CUC help

I have a 30gallon tank.. and this is my current cuc

8-10 - Astrea snails
2 - Turbo Snails
3 - Nassarius Snails

I have crashed coral as sand about 3".. and I do regular once a week water change.. what pisses me off is that my sand always turn brown before the week ends, so towards the end of the week my tank looks very dirty.. I want to add more cuc members so i was wondering if anyone can recommend me some good cleaners..

I am afraid to add hermit crabs because I also have a Blue Linckia Starfish and I dont want anyone bother him... other than him there are two clowns + chromis in the tank.


PS. also tell me what you opinion is do i need more cucs or not?

 

I would add some cerith and nerite snails. I find mine to do a great job. You could definitely use more in your 30 gallons. You can contact John at Reef Cleaners, and he will let you know how many you need.

 

+1 on Reef Cleaners

 

:thumb_up: Agreed, cant go wrong with ceriths. Get dwarf and florida ceriths.

Brian

 

if your sand is bigger then a certain size its more prone to growing brown algae on it.
and yours is since its crushed coral.

 

cerths are the bomb. most my nerites are suicideal and i can keep up with them.

 

Hate to say it, but GET RID of the Crushed Coral. It's a detritus trap and will lead to you pulling your hair out of your head in large clumps. I know, I used to have it and will NEVER touch it ever again.

 

Sorry guys for replying so late, but i've been having some internet problems..

Thanx for your replies i read elsewhere that cerths and nerites are great.. so I will try to look around for them in my LFS..

Reeron: I wished i read your post a year ago .. I dont know how i can take out all my sand and replace it with new...

 

Do 1/3 at a time. Turn off as many pumps as you can (better to have all of them off if you can). Gently scoop it out so as to not stir up too much crap (literally) and replace it with new argonite sand which you (very) gently place in the tank. I don't always recommend it, but in your case, rinse the sand to get some of the tiny particles out or you will have very cloudy water for a day or two. You still will even with the rinsing, but it will be dramatically less. If you don't have anything in your tank that will mind the cloudiness, then you don't have to rinse it very well (or at all). In a new setup I wouldn't rinse the sand as it's not necessary. I would place the sand in a Tupperware container (or something similar that can be sealed) mixed with water from your tank so the sand isn't dry. This way you can lower the sand to the tank bottom and gently open it up and GENTLY remove the sand. If you can, I would have all of the pumps off at this time. Wait a week or two and replace another 1/3 the same way. Rinse and repeat until all Crushed Coral is gone. You may have to readjust your power-heads so they don't blow directly on the sand. This will minimize the cloudiness. After a couple of days you should be able to put the power-heads back to their original position. Each time you add more sand, I would readjust them again.

 

I guess... Lots of folks say this... I use crushed coral. I like it. If you have a good CuC, there is no such thing as a detritus trap in the tank. I mean, hell, your LR is a detritus trap, you still have that right? CuC purpose is to take care of detritus. Just tell John at reefcleaners you have crushed coral and need a CuC sized appropriately.

Besides that, flow is your friend here. It'll help keep it from trapping as well as keeping it from discoloring so much.

As far as getting rid of something, get rid of the Linkia. That will die in your tank here shortly anyway. I definitely wouldn't not get a good CuC bc of worrying about something that won't live anyway. These sea stars never live long in captivity.