Reefcleaners recommendation ?

I have heard nothing but good reviews from this guy so I thought I would send him an email and see what he said about my tank. This was his recommendation:

30 Dwarf Ceriths - small effective cleaners
12 Nassarius
8 Florida Ceriths
3 Blue Legs
1 chiton
7 Large Nerite

I was wondering what exactly the chiton contributes that the snails don't. Also, I was thinking that was a big cuc for only a 29 gal tank but I could be wrong. Just wondering what you guys think about it.

 

thos dwarfs are SO tiny.....trust me if thats what he says to get, then id get it! John knows his stuff!

 

Yeah, I know he's very knowledgeable when it comes to this stuff and I trust his list. Also, since sending in my tank specs, I got a sand sifting goby. Do you guys think that it would effect this list at all?

 

I have to preface this by saying that John from Reefcleaners is known to be very good at predicting the needs of a tank, and his advice is not to be taken lightly.

Having said that, when I look at the size of your tank and the fact that you have only 2 fish, I think it is definitely possible for you to have a much smaller clean-up crew, at least to start. To be honest, the stocking list of cleaners you posted is larger than what I originally had for my 90g (although I added more later). If you want to start smaller and add more later, you definitely can do so. But if you want to just get as many cleaners as you could possibly need from the get-go, you can follow John's advice.

Edit - just read your post about the sand sifting goby (and you already have a sifting starfish) - your goby may go hungry if you don't spot feed him. Between the starfish and the goby, you likely don't need the nassarius snails (which are the only sand cleaners in your list). However, between you and me......I might consider trading back the sand sifting goby and using the nassarius snails instead.

 

It says what the chitons do on the website.

I personally think they are just a cool addition. I noticed a big immprovement from my limpids actually. The chiton kinda looks like a weird underwater caterpillar. Slow eaters though IMO

 

+1, I bought a little more than half of what John suggested for my 75 with the plan of getting another "booster shot" based on the observed needs of my tank. The crew i got from John was great.

 

I would get a couple more chitons because some may not make it in the shipping. That's if you want one. I wouldn't order one if it's not something that you want just to have another interesting creature in the tank.

 

I have about 120-150 dwarf ceriths in my 55.

John's recommendations worked out perfectly for me over the long run.

I have 5 other species of snails from John as well - probably around 200 snails total.



sparkly clean

 

I would not put those dwarf ceriths in there. They dont do squat. They are too small and are not active like the other snails.

Here is my recommendation.
50 Florida Cerith
50 Astrea snails
10 Nerite
10 Nassarius
10 Small/Micro crabs

This guy is not very knowledgeable if he's recommending dwarf ceriths.

 

As far as your concerns about my goby not getting enough food, it readily eats frozen and flake foods whenever I feed my clown. Also, I am by no means doubting John, I was just merely thinking it sounded like a lot to me, but this would be my first fully decked out cuc so I had nothing to base it on.