CUC For Mixed 120 Reef

[gottalikesharks]

It appears that my tank has cycled, and I just did a 50% water change, tested the water a few hours after restarting and all looks pretty good.

Temp 78
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 1 - thought this would be higher, was at least 20ppm 2 weeks ago, added 100ml of instant ocean natural nitrate reducer, must have helped
PH 8.3
Alkalinity 103 - with recalled Hanna regent
Salinity 1.026
Calcium 406
Phosphate 0.02
Magnesium 1400

So what would be a good start for a clean up crew?

 

[USC-fan]

I would just say it really doesnt matter too much. I just wouldnt go crazy buying a ton of stuff. Really a little goes a long way.

 

[gottalikesharks]

When I went to my LFS to start adding my clean up crew they asked me why I would want to add them first when there is nothing in a new tank for them to clean up, said to do a couple of clowns first.

 

[JohnnyHildo]

i'm by no means an experienced reefer either so take this with a grain of salt but i kind of agree with your lfs. to me that adding a bunch of random creatures to your tank for problems you might not even have seems counter-productive.
when i add my cuc in probably a week or so it'll be methodically pieced together so i'm not needlessly starving off and wasting a living creature.

 

[cloak]

For that size tank I would probably go with 8-10 Trochus snails and maybe 5 Scarlet hermit crabs. Use something like a Mag-Float to keep the glass clean and either stir up or vacuum your sand bed on a regular basis. (preferably right before a water change) A little elbow grease can go a long way sometimes. GL.

 

[scooter31707]

Their may not be a lot of stuff for them to eat, but you can rubberband Nori to a piece of rock and let them feed off of that.

 

[jstack]

small batch's

 

[A.Astore]

Good way to look at it is it is a nice SMALL bioload to add first. Even if you put the clowns in with the initial CUC you still need them. The clowns will release waste as well as not eat every single thing you put in that tank. I put a mixture of 10 snails, 10 hermits, and an urchin as my initial crew and had no issues with them at all. They all made it and I was simply feeding the tank as I was when ghost feeding for the cycle. The problem is found when people go and buy dozens of snails and hermits and throw them in then don't see why they all die of starvation.

 

[CStrickland]

I think a good starting point is to go to reefcleaners.org to see what they recommend, and divide in half. You can choose between crab-free or not options. They have a lot of good info on the diff critters too, like whether they are carnivores or omnivores, if there's a certain algae they prefer, etc. Then you can buy from them, or just use that list to shop at your local if you want to build up slower.