cleaning crew question

[Evo8]

could this be right?
for a cleaning crew for a 30 G tank from liveaquaria.com you get
10 scarlet reef hermits
15 dwarf blue leg hermits
15 turbo snails
10 Nassarius Snails

that seems a little much for my bio cube 29? would they all be reef safe?

50 bucks for the whole package is that fair?

 

[mr_X]

No way. Way too many. 10 nassarius snails will need a lot of food added to the tank if you want them to live. 15 turbo snails and 14 of them will die of starvation (at least).

 

[Evo8]

Lmao etc are thwy thinking? Maybe I'm reading it wrong I'll post the link in a few

 

[mr_X]

"cleanup crew" is nothing more than an effective way to market livestock. No one really needs crabs and snails to "clean" their tanks. I run a 300 gallon right now with a pair of shrimp, a single crab, and a single turbo snail, all just for diversity, and I wish I didn't put any of them in.
Bottom line is, more eating, pooping, critters will not make the tank any cleaner. If that was the case, why don't we add fish as part of the cleanup crew? Because fish poop out what they eat, just like inverts do.

They say you need to recharge your "cleanup crew" once a year or so...you know why? Because most of them die.

When food is added to the tank, it must be removed by YOU, via protein skimming, water changes, algae growing(in a refugium), and/or other mechanical filtration.
Nothing cleans glass better than a mag float or scraper, and adequate flow should keep the rock and sand bed free of detritus. If you see a lot of uneaten food laying on the bottom, you don't have enough flow, and you are overfeeding.

Save your money for other things.

 

[Evo8]

I think you are a saltwater genius X. you answer all my post with clear knowlege about everything! thanks alot, i appreciate it!
should i add another powerhead to my tank besides the stock one? there is a nice marineland 400GPH on amazon right now for like 15 bucks.

 

[mr_X]

You may very well need another power head, but go for a Hydor koralia or similar. These have a nice wide spread and generally don't suck critters in, since they pull water from a large area, instead of a small hole in the bottom.

 

[Evo8]

You may very well need another power head, but go for a Hydor koralia or similar. These have a nice wide spread and generally don't suck critters in, since they pull water from a large area, instead of a small hole in the bottom.

i could see how that would be bad..LOL will look into them..

of to get some deli shrimp i go! time to kick this cycle off!
you think 1? or 2?

Also is the 400GPH rating good? more? less?

 

[Brilliant_Barbs_21]

i could see how that would be bad..LOL will look into them.. of to get some deli shrimp i go! time to kick this cycle off! you think 1? or 2? Also is the 400GPH rating good? more? less?

Do you plan on getting sps at all? Here's a little thing to go by.
FOWLR: Total GPH should be 30x your tank gallons.
Softies and some LPS: 40x
Softies, LPS, and SPS: 50x
Ex: if you wanted softies, LPS, and SPS, then you would want to go with about 1500 GPH. This is what I live by haha but others may disagree. I picked it up from another member, shirtlessbill.

 

[mr_X]

i could see how that would be bad..LOL will look into them..

of to get some deli shrimp i go! time to kick this cycle off!
you think 1? or 2?

Also is the 400GPH rating good? more? less?

Didn't you just add a bunch of live rock? Is that cured already? You may not need an ammonia source at all.

As for 400 gph..that's weak. You want something stronger. Two of the 600's or 850's I would start with, and go from there.


50 times turnover would be fine but I wouldn't want that out of a single source. 2 smaller power heads maybe. As for the softies/lps/sps rule above, that would need some tweaking IMO. you would not want tremendous flow throughout the entire tank if you had one or two pieces of sps. You would rip your frogspawn to pieces.
Proper placement would be what I would suggest. The same goes for lighting.

 

[Evo8]

I added love rock yes..it had die off though..the Guy had it in covered trash bins in saltwater with no flow. So you think I'll be OK without the shrimp

 

[Evo8]

I went with an aqueon 500 I love it its super small..I'll probly add another when I start getting corals..oh it was half off too! 22 bucks..and I got 50 gallons worth of salt for 15!.

 

[Evo8]

Pics didn't attach aqueon 500 PH

 

[mr_X]

Those aqueons are pretty decent, but you have to disconnect them every so often and re-apply the suction cup, or they fall off. I use a bunch of the 2400's.

 

[Evo8]

It seems like it suctioned the crap out of the side..Lol.