New Cleaning Crew.

[MikeyBoy]

My new tank will be here in a week.
I will have a 215 Brick and about another 100 gallons of fuge, sump water.


What is the best way to get a total clean up crew for a new system, and when should they be introduced.

Is there any rule of thumbs that can be used on a gallon per critter basis?

Thanks experts.

[NaCl_H2O]

Mike, I would say you are a long way from a cleanup crew. But, how about a few questions:

Type of tank: Reef, FO, FOWLR, ?
Type of filtration: LR, Wet/Dry, Canister, combination?
Skimmer?
Turn Over (Sump pump + closed loops)?
If LR: Cured or Uncured (I prefer Uncured, but takes much longer)
Bottom: Bare, Deep SB, Shallow SB
Water source: RO/DI or Tap

What else guys?

First, you need to get it all plumbed, sand bed added, salt water mixed & circulating, and skimmer (if present) broken in.

Depending on type of sand and how maticulously you wash it, the sand cloud could last days and require a good cleaning of the filtration system when it is done.

Give yourself a week or two to work out all the "Kinks" in your plumbing, etc.

Next, add LR - if uncured, the curing process "In Tank" will take 3-6 weeks depending on your skimmer & filtration. Anticipate some algae cycles. Also, you want your lightng up and running at this time to get the algae to run it's course. If you don't have an RO/DI unit, and are using tap water, the cycle will take MUCH longer due to the nutrients (Phosphates) in the tap water (Better to buy an RO/DI now ... you will eventually).

Once you have added LR, start checking the Nitrogen cycle (Ammonia -to- Nitrite -to- Nitrate) - do a google search for "Tank Cycling" or "Nitrogen Cycle" if you aren't familiar. Basically, Ammonia will spike, followed by Nitrite, followed by Nitrate. You may see a secondary Ammonia and/or Nitrite spike depending on how often you test. After Nitrates are high, do a 25% to 50% water change. After a week or so of all Nitrogen levels at or near zero (esp Ammonia), you can start adding the cleanup crew.

During this curing period, siphon out ditrius on the botom of the tank, and even algae if it is really blooming. Don't tear up the algae and let if float throught the system (to the extent possible) - that will just make it worse.

A week or so after the cleanup crew (if Nitrogen cycle is still in good shape) you could add some algae grazers (Tangs, etc.) to help.

When you get ready for a cleanup crew - buy as many Turbo snails and hermits as you can afford - Aquatic Warehouse made me a great deal on a quantity buy of Turbos & Hermits.

Plan to spend at least a few hours per day on the system while it is cycleing - not that "Maintenance" requires that much work, but there will be pumps or plumbing, or whatevr that isn;t working exactly as you want - better to change it now than after everything is "settled"

Oh yea, and enjoy :-D

[GaryP]

Mike,

I believe CB Pets has a good deal on clean-up critters as well. I think they are about $.75/ea. That's comparable to most online packages and you don't have to worry about shipping.

Gary

[Ram_Puppy]

What you get for your cleanup crew can also come down to personal preference, for instance, I do not use blue or red leg hermits, not only because I am tyring to keep only pacific species, but because they have been known to misbehave on occassion, instead, I used Dwarf Zebra Hermits (which CB Pets tries to keep in stock), or Sam offers as a 'left handed hermit' (I think) from Zen Reef. I have never had a problem with these, and Mark at CB pets feels the same way, they are awesome little crabs, and if you keep them alive and provide good sized shells, they can actually get larger than people think. Electric BLue and Electric orange crabs eat a wide variety of nuisance algae, I loved mine, but one of them was a territorial punk and killed the rest. :( but they are good cleaners, along with halloween hermits as well.

MIthrax, or Emeral Crabs are good at eating the worst stuff, bubble algae, but have been known to pick on fish and inverts. I am trying to get some red mithrax from the pacific through various sources.

As far as snails, each type does something different. Nassarius burrow into your sand bed and stir/aerate this, it's a very important action if you plan on maintaining a healthy sand bed. I have a few super tongans I really like, and there are smaller ones for sale around town as well. Turbo Snails (which is the only non pacific critters I have (2x) are great at gorgin, as far as I have seen, on diatoms and any other film like algae, nerites are good for this too. Trochus which are pacific (look a lot like astrea) do about the same job, not quite as fast, but don't get as large and have the tendency to bulldoze.

Some people reccomend tiger cukes for sand stirring, along with queen conchs, and sand sifting gobies, your cleanup crew does not have to be relegated to the traditional crab/snail mix.

I would highly reccomend getting a donation of live sand from someone here on MAAST, to seed the tank not only with the uber important bacteria, but with copepods, Bristle Worms, and the like. Failing that, you can get some Garf Grunge, or make an order from www.ipsf.com.

Hope that helps.

[MikeyBoy]

Thanks for all the good info.
I acutually have about 100lbs of live rock and about 100lbs of live sand that was in my 105 when it broke.
It is in a 55g with pumps and skimmer right now, waiting for my 215 to show up.

I was just wondering once my new tank gets here and I add the RO/Di water, sand and rocks I have, how long I should wait before adding cleaning crew. I already have some snails and crabs that were in the tank before, but I am not sure how many have survived.

Also, is there any laymans formula that says how many of these cleaners you should add per gallon, assuming I will be running a reef system with live rock.

The tank I have ordered is a RR 215 from Oceanic. I am going to see Dan today about a big sump and Fuge.
I have both now but wanted to upgrade.

The info on different kinds was great reading.
Thanks everyone...

Mike

[GaryP]

Like someone said earlier, wait until you have completely cycled. Snail in particular are sensitive to nitrite and ammonia. Let the bacteria and algae do their thing before trying to add any macro critters.

gary

[Ram_Puppy]

I agree with Gary, along with the idea, of not adding everything at once, let the tank cycle, and there may not be very much of one if your live rock is still in good condition, but there should be a small one. Once the cycle has passed, add your critters in small groups, a bit here, a bit there, nothing all at once remember, your maintaining a delicate balance and you ahve to give your tank time to adjust to every addition. Eventually, you will get to the point where you think "I don't need anymore clean up critters" and poof, you have arrived at your laymans method of calculating clean up crew density. (which is technically impossible, different snails and crabs eat different things, algaes, detrius, so on and so forth, some are large, some are small, in the end, you just arrive at what works. Also, some of these animals are not long lived, so you will simply need to refresh what you have from time to time.