Clean up crew?

[sonoma2nv]

Ok i just bought 3 turbo snails,and 10 hermit crabs how many more should i get .I will be getting some of those snails that stir the sand bed to.I have a bad out break of hair alage.But i dont want to add to many so they die when all the stuff is gone.Any other suggestions.Thanks Derrick

 

[sonoma2nv]

sorry i forgot to tell you its for a 55gal with a 33gal sump.Thanks

 

[Ridley]

If I had to do it all over again, I would get one or the other but not both. My hermits have slowly dwindled my snail population down. They kill them and take their shells despite the many loose ones I have placed all over the sand bed...

 

[sonoma2nv]

the hermits i have are very small about 1/2".And the turbo snails are 2".Which snails did they kill?Thanks I might have to move the hermits to the sump then.

 

[IslandCrow]

My crabs have killed one of my turbos, and those were the tiny blue leg hermits, about 1/5 the size of the snail. . .power in numbers! I've replaced about half a dozen trochus snails, though. Most of those were when I was out of town for two weeks. If you're good about flipping them over, the crabs can't get to them. Anyway, I like having both the hermits and the snails. The snails eat up all the diatoms and the crabs gobble up any uneaten food and pretty much whatever else they can get their claws on. As for numbers, I think I have about a dozen snails (turbo and trochus) and at least a dozen hermit crabs (mostly blue leg, but a few red as well). I'm having a hard time finding things like conchs at my LFS, but my cucumber and brittle star seem to do a pretty good job cleaning up the sand.