Cleaning crew plans

[X the Outsider]

Now that I have a peaceful tank, and somewhat of an inkling of what I'm doing I'm going to be assemblying a cleaning crew to help me out. Here's my ideas, and if you have any suggestions go ahead and add them. I probably won't start this until after I get the rest of my Christmas shopping done.

Turbo snails (3)
Sand Shifter stars (2)
Chocolate Chip stars (3)
Astrea snails (2)

I was looking at shrimp as well, but I'm not sure on putting iodine into my tank. Mainly I'm looking for coral scavengers, and algae eaters. This will be for the tank listed below.

 

[scuba_steve]

dont think it a good idea to have stars in that size tank let alone 5

 

[phases99]

I would skip the stars also.
Astraea's, ceriths and nassarius are my favorite snails.
Mexican red tip hermits do not bother anything and are good scavengers.
If you do regular water changes you should not need iodine supplementation for your shrimp. But be aware that cleaner shrimp can annoy the heck out of corals, especially when trying to feed them.

 

[lando]

I agree. Way too many stars in a 29. I woul skip the CC stars all together. They have a tendency to toppel rock work and eat corals (if you plan to add tem). You may be able to get by with one sand sifting star in a 29 gal but they can get pretty big. I only have one sand sifting in my 72 gal. (along with several tiny britles that came in on LR but I do not count them). Stick with the snails and crabs.

 

[X the Outsider]

I'll skip the stars. I might think about the sand sifter, but I'll check the size first.

I do thirty percent water changes every two weeks unless needed sooner. I did one earlier this week because of the LR I added. I don't plan on putting any coral in my tank. I don't want to get into corals until I get a bigger tank. Thanks for the advice.

 

[quarryshark]

The sand sifters would starve to death. They live on pods, worms and such and a 29 just could not supply enough. How about a small serpent?

 

[X the Outsider]

I was reading that sand sifters burrow into your substrate, and eat left over food. Maybe I read wrong, but I thought it was on marine depot or live aqauria.

 

[quarryshark]

well I have a 210 and had 2 of them. Now I only have one, the other did OK for a while, but I don't think there was enough to support both. My pod population was seriously reduced too. its building up, but its taking a while.

 

[aquafreak]

correct me if wrong but some hermits should help keep the algae (you don't want) down in various places and they are quite hardy.

 

[phases99]

correct me if wrong but some hermits should help keep the algae (you don't want) down in various places and they are quite hardy.

You are correct. I like the red tip Hermits because they haven't harmed any snails and supposedly eat Cyano too.