Clean-up Crew

I'm coming towards the end of the cycle on a 46 gallon bowfront. My ammonia has dropped to 0 the Nitrites spiked and are now back down to .25, and Nitrates are 5-10. The coraline algae is starting to spread from the 2 live rocks I bought to all the other dry rock I used.

I'm starting to get a decent diatom bloom in the tank, so I went today and picked up 10 Astrea snails (actually gave me 11 and 1 black turbo)

1) How many and what type of other cleaners do I need to get for this sixe tank?

2) Do I need to wait untill after I add fish to start addinng detrius eat like nassarius Snails, crabs, and some sand sifting stars.

 

you need to talk to John at reefcleaners...they are one of sponsors and a great guy to work with. He'll get you set up! send him a pm johnmaloney

 

here's his latest thread and sale
http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-cleaners/09-09-a-56467.html

 

Thanks!!

 

No problem!

 

Ditto on reefcleaners! I ordered my clean-up crew from John for my 46g BF a while back and have been very pleased. He will tell you what he recommends - we got a variety of cerinths, nassarius snails, a harlequin star (which is very cool to watch at night), and hermit crabs. All made the trip very well. I ordered the CUC at the end of my cycle before I had added any fish. The nassarius snails are pretty cool too - they literally "burst" out of the sand at feeding time!

 

I would pass on the sand sifting stars in your size tank... They will wipe the bethnic invert population out!! I would add maybe 5 nassarius vibex or 3-4 nassarius tongan, maybe 3-4 cerith and 5-10 dwarf red or blue crabs.... thats it! That is all you need and that might even be over kill. 11 margaritas is a good amount in a 46.
In my 180 I have 2 cortez turbos, maybe 2-3 margaritas and a dozen tops red lege crabs,
granted I have a ridiculous amount of strombus maculatus that reproduce like crazy but they aren't much bigger than .25"
If you keep the tank balanced and nutrient free you won't need so much. People go CUC crazy and they end up starving all these poor critters to death!!

Good luck and happy reefing!