Clean Up Crew Question

Is it possible to have too big of a clean up crew upon setup of a new Reef Tank? I plan on adding a large one to my 46 Bow with something like 50 Dwarf Ceriths, 30 Nassarius, 20 Florida Ceriths, 20 Blue Leg crabs, 20 Assorted Crabs, 10 Large nerite, 10 Medium Nerites, 4 Limpets, 4 Fuzzy Chitlon, and 2 packages of reef pods to help seed everything. Eventually I will have 7 fish in my aquarium.

 

your tank will only support a certain sized CUC based on how much food is available to the CUC... so if you are putting enough food in for them to not starve then yes, however if you feed lightly then you will likely starve a few of the critters

 

and from personal experience, If those nassarius are the large size i would half that number and add about 25-50 to the dwarf cerths

nassarius are kinda lazy, arent detrivores, and really dont do all that much to your tank compared to the other guys

 

That seems really large to me.

Fill out a form at reefcleaners and get Johns opinion. He is very good at judging what a tank can and can't handle.

Then compare his list to yours and adjust to what you feel is right.

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/clean-up-crew-53007.html


lots of folks told me mine from reefcleaners was way way way too big for my 55. they were all wrong and john was right.

+1 to whatever John at reefcleaners.org says.

 

+1 to this.. John really is the best in this field. Not to mention Honest, as in if he thinks you dont need something, he will tell you and not just take your money.. good guy

 

I'd go with what you have mentioned, but far less. There is no substitute for a weekly water change & a little elbow grease.

 

too many CUC critters = dead critters = empty shells = nitrate spike.. I know this..

 

I contacted reef cleaners and they did sudgest almost what i have listed here, I added the Limpets, Fuzzy Chitlons, and the extra 20 reef safe hermit crabs. Other than that it is what he sudgested. He said it would have to be high because of the large bio load that i am planning on adding

 

Ya I find that nassarius snails do not do much at all. the only thing they have done in my tank is kill and eat whatever snail falls over. for my 55 I have 5 nassarius, 2 sand sifting starfish, 2 conches, 20 blue legged hermits and 20 cerinth snails. Isn't much of a clean up crew. But they have kept my rock and sand clean.