need help building my clean-up crew.

[Fijiwigi]

Ok, I have a 46g bow future reef tank, I have the refugium plenty of live rock 80# sugarfine sand. Plenty of flow. All I currently have for clean-up crew is 2snails Astrea,1 sally lightfoot crab and 1 hermit crab I need place an order for sure. I was thinking of Placing the order with BarrierReef in Renton I found there online store and I see that they post on this site as well. They are only like 2hours from my home in Yakima so this would minimize stress from shipping. Hopefully someone can chime in regarding BarrierReef. I know I want some trochus snails more astrea and some mexican turbo snails. I also want a bullet goby to help keep my sand clean as well as some nassarius snails and a fighting conch or maybe 2. I do not want hermit crabs I am happy with the 1 sally lightfoot crab and 1 hermit crab that I have too many crabs can get brutal from what I hear. I know there are many other options for invertabrates for a clean-up crew and am still new and this is my first reef experience I need some advice on what you would do if you had a 46g bow(specific #s of snails would be helpfull) And hopefully someone from barrier reef can chime in on a crabless package suggestion for me.

 

[speedymichael]

When I first started my tank, I was told 1 snail for every 2 gallons. It seemed to work for me but I was just starting my tank? My experience with Barrier Reef has been great and they are always willing and ready to help whether it be on the phone or in person. Lot's of great people over there with lot's of experience.

 

[returnofsid]

Barrier Reef will give you excellent advice!! You're absolutely right in that taking a trip over there and avoiding shipping will be a much cheaper and less stressful alternative to shipping. There's lots of debate about clean up crews and how many are needed. Do lots of reading on each species of snail. Some will require help righting themselves if they tip over...others aren't all that great at eating anything at all...lol. Nassarius do a great job of sifting sand and eating detritus and left over foods. Make sure you get the tropical Nassarius though. There's a lot of online vendors that offer great deals on temperate Nassarius that won't live very long in our warmer tanks. I like the idea of a crabless clean up crew, however, there are a few types of algae that if you do get, you may need a couple Emerald Crabs...mainly Bubble Algae. Emerald Crabs are pretty harmless, attractive, do a great job on some algaes and are fun to watch. You can see one as my icon.

 

[vikubz]

I got my last order from reeftopia.com. If you order over $100 you get free shipping. I have joined the ranks of the crab-less clean up crews. I got astrea and ceriths and they've done a great job on my nuisance algae. I think crabs in general have fallen out of favor with a lot of folks.

 

[Skeptic9962]

i just started my SPS tank that is a 32g and what i was told by barrier would be best to fight the new tank algae and such would be 1 snail per gallon...so for me i curently have a variety of snails about 30-35...and a fighting conch do alot of work on the sand i would definitly reccomend one of them =)

 

[Fijiwigi]

I hear the fighting conch is a good choice and also I hear a bullet goby is one of the best hard working sand sifters out there. I am sure about the bullet goby and fighting conch. I am unsure of the# of snails. I want tropical snails that can turn themselves over if upside down. I would hate to have dead snails because I didn't see them upside down in time. I know I need some turbo's maybe like 5. and nassaruis maybe 10 I am unsure on the rest.