Ordering a crew

Well after filling out the form from Reefcleaners.org and receiving the e-mail from John, Im deciding to order a crew from him. I have an 80 gallon tank and was looking for a crew because I only have 4 turbos and a cleaner shrimp. My algae isn't so much of a problem as the turbos will eventually get it off the rock and comes off real easy with the Mag-float. But obviously i need a lot more janitors to keep it crystal clear and attractive to the eye. I have black sand so i needed some detritus scavengers as fish waste shows up relatively easy. John suggested

80 Dwarf Ceriths - small effective cleaners - black, will blend into sand nicely.
15 Nassarius
10 Limpets
2 Chitons (Express Mail)
35 Florida Ceriths
3 large nerites
10 Nerites - small to medium

I just wanted to get some feedback on your luck with these inverts. Is it recommended to get so much at once, or should i go with a few like maybe half of what he suggested and always can order more. I've heard many good things in threads about reefcleaners.org so I'm deciding to order from their.

 

You don't need all those for ideal tank eye appeal. Alot of it will come from your part in regular scheduled water changes, proper feeding habits, water flow and filtration.
What you don't need is that many janitors in your tank. Besides the fact that you will have some of them die and starve in due time, you are spending money that you don't need to.
Personally, I think you can do better with some other reef cleaners, which I will tell you. The other thing is that most Nerite snails are mainly intertidal snails and need to be able to escape full submersion to survive.
Conch(Queen or Fighting), serpent Stars, Black Diadema sea urchin, red leg hermits, sea cucumber and astrea snails I feel would make a better alternative, but that is just me.
Best of luck to you!

 

Thanks for the input, I too thought that may have been overdoing it. I do a water change every 2 weeks and although I could be consider a guilty over feeder, I have cut back lately haha. Im still a beginner and will probably stick with FOWLR for the time being and can only hope to have a tank that I see some of the more experienced reefers have!!

 

You don't have to hope...just follow your dreams as no one can deny you of that!
If you wish to display and maintain a nice reef biotope, there is nothing saying you can't. Read, educate yourself and preparedness will allow you to create an amazing display of diverse, colorful and fascinating animals as is evident in a reef biotope containing corals, invertebrates and fish, not to mention all the living animals you may not be able to see so clearly such as microscopic crustaceans, polychaete worms, sponge and the myriad of sessile other inverts!
Good Luck

 

First, before you take my advise - coral reefer has been doing this for longer than I. But you've only got one response, so I'll add my take.


I have a larger clean up crew in a 55 gallon that's been in from reefcleaners.org since beginning of October. I haven't lost more than a few right at the beginning. Maybe in the future some will die in due course, but so far I haven't had any die off issues.

Many people told me I would have die off. My tank is clean as a whistle (I've only been maintainnig it since Aug, mind you) and still no die off.

It is true that Nerites need to get above the water line. But this isn't a big deal. Mine generally clump in a corner during the day (under water) and I get a few at a time that will sometimes make a trip to the upper lip of the tank. Sometimes (once a week) I have to pick one up off the floor and it survives.

I would bet that is a more expensive alternative than what reefcleaners.org is selling.

As a novice myself, I am not interested in dealing with the potential trouble of cucumbers. That's just my opinion on them. But these are effective cleaners.

Best of luck from me too!