Too many cleaners in the tank?

[Starkrost]

Hi all. I have a 13.5 gal Fluval Evo stocked with 2 clowns, 5 Trochus snails, 1 Tiger pistol shrimp, 1 Margarita snail, and 1 Blue Tuxedo urchin (plus plenty of corals). About a week after the goby died, I'm seeing patches of green-brown "stuff" on the sand bed. I asked a company about a clean-up crew and they recommended the following:

10 Dwarf Ceriths - tiny cleaners, for the tight spots the others can't reach
3 Nassarius vibex
4 Florida Ceriths
3 Assorted Hermits
4 Nerites

Does this seem like a reeeeally big CUC for a 13.5 gallon tank? I thought Hermits would eat snails if they liked their shell well enough.

Thanks for your input!

 

[SifuMemphis]

How stocked is your tank, coral wise? The amount of CuC you listed seems like a lot, and you might have potential die offs. That being said, just keep them fed (veggie pellets, nori seaweed, etc) should be ok

 

[Crustaceon]

IMO, a clean-looking tank isn’t the result of your cleanup crew. It’s the result of good water parameters that allows beneficial bacteria to thrive and prevent that stuff on your sand from popping up in the first place. I ran a 29 gallon tank with three trochus snails. It was pretty much spotless because it maintained good nitrate/phosphate levels but not too low as to allow dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria or diatoms to pop up and not too high as to cause nuisance algae to pop up.

 

[Starkrost]

6 assorted zoas, 2 cyphastrea (1 branching, 1 not), 2 Candy Canes, 1 xenia, 1 GSP (currently riding around on the urchin), 1 Favia, 1 ricordia pacifica, 1 leptoseris, 2 chalice, and a rock with maybe 6 nice sized mushrooms.

 

[cloak]

The best CUC that tank will ever see is you... Having a few snails, crabs, urchins etc will help, but the tanks overall health is in your hands. (good husbandry) Put it this way, what you can do in say 60 minutes will put those invertebrates to shame in a week. Your MUCH more efficient. GL.

 

[Starkrost]

IMO, a clean-looking tank isn’t the result of your cleanup crew. It’s the result of good water parameters that allows beneficial bacteria to thrive and prevent that stuff on your sand from popping up in the first place. I ran a 29 gallon tank with three trochus snails. It was pretty much spotless because it maintained good nitrate/phosphate levels but not too low as to allow dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria or diatoms to pop up and not too high as to cause nuisance algae to pop up.

The tank is less than 6 months old. The water parameters have been pretty good other than nitrate around 30-40 (which the xenia loves). I'm looking for a way to eco-balance the tank and come close to self-sustaining (if that's even possible).

 

[Starkrost]

I'm really not being lazy. It's more to see if I can truly recreate a micro-environment as close to the ocean as possible with minimal human interference.

 

[Mikedawg]

I would imagine many members of any such new cuc would starve. Organisms per gallon is a marketing ploy more than good advice, imho.

 

[Starkrost]

I would imagine many members of any such new cuc would starve. Organisms per gallon is a marketing ploy more than good advice, imho.

I was kind of thinking that too.

 

[Mikedawg]

I'm really not being lazy. It's more to see if I can truly recreate a micro-environment as close to the ocean as possible with minimal human interference.

Wonderful goal, just hard to do with small volume. I would add any animals slowly and see if they make the difference you want. Good luck.

 

[Cell]

Your current list already seems bit much. I'd remove a couple trochus and add some nassarius for the sand bed. I love nassarius.

 

[Crustaceon]

The tank is less than 6 months old. The water parameters have been pretty good other than nitrate around 30-40 (which the xenia loves). I'm looking for a way to eco-balance the tank and come close to self-sustaining (if that's even possible).

Then your best path would be either much less cleanup crew or far more surface area for denitrification. Keep in mind snails and crabs don’t make pollutants go away. They only create them by consuming algae and detritus. This in turn creates fertilizer for algae and other undesirable things. The loop you want to establish is one that can reduce nitrates and phosphates on it’s own, requiring the addition of livestock, including snails & crabs to add some pollutants to keep that loop going. I’d start by reducing your nitrates & phosphates and see where they go without extra critters being added. If they go down, eventually they’ll drop to the point that nuisance algae can’t thrive and the tank will hit a point of equilibrium on it’s own. Throwing more mouths into a tank will only increase bioload and further throw that balance between nitrate/phosphate creation and denitrification out of balance. As mentioned by Mikedawg, see what your tank actually needs and go from there.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Clean up crews are good to a point since every living thing creates waste

 

[Starkrost]

Then your best path would be either much less cleanup crew or far more surface area for denitrification. Keep in mind snails and crabs don’t make pollutants go away. They only create them by consuming algae and detritus. This in turn creates fertilizer for algae and other undesirable things. The loop you want to establish is one that can reduce nitrates and phosphates on it’s own, requiring the addition of livestock, including snails & crabs to add some pollutants to keep that loop going. I’d start by reducing your nitrates & phosphates and see where they go without extra critters being added. If they go down, eventually they’ll drop to the point that nuisance algae can’t thrive and the tank will hit a point of equilibrium on it’s own. Throwing more mouths into a tank will only increase bioload and further throw that balance between nitrate/phosphate creation and denitrification out of balance. As mentioned by Mikedawg, see what your tank actually needs and go from there.

Thanks!