clean-up crew, that is.
Yes, you do need more for a bigger tank...but! for a NEW tank you don't need more than a few. Why? Because you can't feed them yet.
The 'cleaner packages' the stores sell are nice for a refurb in an older tank: yes, there is attrition, and tanks increase in crud that the CUC can help you with.
But understand what a CUC actually does. They're not there to eat your waving fields of green algae (fix your phosphate level instead). They're there as undertakers, if something dies, as things will, and meanwhile they have to eat, so you have to factor them into your feeding, without overcharging your tank ith invisible nutrients---things you can't see, but that are floating about for microlife.
Your tank is not a box filled with pure water and only fish. It has a pretty active life under a microscope, creeping crawlies and bugs of all sorts, and it SHOULD be that way. Your shelly CUC is only the top layer of that activity that goes on mostly unobserved on the microscopic level.
A mature tank does have layers and layers of activity, from honking big snails to bristleworms (yes, they're good: a dollar a worm if you have to buy them.) and on down to copepods, amphipods, (look like swimming rolly-polies) and a few slightly pesty species, and on down to the microscope.
But developing that takes time. So start with a few simple crabs (some are bad mannered: go for scarlets and little blue-legs---and provide them enough spare shells so that they aren't desperately seeking snail shells: you wouldn't like a pair of size 5 pants, eh? So give your crabs some alternatives to snail-murder and everybody will live long and prosper.
For snails, avoid the simple pointy ones: they're not built for crawling on sand, and literally fall over and become crab food because they can't get a grip on the sand. Go for ceriths and snails with a classic winde-ey shape. And only a few at first, like maybe 3 of each for a 30 gallon tank, and work your way up to more as your tank begins to get that lived-in, scruffy look.
Getting an under-sand cleaner is a good thing: gobies that burrow can do this, as can bristleworms. I don't trust cucumbers: some are toxic if demised, and they are somewhat delicate. Just---if you notice your CUC is not keeping up with the debris, you could need more, but don't go crazy, eh? Also don't worry if your CUC steps on your corals---they're llight, and don't do any harm.
HTH..
Yes, you do need more for a bigger tank...but! for a NEW tank you don't need more than a few. Why? Because you can't feed them yet.
The 'cleaner packages' the stores sell are nice for a refurb in an older tank: yes, there is attrition, and tanks increase in crud that the CUC can help you with.
But understand what a CUC actually does. They're not there to eat your waving fields of green algae (fix your phosphate level instead). They're there as undertakers, if something dies, as things will, and meanwhile they have to eat, so you have to factor them into your feeding, without overcharging your tank ith invisible nutrients---things you can't see, but that are floating about for microlife.
Your tank is not a box filled with pure water and only fish. It has a pretty active life under a microscope, creeping crawlies and bugs of all sorts, and it SHOULD be that way. Your shelly CUC is only the top layer of that activity that goes on mostly unobserved on the microscopic level.
A mature tank does have layers and layers of activity, from honking big snails to bristleworms (yes, they're good: a dollar a worm if you have to buy them.) and on down to copepods, amphipods, (look like swimming rolly-polies) and a few slightly pesty species, and on down to the microscope.
But developing that takes time. So start with a few simple crabs (some are bad mannered: go for scarlets and little blue-legs---and provide them enough spare shells so that they aren't desperately seeking snail shells: you wouldn't like a pair of size 5 pants, eh? So give your crabs some alternatives to snail-murder and everybody will live long and prosper.
For snails, avoid the simple pointy ones: they're not built for crawling on sand, and literally fall over and become crab food because they can't get a grip on the sand. Go for ceriths and snails with a classic winde-ey shape. And only a few at first, like maybe 3 of each for a 30 gallon tank, and work your way up to more as your tank begins to get that lived-in, scruffy look.
Getting an under-sand cleaner is a good thing: gobies that burrow can do this, as can bristleworms. I don't trust cucumbers: some are toxic if demised, and they are somewhat delicate. Just---if you notice your CUC is not keeping up with the debris, you could need more, but don't go crazy, eh? Also don't worry if your CUC steps on your corals---they're llight, and don't do any harm.
HTH..
