CUC help

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supfoo2005

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 26, 2012
Messages
29
Location
Brookfield, IL
My 20g high FOWLR tank is wrapping up with the nitrogen cycle, and Im about to the point where i need to start thinking about what to stock my tank with as far as CUC goes. Its my first marine tank, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)
 
With the tank being JUST set up, there won't be a whole lot for the CUC to eat, so I'd start slow. I started with a couple snails (cerith and nassarius) and two blue legged hermit crabs. You can add more as the bioload increases. I love the Nassarius snails because of their funny behavior.
A lot of websites will suggest dumping in a ginormous CUC to start off with, but until you have fish, I think that's just creating a recipe for starvation. Just my opinion here. The few snails and crabs did a great job with my new 29 before I started adding things.
 
Yeah i was looking online to see what "packages" were available, and while I looked at them i thought there were way too many things to add at one time!
 
Those packages are WAY too big IMO. Most of them also recommend a sand sifting Starfish, which will starve in a small tank, or in a new tank.
Start with a few snails and hermits and observe the algae. I've already decided that my Astrea snails are freaking awesome with the tank sides and I am getting more of them.
 
I agree with Mac. You don't even need any of those creatures listed as "cuc". I've kept large tanks without them and they were clean tanks. It's all about your tank husbandry. Water changes and a mag float beat snails and crabs any day of the week.
 
I agree also,,i have no inverts in my DT(haven't for years) and all i have in my sump are hermits,but their only purpose is to be trigger and puffer snacks anyway ..CUC's and those packages are just a waste IMO
 
Well my main concerns are the rock and sand bed. I've got a mag float for the sides. Its a staple for me. Used one on all of my freshwater tanks and it makes life so much easier and my floor nice and dry. Lol
 
i have five snails total in my 26 gallon and four nassarius, one crab, two shrimp and two stars. a cuc to me just adds a bit of character to the tank, not just fish and rock. i personally love seeing my nassarius snails come out of the sand at feeding time, and my shrimp are just fasinating, the connection my cleaner shrimp has with my fish is un real
 
Yeah. I wouldn't call them necessary, but they can be useful at times, and are certainly fun to watch!
 
I admit to having a couple small dead spots, and one low flow area. The hermits are always picking the sand clean in there.
 
See i was thinking about that, too. What about just a couple snails and go in the direction of shrimp for the rest?
X--i've got a maxijet and a hob 150gph just for mechanical and a little bit if extra flow. Would you recommend more or less?
 
What kind of shrimp?
mr_X knows way more about the technical stuff than I do. And with a profile pic from Young Frankenstein, how can you NOT listen to the guy?
 
What size maxijet?Your HOB isn't really adding any flow ,,but its good for surface movement ..You could probably add another maxijet on the other end of the tank
 
LOL! That's Marty Feldman as Igor.
I would go with something Stronger than 295 gph(that's the strongest stock maxijet- the mj1200). perhaps a pair of 425 gph koralia nanos or possibly even more....I've never kept a tank smaller than a 30 breeder in the last 10 years, so just going by that.
 
Yeah, same here..I bet the nano section would have a lot of good info on flow rates and pumps to use though
 
All of you guys have given me a lot of great tips to start with! Expect to see me asking a lot more questions now that i know how helpful everyone is :)
 
Just remember, it's EYE-gor, not EE-gor. They were wrong, weren't they?

When I get my sump/fuge built, I'm going to have some pump questions, too. Need to figure out flow rates and how best to distribute them. But that's at least a month off right now.
 
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