius. I just don't have enough algae to keep any more alive. I've tested my parameters time and time again and the only solution is that they were starving to death. The largest population I've had was about 16 astraea (7 died), 1 mex turbo (died), 20 hermits (8-10 died), and 15 nassarius (5 taken out by blue legs). I say start small and try to add more if you feel you need more.