CUC help

[brcolli2]

I am very new to the hobby, and a new member to Wamas. My tank is about 2 months old, and I think I should start looking into a clean up crew. 80 gallon DT (48" x 24" x 16"), 40 gallon sump. I have a 1.5" sand bed (carib sea fiji pink), and I started with 80 pounds of dry rock, and about 15 pounds of live rock. I am starting to get a good amount of growth on my dry rock and my sand bed. Don't know if any other information would be helpful.

 

Couple questions. Where do you guys feel is the best place to get a CUC? Seen a lot of recommendations for reef cleaners, ccritters, and reefs2go. Should I just get one of their cleaner packages? Since my tank is new, and I started with dry rock would it be best to get a small CUC now, and add more as needed?

 

Last couple questions. I am leaning towards no crabs, but what are peoples thoughts on starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers, and conchs?

 

Sorry for so many questions at once, and thanks in advance for the help.

 

- Brian

[basser9]

I would get the 75gal quick crew for 50 from reefcleaners.

From any lfs pick up 5 LARGE MEXICAN TURBOS and 2 Tiger counches

that should be perfect.

Adding 2 very small red mitrax crabs for any bubble algea that may pop up

is wise also.

[zygote2k]

be careful when buying conchs- sometimes crown conchs are mixed in and they are a known snail predator.

 

an easy cleanup crew to combat the beginning of the algae stage for a 75g tank could be this:

25 Cerith Snails, 25 Astrea Snails, a pair of Mithrax crabs(M/F), 50 tiny blue leg hermits, 1 donkey dung cuke, 6 peppermint shrimp.

this combination is a safe mix that generally won't eat each other and should live for at least a year and will consume most types of algae and if there are any Aiptasia in the near future (WAMAS freebies) the peppermints will make them disappear.

[OldReefer]

be careful when buying conchs- sometimes crown conchs are mixed in and they are a known snail predator.

 

an easy cleanup crew to combat the beginning of the algae stage for a 75g tank could be this:

25 Cerith Snails, 25 Astrea Snails, a pair of Mithrax crabs(M/F), 50 tiny blue leg hermits, 1 donkey dung cuke, 6 peppermint shrimp.

this combination is a safe mix that generally won't eat each other and should live for at least a year and will consume most types of algae and if there are any Aiptasia in the near future (WAMAS freebies) the peppermints will make them disappear.

 

+1. Rob is wise...

 

I tried going crab-less, but eventually broke down and bought a ton of those tiny blue legs. They are amazing cleaners and do not seem to wipe out the pod population like the bigger ones. The Mithrax crabs are only real cure for bubble algae, and some of that is inevitable.

 

A couple side comments.. I would dump in a bunch of pods at this point as well. They are great to have around for fussy fish and LPS to eat. It is tough to get a big population established after you have a bunch of fish. It is easy to order a bag of them now with your CUC.

 

You asked about starfish and urchins....

 

Little brittle starfish normally come with the live rock. They tend to really over populate and don't seem to do much, I am not big on buying extras. I would not go with big brittle starfish because they tend to be fish predictors. Pretty starfish like Linkias do not do a lot of cleaning and need a very stable tank. Think about them next year.

 

Urchins are like a " nuclear option" for algae. They work extremely well, but they will uproot every frag in your tank at least once a week. They are a great choice in a fish- only tank.

 

Make sure you seed your sand bed now. I got complacent about this on my last tank, and in two years the sand bed sey up like a stone. Your sand bed should be full of worms and critters it you want it to stay functional.

[zygote2k]

FWIW, Marine Scene usually has fresh Gulf Live Sand. I'd recommend getting about 10-15# of it to seed the existing sand.

All sorts of critters are in this sand- urchins, cukes, shrimp, starfish, pods, etc.

[armydoc]

I've ordered two CUC from reef cleaner. No problems. Only issue is that if you add the crabs, shipping gets steep. I'm sure a LFS could provide the same stock at decent pricing.

[Steve175]

Hard to go wrong with the advice above. I agree that, at this stage, I would skip any starfish. Urchins are helpful if you are confident in how secure your frags are glued and if you don't mind regluing them on occasion.

[brcolli2]

Thanks guys for all the advise. So far I have added two bottles of tiger pods, and 2, 500 pods from reefs2go. I added 2 red mandarins before my pod population was established. So I am afraid I am going to have a hard time establishing pods. I do have a fuge section in my sump. Right now it only has rock and some sea lettuce. Would I benefit from adding sand (maybe some from an established tank)?

[Tracy G]

I will tell you if you order from reef cleaners you will always get some blue legged hermits. I have ordered 3 times so far snail only and got 3 or 4 each time. Not a bad thing I love those little guys!

[howaboutme]

Not to hijack this thread but I am considering ordering my CUC package from reef cleaners (I ordered my base rock from them and know they are very good at customer service) but am not sure I want to insert the "full" complement of CUC's at such an early stage of my tanks life for fear of them starving or me needing to do addition feeding just to keep them alive long enough to do what they are suppose to do w/ a full complement of livestock..Not sure what other's experiences have been in this situation. I'm going back and forth on crabs too.

[jackers]

Email reefcleaners, he'll put together the perfect package for you. Very easy to deal with and he adds more than you pay for. I highly recommend him...