my tank has been cycling for more than 2 weeks, when should i add clean up crew?

[msu spartan]

5.5 gallon tank
theres 6lbs of live rock
3in sand bed
small hob filter for now

[steven_dean17]

What have your water test shown?

[msu spartan]

im pretty new at the whole saltwater thing, i havent checked my params, but before i add anything ill have my lfs check it for me

[mg426]

When your Ammonia and Nitrtie have been at 0 for a week or so.

[msu spartan]

ok ill check it this week , thanks

[kau_cinta_ku]

that is a very small tank for a newbie. IMO your gonna have alot of problems. as things gow down hill faster in smaller tanks and don't leave much time to get them fixed.

what do you plan on putting in the tank?

[msu spartan]

well im not sure if im putting any fish in there
b/c of the size

i need a CUC, but dont know how much

could i have a coral banded shrimp in there?

and what are the main problems u think i will have?

[Chibils]

Salinity will swing up and down with the amount of water evaporated in such a small tank (lots of surface area exposed for a small amount of water), etc. All of your params can change very quickly without a lot of water to dilute it. I would go with something along these lines:

2 trochus/astrea snails
1 nassarius snail

-or-

2 scarlet reef hermit crabs

You could add or remove 1 from any of those numbers as you wish. The trochus/astreas are algae eaters, the nassarius will eat leftover food. The hermits will eat both but are known to be meaner (scarlet reefs are model citizens though, anecdotally and ime).



Someone more experience with nano tanks can probably offer more advice; my tank is a 90G.

[RickL]

BEST TO ADD THE CREW AFTER THE TANK CYCLES.

ONCE YOU SEE SOME ALGAE GROWTH-IS THE INDICATOR THE TANK HAS CYCLED AND BEST TIME TO ADD THE CLEAN UP CREW.

MYSELF I DONT' USE SNAILS-JUST LAWNMOWER BLENNYS AND-SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS. I FIND SNAILS BORING.....