Clean up crew

[Ab129]

DT has been cycled, dry rock and sand, added my first fish end of December but haven’t had any algae because I haven’t had lights until last Thursday. Bought a pair of radion xr15sand have them set on one of the preprogrammed cycles, “basic reef tank”, I think.
How long should it take for algae to start blooming and when should I add CUC?
Was probably just going to buy from liveaquaria even though it seems like their packages contain a lot of critters.
And does the crew have to be QTd?

[kiMxD]

Originally Posted by Ab129

DT has been cycled, dry rock and sand, added my first fish end of December but haven’t had any algae because I haven’t had lights until last Thursday. Bought a pair of radion xr15sand have them set on one of the preprogrammed cycles, “basic reef tank”, I think.
How long should it take for algae to start blooming and when should I add CUC?
Was probably just going to buy from liveaquaria even though it seems like their packages contain a lot of critters.
And does the crew have to be QTd?

Quarantine, yes. Quarantine everything you put in your DT if you don't want to transport parasites and other nasty things into it.

About the clean up crew, I'd wait a little more to add them, you should go through your first diatom bloom pretty soon, given the fact that you have proper lighting.
If I were you, I'd still get the cleanup crew and have them in a separate tank in quarantine, when you get your first algae bloom they should be ready to jump in your DT.

Good luck!

[linkedsilas]

What size is the tank? A package may be too many

[Ab129]

What would I feed them in QT?
My QT is bare bottom and uncycled.
And what should I look for as far as signs that there is some problem that would prevent me from adding to DT. I mean if I get a pack of 50 critters I would expect to lose at least a couple, no?
DT is 75 gal 30 gal sump

[Jekerry]

I just added snails when I added my first fish. Don’t know if that is right or not. None of them died and some are enormous now. I just have snails and conch. They seem to keep things clear of nasty stuff. Oh and a pistol shrimp when I added a goby.

[Uncle99]

I only use snails for CUC.
That way I don't have crabs eating snails, corals and other slow movers, or urchins redistributing my rock.
I concentrate on low nutrient water and a balanced photoperiod, the the little algae I see, I take out by hand.

[benjammin03]

Originally Posted by kiMxD

Quarantine, yes. Quarantine everything you put in your DT if you don't want to transport parasites and other nasty things into it.

About the clean up crew, I'd wait a little more to add them, you should go through your first diatom bloom pretty soon, given the fact that you have proper lighting.
If I were you, I'd still get the cleanup crew and have them in a separate tank in quarantine, when you get your first algae bloom they should be ready to jump in your DT.

Good luck!

So what should you look for when you QT a clean up crew? Most treatments you would use (if you do treat your QT) are harmful to clean up crews, so what things should I try to notice just by observation?