Which Janitors??

[Beckmola24]

First off, I'd like someone to tell me if my bio-load is ok for my tank. I have a clarkii clown (1.5") a bi-color blenny (2.5" or so), one emrald crab, 3 small conches, 6 nassarius, 5 astreas, and one fire shrimp. Is this ok for a 20 gallon tank?? I have a CPR backpack skimmer, 2 maxi-Jet 1200's and a Aquaclear200 for running carbon and such. I have many various SPS and one Softie all of which are growing and looking great. The fish are doing great together too. Perfect pair. I did a water change today (1/3) to see if I can beat the hair algae. If my bio-load is ok, I need to get more janitors, but which ones??? I know there are nerite snails and ceriths that eat algae, but I don't know what algeas which janitors eat etc. I also have bubble algae. People who don't know anything about SW tanks think it looks cool, but it is starting to get on my nerves. What eats bubble algae!!!??? I have a brittle star in another tank. I got it as a teeny baby (its whole body was about the size of a dime or smaller) and now it's about 3" in diameter (leg to leg). Should I add him to my 20?? I know very little about these guys except that I see them when I dive in the P. Sound. What other janitors would be reccomended for my tank and how many??? I don't like crabs as everyone knows by one of my threads, but if the redleg hermits kick my algae I'll pardon them for a little bit I really like the astreas, but they can be a pain when they knock over frags and things. I guess I just want to keep my tank as clean as possible. Any suggestions on which little guys to add???

 

[wrightme43]

According to J. Sprungs book Algae a problem solver guide. Emerald crabs eat bubble algae (valonia) Sally light foot crabs eat filimantous algae. In a 20 that doesn't seem like a large bioload to me. What other algaes are you having trouble with? If you write them down somebody will look it up for you. Mr. Sprungs book has been very helpful to me. (well all of his books) I feel you on the bubble algae. A guy who no longer works at LFS. thought it was funny to crush the bubble algae in the tanks. It got on everything, and was transported home as little babies on lots of stuff. Hard to get rid of it. What I did was small gauge tubing and a old scalpal from a microscope kit. start siphon into a 5g buckett. Cut off algae at base and siphon out. The bigger ones I carefully removed by hand. That was on my old tanks. New tank doesnt have any I have seen, YET. I really like the nassirius snails. Reeftopia will hook you up with a clean up kit that works great. The n. snails are fast at getting junk, and extra food. They seem to keep everything clean so it doesnt get turned into algae. They dont eat algae that I have seen, the cerith, and turbos they sold do a great job.

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

Definitely you have a small clean up crew for that size tank. I would double it on the snails and add about a dozen hermits at least. I personally would put about 24 small Dwarf Blue Leg Hermits in myself were it my tank. I dont suggest the sally lightfoot crab unless its really small and you have a sump or refugium to dump him in when its bigger. They may eat algae but they like snails a whole lot too.

The best thing I have found for eliminating bubble algae is a really hungry Tang. Obviously in a tank that small thats probably not an option.

Once you have a bigger clean up crew I would pull the rock from the tank and brush off as much of the Hair algae as possible, rinse the rock in a seperate bucket of fresh saltwater and put it back in the tank and let the clean up crew try and handle it. I would minimize feeding to a bare minimum. Using RO/DI water may help too if your not using it already. Another thing you might try is adding some Phosphate removing spounge to you Aqua Clear filter to possible remove some of the phosphates in your water in a effort to starve it of nutrients. Another trick is to get a larger Aqua-Clear filter and instead of putting the carbon and foam in, put some macro-algae (like Chaeto) instead and use it for a miniature refugium, just make sure you adjust the water flow down to the lowest setting. This is a trick a lot of people use on Nano-Reefs.

Thats about all I can suggest for you to possibly help...

 

[Ed Hahn]

Becky,
You may want to see if you can get a group order for Reeftopia. The more you buy the cheaper it gets. That has been our experience down here. So if you have friends that want in on a order it works out better for your pocket. We usually have a $200 plus order and get free shipping and 10% off at least. So if you can get help I would do it. They also give you more if you order and ask for it shipped on Thursday.
I love the Golden Astrea snails. I think I heard it is recommended a snail for each gallon and half of water. Please do not quote me. I know 100 golden astreas is perfect for my 90. The asteas do a excellent job of cleaning glass and rock. They can be bull dozers. You need to get some of Kevins Gel type glue(IC Gel). I just learned the hard way that the thinner glue does not adhere like the Gel glue. I just lost my tort recently because it was not glued properly. I ran out of gel glue and went to Dollar store for super glue. Snails climb all over things glued with gel type glue. That is just my oppinion. But I compared the super glue and gel type side by side. I went through more glue with green bottled super glue because it was runny and did not stay in one area. It actually went down one of my frags when I turned it and killed part of it. I love the gel.
Wish you luck
Ed

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

I can definitely vouche for Reeftopia. 120.00 order or more is free shipping still, gotta love that. Its the only place I order my clean up crew from!

The Asteras are indeed great. They take good care of the rock and glass. The Cerith and Nassarious are great for the sand bed. The Micro-Dwarf Blueleg Hermits are tiny but very industrious, and at that size its a while before they can make a dinner out of a snail which means they spend thier time on my rock picking away at all of the things that shouldnt be there. They have a few other items that are pretty neat but that clean up crew is the cheapest anywheres that I have found.

For my 75 my las order was as follows..
48 x Micro Hermits 32.00
48 x Nassarious 29.00
100 x Asterea 30.00
8 x Pepermint Shrimp 20.00
2 x Brittle Stars 16.00

Algae in my 75....? Non existant unless its hard, pink and purple and red in color and on the glass and rocks, and thats the kinda algae I like, coralline algae! Gotta love that!

 

[vertigoat]

Hey
sorry to highjack your thread becky, but how tiny are the micro bluelegs. i was wondering if other critters would likely make a snack of them or not?

 

[Ritsuko Nashida]

About the size of half a tylenol Gel Cap on average. They are pretty small. I have had very little incedence of this in my tanks and usually its another bigger hermit. I like the small size becuase my snails are pretty much off limits to them and they are real busy bodies too. They will get to be about the size of a small scarlet reef hermit when maxed out size wise. The nassarious from them are about the same size. It these are too small you can get them as singles or in 12 packs but they cost a good bit more that way. As such I always go for the micros to get the awesome price vs quanity. More bang for the buck!