Looking for suggestions for restocking my clean-up crew.

[jrse7en]

Howdy, it has been a long time since I posted on the forum here. I need to restock my crew because of die off of certain inhabitants I originally had. Currently I have 4 Large nassarius snails <the real big fast ones with the leopard like shells>, they are doing very well; a few small hermits; a sand-sifting starfish; coral banded shrimp; and one miscellaneous snail who is either on the glass or a rock at all times. Thats all I have for now. What I am looking to maintain is mostly the live rock that I have in there. I don't have any cyano or slime algae, but I do have the occasional hair algae bush growing. I know sea hares do an excellent job at eating this stuff but the last one I had got sucked into my MP10 and slowly died after a laceration I am heartbroken over that because I hate being the cause of an animal dying. I haven't been able to grow coraline on the live rock because it quickly gets covered with sand <bullet goby>. My rock almost looks dead, it is not very colorful at all.
Also I am starting to think I may not have enough flow going on. For that I have a Vortech MP10 mounted on the side of the overflow, a Koralia 1 or 2 <can't remember> on the other side as my return pump. This is a 55g 4 foot tank. I have the Koralia pointed at an angle towards the glass also. I have a Koralia 3 and it just seems like way too much flow. I have the Bahama white fine sand which looks awesome! Any suggestions from you guys? Thanks in advance!

 

[slice]

Have you looked at the Reef Packages here:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/Reef-Packages_c_2.html
Even if you don't buy a package, it might give you some ideas...

 

[1guydude]

ocean current is actually really strong. I cant tell u how strong cuz ive never been scuba but ive heard its very strong and multi-directional. kinda the bloodlines of the ocean.... +1 on the ideas idea lol

 

[jrse7en]

I do have a $95 credit on a competitors website but im more interested in piecing together some specific species. The main thing I want to shine up is my live rock and bring some color to it. I dose Iodide and purple-up occasionally and have great coraline on the sides of the glass, just not on the rock itself. Tonight im going to do a thorough cleaning and water change and maybe pick up some new verts. Are any crabs good to have. I love inverts!

 

[btldreef]

If it's the rocks that need the most cleaning, I'd look into Trochus and Nerite snails more so than some of the others. I hate hermits, they just kill snails.

 

[1guydude]

Turkey baster those rocks sir! Snails are very good in a CUC i had none till a little bit ago but glad i have em now! Lrg hermits are a NO in a reef tank as they will eat anything they can get their claws on! I would suggest a sea serpent of some type. The brittles tend to be a little more aggressive than the banded ones.... I would also suggest emerald crabs, I have 3 of em and they are awsome but if u have no algae make sure to get some crab pellets!!!!

 

[juice28]

ucan get a brittle star or two as well.. im not a fan of sand sifting stars, they tend to eat the critters that live in the sand along with the detrius, but Trochus and Nerite snails are good too i dont mind hermits.. i have a few. not like the typical CC has i have like 7-10 red hermits in my 55..you know.. you can get/order spaghetti worms too, can never have too many of them at least i dont think so lol never seen a post saying that..