30g reef stocking ideas......

[Ice Man]

I am starting 30gallon reef tank. It's gonna be my first saltwater tank. I would like some stocking advice. What kind of clean up crew do I need?
I have 40 lb of live rock and 30 lb of base coral stone and 40 lb o live sand. Tank is cycling for about a week using ammonia. I also have 10 gallon refugium where I am planing to put macro algae and some live rock.

 

[Schism]

I am starting 30gallon reef tank. It's gonna be my first saltwater tank. I would like some stocking advice. What kind of clean up crew do I need?
I have 40 lb of live rock and 30 lb of base coral stone and 40 lb o live sand. Tank is cycling for about a week using ammonia. I also have 10 gallon refugium where I am planing to put macro algae and some live rock.

Well clean up crew can include anything really. You just wanna try and have all the basics covered, such as hair algae eaters, film algae eaters, detritivores that eat waste and leftover food, and guys that can clean the tight spaces like shrimp and brittle stars. For example a good pack for a 30 gallon in my opinion would be:

2 brittle stars
2 cleaner shrimp
2 mexican turbo snails
8 nassarius snails
20 blue or red leg hermits
10-20 other snails such as nerites, ceriths, astreas.

That would probably be a good place to start. Many thing you can sub in depending on your preferences and compatibility with other livestock.

 

[Ice Man]

Well clean up crew can include anything really. You just wanna try and have all the basics covered, such as hair algae eaters, film algae eaters, detritivores that eat waste and leftover food, and guys that can clean the tight spaces like shrimp and brittle stars. For example a good pack for a 30 gallon in my opinion would be:

2 brittle stars
2 cleaner shrimp
2 mexican turbo snails
8 nassarius snails
20 blue or red leg hermits
10-20 other snails such as nerites, ceriths, astreas.

That would probably be a good place to start. Many thing you can sub in depending on your preferences and compatibility with other livestock.

20 hermits and 20 snails sounds awfully a lot for 30g. Do they have to be fed with something? Or should I wait until some algae and other stuf grow in a tank before buying cuc?

 

[Schism]

20 hermits and 20 snails sounds awfully a lot for 30g. Do they have to be fed with something? Or should I wait until some algae and other stuf grow in a tank before buying cuc?

It depends what you want. You can obviously go with less. And cuc feeds themselves for the most part. Most people get a cuc before fish.

1 hermit per gallon etc is often the recommendation so the 20 i suggest were 10 less.