Cleanup crew needed

[holabird]

I am looking at getting some critters for a cleanup crew for my tank. I have a 180 gallon tank and a 70 gallon sump and a 45 gallon holding tank for water changes. How big a crew do I need. I will really only put them in the display tank and maybe a few in the refugium part of the sump. I keep seeing people adding hundred of snails etc at a time. Do I need that many? Thanks for your input.

 

[jef4y]

I just dropped in around 200 snails from reefcleaners.org. They have packages based on tank size. They were easy to work with. No probs here.

 

[cr500_af]

IMO (and it will probably be disagreed with by some), many "packages" recommend too many snails per gallon. After doing a pretty good bit of reading on it, I believe that if you do a couple hundred snails in a 180 (which isn't uncommon) a large number will starve after a while. At first there will be plenty to sustain them in most tanks, but once it is cleaned pretty well, there won't be enough to eat.

My advice would be to do about 50 or so, divided among Nassarius, Cerith and Mexican Turbo. If they don't seem to "keep up" you can always add more.

I don't pretend to be an authority, but it has worked well for me.

 

[shrimpy brains]

I agree with CR500. Also, I am not a fan of reef packages as they tend to include things you don't need like lots of hermits, which are more trouble than they are worth.
They will kill your snails just for the shells.
Anyway, about 50 snails should be a good start. Also, consider(depending on what else you plan for your tank)
A couple of brittle or serpant stars, some peppermint shrimp and a couple of cleaner shrimp.

 

[jef4y]

When I went for this round of cleaners, I picked the bulk of them to be SMALL snails. The downside is that they fit through my overflow slits, so they're slowly migrating to the sump, but the upside is that they can fit into the cracks & crevices of the rocks.

I am a fan of hermits. I have ~20 of them in the tank now. Yes, they eat snails every now and again, but I don't mind...