Looking for a cleaning crew for my new tank that I just set up. It's 180 plus sump and was wanting astrea and blue leg. I have about 200 lbs of rock and 150 lbs of sand. How many of each should I buy. I saw 100 of each from saltwaterfish.com for about 110 with shipping. If that is a good amount for the tank and a good price I'll get them.
Cleaning crew help
- Thread starter MRGolfo
- Start date
Reefer Wannabe
Premium Member
Personally, I'd skip the blue leg and get several types of snails (astrea, cerith, nassarius, turbo), a few peppermint shrimp, a couple of cleaner shrimp, and a few emerald crabs. I'm not sure on #'s I'd say at least 100 snails. You don't want to get too many. You can always get more later. HTH
drummereef
Team RC
I've always had good luck with snails. Astrea, Turbo, Nassarius, and Ceriths are my fav. 
saltyunderground
In Memoriam
No sand sifting snails for at least three months. You need to wait until the sand is very alive and you are feeding fish in your tank for those.
First look at what types of algae you have that you need to control. Then research a snail that eats it and is good at righting itself. Astrea snails are terrible at righting themselves. If you get any hermits, the astrea snails will become empty shells.
Buy only enough to control your algae. 100 of anything seems extreme to me. They will run out of food unless you have a lot of algae.
First look at what types of algae you have that you need to control. Then research a snail that eats it and is good at righting itself. Astrea snails are terrible at righting themselves. If you get any hermits, the astrea snails will become empty shells.
Buy only enough to control your algae. 100 of anything seems extreme to me. They will run out of food unless you have a lot of algae.
I bought about $60 worth of different snails from premium aquatics. They started to die off from the beginning and totally nuked my tank. At least I know how well my skimmer can work. The reason I bought online was for the variety they offer. From now on, I will buy from lfs instead. When you buy such a large quantity, they will give you a price break.
geoxman
Premium Member
As I stated before the delete you could always contact an LFS, they are slow this time of year and they might work out a deal with you for a whole clean up crew; as well as give you advice to what might be best for your situation. There are a # of great LFS that need support this time of year. You might pay a couple $ more but their advice and convenience makes up for shipping$ JMHO and good luck!
The LFS are stickied at the top of the forum
The LFS are stickied at the top of the forum
