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Cleaning Crew
- Thread starter RFD4
- Start date
if ya live close to toms river go into aqua oceans and have him order ya extra c.u.c for his next order. im sure he would give ya a good deal on that many and his snails are only 1.00 each. as far as what to get i would say about 20 heamits and as many snails as ya can. i dont like too many hermits, they destroy your snail population....just my 2cents
going to 2nd the reefcleaners.org for that big a tank based off of many reviews on nano-reef.com & the owner john maloney posts alot on there & responds well. Also he has a very nice selection of macro algae & gives away random critters occasionlly on nano-reef, most recently a mantis shrimp I believe.
RFD4 said:
If the tank is a FOWLR, what sort of fish are in there and would any of them eat your cleanup crew? Are they not reef safe because they eat corals, or are they not reef safe because they eat inverts? I would hate to see you buy a cleanup crew, and basically be buying food.
Just like mnat said: As with everything else fish, coral, LCD TV, DSLR camera... Do plenty of research on what the new addition would bring to the table. Then find out if that fits in your general scheme of things. If it does, look for the best deal ... Price and word of mouth should not be the driving factors in a purchase.
Here's my recent experience/research on CUC for my 40G invert tank:
http://reefcleaners.org/ is a good place to get a CUC. Some of us got our shipments a couple of days back and none of us were unhappy with their diversity and the quantity (AND THE PRICE !! ;D).
Most new aquarist articles tell you to stay away from all hermit crabs (unless you want a couple for show). Snails are really good at cleaning all most sorts of algae. A boat load of ceriths is pretty good just by themselves. Nerites are really voracious too. But dont get snails like limpets that cant right themselves. Also do not get the really small snails (dwarf ceriths are fine) since you would run the risk of bigger animals munching on them. I have had mexican turbos before, and would add a couple in a heart beat if I see them on a deal.
For detrivores: copepods and nassarius snails should do the trick along with some starfish. Sorry havent researched stars yet so cant go into details. Whatever research I did, told me to stay away from bristle worms, amphipods and isopods since they would irritate corals to the point of becoming unhealthy, and then eat them.
Copepods help with cyano blooms as well if populations are allowed to thrive in your DT . Do not get tiggerpods since they are temperate water fauna and would not do well in your tropical marine aquarium. I would advise getting harpaticoid copepods, since the flow of your aquarium usually kills off calanoid (or any other free swimming ) copepods. http://www.oceanpods.com/ or http://www.ipsf.com/index.html are a good places to get pods all though I would trust the former a little more since Dr. Rhodes responds to emails herself and everything about her webiste shouts out "Reef-nerd !!" (what I mean is it doesn't look like a marketing gimmick).
.. Well that blurp was all the knowledge I have about CUC (No it was not the abridged version .. It's all of it !!).
Wish you good luck.
Here's my recent experience/research on CUC for my 40G invert tank:
http://reefcleaners.org/ is a good place to get a CUC. Some of us got our shipments a couple of days back and none of us were unhappy with their diversity and the quantity (AND THE PRICE !! ;D).
Most new aquarist articles tell you to stay away from all hermit crabs (unless you want a couple for show). Snails are really good at cleaning all most sorts of algae. A boat load of ceriths is pretty good just by themselves. Nerites are really voracious too. But dont get snails like limpets that cant right themselves. Also do not get the really small snails (dwarf ceriths are fine) since you would run the risk of bigger animals munching on them. I have had mexican turbos before, and would add a couple in a heart beat if I see them on a deal.
For detrivores: copepods and nassarius snails should do the trick along with some starfish. Sorry havent researched stars yet so cant go into details. Whatever research I did, told me to stay away from bristle worms, amphipods and isopods since they would irritate corals to the point of becoming unhealthy, and then eat them.
Copepods help with cyano blooms as well if populations are allowed to thrive in your DT . Do not get tiggerpods since they are temperate water fauna and would not do well in your tropical marine aquarium. I would advise getting harpaticoid copepods, since the flow of your aquarium usually kills off calanoid (or any other free swimming ) copepods. http://www.oceanpods.com/ or http://www.ipsf.com/index.html are a good places to get pods all though I would trust the former a little more since Dr. Rhodes responds to emails herself and everything about her webiste shouts out "Reef-nerd !!" (what I mean is it doesn't look like a marketing gimmick).
.. Well that blurp was all the knowledge I have about CUC (No it was not the abridged version .. It's all of it !!).
Wish you good luck.
Agree w/ everythign Gogol said except the bristle worms, personally I've had no problems w/ them and I have a few really big ones that I occasionally see, they just come out, scarf up some pellets if they fall near where they live and go back in to not be seen again for long periods. I wouldn't go add em, but I don't hunt them out & kill them either.