Do I really need 150 snails?

[Frogmanx82]

I have a 90 gallon tank and went to reefcleaners.org to see what they recommended and its 150 snails plus 22 hermit crabs. I'm ok with the number of hermits but 150 snails seems like its going to lead to shells all over the place. The snails are mostly cerith and some nerite

It seems overkill on my tank which has been set up a long time but I had a leak and had to get a new tank and new sand. I'm not sure the tank would support than big a clean up crew without special feeding. I figured instead I would just add the CUC slowly depending on what was going on in the tank. Also I have tended to go with astrea, trochus and nassarius snails.

Can anyone comment on their experience with getting these stock CUCs from reefcleaners.org

 

[mcgyvr]

If your tank is an algae nightmare then their numbers will clean it up fast..
(and likely half will die after thats over)..

But in general I recommend getting a quick crew rated at half your tanks size from there..
So a 40-45 gallon crew is just fine.. unless your tank is an utter mess..

I also recommend NOT going with hermits at all and doing snail only crews too..

Maybe just pick up a few from your local fish store.. No more than maybe half a dozen for your tank at this time if that..
Then WILL go after your snails when the available food is dwindling and they will eat/kill/steal their shells,etc...

 

[Superstretch18]

Definitely overkill. Especially in a new tank, you might want to start with 1/10 that amount. You can always add more, but the die off from those big batches of cleaners can be significant and just add a ton of waste to the tank.

I don't think I've ever had more than 1 cleaner (snail/crab/whatever) for every 3 or so gallons; most often less than that.

 

[Wazzel]

No you do not. Better to under stock on snails and add as needed. In a new tank lots will starve and die.

 

[Frogmanx82]

Thanks, I have a small crew now with only 5 astrea, 3 trochus, 2 nassarius and a hermit. I like hermits but I think I'll just keep them to a minimum and go with mostly snails. I'll take the slow add approach and target about 20 and see how they do.

Can anyone comment on cerith or nerite vs the ones I have?

 

[mikee b]

In short no you dont i have 3

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[ssgss gogeta]

Do I really need 150 snails?

I have never understood this ridiculous number of clean up crew that gets recommended. I've always gone with a few turbos a few hermits and a few stombus. If I feel I need more I add more


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[Bill Nye]

I only have two trochus snails and a few mini ceriths that seem to be self sustaining. I find snails really don't do too much and I end up doing most of the cleaning anyway.

 

[HUNGRYOVEN]

Usually it's counterintuitive as to sustain the larger clean up crew, you must feed much more, which means more nutirents in the tank than when you started.

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[billdogg]

Do you need 150 snails? IMHO, only if your tank is 1000g or so. In my well established 120, I have maybe 6 or 8 nassarius, a similar number of ceriths, a few trochus, and 1 scarlet reef hermit. As mentioned above, I would strongly suggest that you avoid any of the larger hermit species. They will become predatory towards other snails.

 

[brett559]

You don't.

Watch this:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UjXHq6oie6s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[anbosu]

I don't think you need 150 necessarily, but if they are dwarf cerith snails they aren't going to do much damage unless you have a ton of them.

 

[jda]

The detritus eating snails will waste away fast with new sand. So will a cucumber.

Nerites from Florida are my favorites - they move fast, eat a lot and are hardy. They leave cool egg strings all over your tank.

It is better to go slow than have them starve.

 

[jda]

BTW - I have no idea what hermits are good for except executing snails for their shells. The emeralds do just as good of a job of scavenging larger items. I avoid hermit anymore.

 

[HUNGRYOVEN]

BTW - I have no idea what hermits are good for except executing snails for their shells. The emeralds do just as good of a job of scavenging larger items. I avoid hermit anymore.

I agree. Hermits do more harm than good IMHO.

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[d0ughb0y]

The sales strategy is you order 150 snails, and they send you like 500 snails and you think you hit the jackpot and go praise them online and convince people to buy from them. Then the snails start dying and foul up the tank and start causing problems they were purchased to solve to begin with. I speak from experience. It happened to me.

I have since just kept 1 snail in my 60 gallon for years and it is fine.

 

[manfrog]

I don't go by the 1 per gallon rule but I added a few more, Trochus, than I had in the past when I started my last bare bottom tank. I'm pleased with the result and can see the benefits of going with a +1 approach to snails in a BB.

 

[ktownhero]

Reef Cleaners' recommendations are ridiculous, definitely ignore them. They also don't respond to emails which was a big turn-off for me so I decided to go with stuff from my LFS. Go with a much smaller package and add more late if necessary. I have a 90 gallon and I only have about ~15 astrea snails, ~8 nassarius snails (which might be dead, I never see more than 1), 1 fighting conch, 10 hermits, 2 tuxedo urchins, an emerald crab and a serpent star. Tank is constantly spotless.