David and Goliath...and a new piece of LR...

[Magnus]

Hehehe, so I spoke with my LFS guy, and he said I'm probably ready to add a small clean up crew to my tank. So I bought 2 emerald crabs, and 5 blue legged hermit crabs. (Oh and Goliath is rather large, proably an inch and a half acorss...whereas David...not so big, maybe half an inch! Hence the names)

Wow, they ate a LOT of the algae...ate almost all of the string algae that was growing, and some of the good purple coraline that was spreading lol.

Anyway, here are some pics. Also, the new piece of live rock I purchased has this clear, kind of grey "mass" on it, about the size of a dime. Any ideas?

[melosu58]

It almost looks like a sponge. Great looking pics.

[roka64]

Nice! That clear stuff is probably a harmless filter feeding sponge, but it is hard to tell from that pic.

[Magnus]

Sweet!

[2cvbloke]

Call it Spongebob!!!

[Menagerie]

Great additions to the tank!

[Magnus]

Question...all that digested algae is turning into a LOT or crab poop! Seriously, it's like someone put a few teaspoons of chocolate sprinkles in my tank lol. Will something take care of that, or do I need to clean it?

[roka64]

Sounds like you need a few snails.

[Magnus]

Like turbo snails? They'll eat crab poop? How many would you recommend for my tank set up?

[roka64]

I personally love nassarius snails, not only do they eat poop but they also turn over your sand bed. Wait till you feed the tank and they pop up from under the sand. Ceriths are another of my favs along with margaritas.
Maybe start with 3-5 of each depending on the size of your tank.
Make sure you have some larger shells for your hermits to grow into. You can get empty shells from a Ben Franklin's or other hobby stores.

[Magnus]

Roger!