Clean up crew

[jpocock]

I have a 50 gal tank that I just finished cycling I have not yet put any live stock in the tank yet. I am going to put a clean up crew in the tank first. In the future I would like to put both coral and fish in the tank. I was wondering what type of CUC do you recommend???


Thanks

[JealousKittens]

Invertebrates are always helpful, including turbo snails, hermit crabs, etc
skunk cleaner shrimp can be helpful to because they clean up fish as well as left over food (that is what mine does whenever some of the food gets to the bottom)
snails and crabs are very useful, so I would recommend them.
hope this little bit of info helps

[jpocock]

How many do your recumend and what kinds??

[thegrun]

Originally Posted by jpocock

How many do your recumend and what kinds??

It's difficult to give exact numbers because every tank is different due to lighting, feeding frequencies and amount of food feed... In general I like to start a little light with my CUC with a new tank and add to it as the algae growth increases. For a 50 gallon tank I would start with:
2 Nassarius snails (assuming you have a sand bed, skip them if your tank is bare bottom) plan on adding 2-4 more in a few months
10 assorted snails, I like a mix of the following: Astraea (my favorite algae eater but you do need to flip them upright if they fall over, they cannot right themselves), Nerite and Cerith. Eventually you will probably need to double the amount of snails but if you add them all to a new tank they may starve. I would avoid turbo snails at least at first. Their size causes them to knock corals over, but they are good algae eaters if down the road the need dictates their use.
5 small hermit crabs, some reefers do not like them, but I think they are a valuable member of your CUC. They are not essential.
1-2 Skunk (Cleaner) Shrimp. I keep them more to watch than for their cleaning abilities.

[Reeferz412]

Reefcleaners.org is a great online store for CUC's. John will hook you up with a sweet deal and more than you need. You can go with a custom setup or just go with a recommended setup. Whatever you do, purchase a step down from what is recommended (ie...instead of 50, go 40 or even 30 gallon CUC setup). John gives tons of extras and I have always been pleased doing service with him.

[Reefmedic79]

+1 to reefcleaners.org, I got a lot of extras from them. I'd venture to say chiding a package a couple steps below your tank size would still be sufficient.

Sent from my future self.

[sponger0]

Originally Posted by JealousKittens

Invertebrates are always helpful,

Lol...this is funny cause mostly CUC are all inverts lmao


As far as how big, i go with half the tank size. So if you have 50 gallons get a CUC of 25. Add more as needed.

[hobbzz]

I would also add slowly, otherwise they starve. 10 astreas kept up in my 40 breeder. I had one turbo but it died, possibly starved because I didn't have much algae. Now I added 8 nassarius in my new 80g. I don't use hermit crabs as they can kill snails for the shells, and emeralds can turn predatory if they don't have enough algae.

[eutimio]

what about fire shrimp?are they any danger to anything?they look very nice IMO and my friend at the LFS told me they are very good cleaners as well...

[hobbzz]

Not a danger to anything. Might steal food from lps, but won't harm anything.