When do I add critters, cleaning crew, etc.?

[RussC]

Very soon I will be adding my LR that is being cured at the LFS. By the time I put it in my aquarium it should be fully cured. When can I add all the "critters", "cleaning crew", etc. people talk about? And what do people suggest? My tank will be a reef tank with some fish. When I put the LR in there it will be a good month before I will add anything else except the critters and such if recommended. Thoughts?:eek1:

[chet-tonja]

You want to add your clean up crew after your tank is cycled. Since your LR is elsewhere, how did you cycle your tank? I always like to use uncured LR to cycle the tank. After your clean up crew is in, a month or so should be fine to start adding fish...very slowly though!

[SeanT]

I am a bit confused.
Is your tank up, running and cycling right now?
If so, and the rock REALLY is fully-cured then you could add a small cleanup crew right away.

Don't go overboard with a ton of snails and such right away unless you have a need for them.
Add them slowly over time as the food source for them increases.

[RussC]

Sorry about not making myself clear. It is a brand new tank. My tank is up and running right now but all I've put in it is a sandbed so it has not cycled. When I add the LR it will begin its cycling. Suggestions now on critters and such?

[kmk2307]

Hi Russ,
Whenever you move and rearrange live rock there is bound to be a little dieoff which can pollute the water. My recommendation would be to put the live rock in your tank and monitor the water chemistry for a couple of weeks. Invertebrates that make up a "cleaning crew" (especially snails) tend to be sensitive to ammonia and nitrites in any quanity and nitrates in high quantities. Do you have a protein skimmer and / or other filtration? Do you have a sandbed that was at least seeded with some live sand? These will affect how long it tanks for the tank to "cycle" or have beneficial bacteria that break down ammonia and nitrites colonize the live rock, substrate, and filter (if applicable). Long story short, I would recommend you wait until the ammonia and the nitrites have been stable at zero for a while.

You asked for recommendations on cleanup critters but it varies based on a few factors. What size tank do you have? Do you plan on having a deep sand bed? What kind of lighting do you have? Do you use tap or RO/DI or another type of filtered water? Do you suspect algae will be a problem? What kind of substrate do you have (fine sand, crushed coral, etc.)? I'm a big fan of trochus snails, astrea snails, nassarius snails, cerith snails, and scarlet hermit crabs. Serpent starfish are also cool critters that help cleanup dead organic gunk and leftover fish food. If you have fine sand tiger tail cucumbers are a great addition. Check out the "build your own" at www.etropicals.com.

Hope this helps,
Kevin

[sidboswell]

Don't buy 'cured' LR. Go out and get some good quality uncured LR and drop it on that sandbed NOW.

That is what will cycle the tank. As the LR cures some critters will die and decay (producing NH3) others will die and be consumed (again producing NH3). Enough will survive to make a nice happy reef.

sid.

[RussC]

That's the suggestions I'm looking for. Thanks. To answer your qeustions, I do have an AquaC Remora protein skimmer. Brand new so it is not even broken in yet 'cause it has nothing to skim. It is not even running (wating on LR). I do have about a 4-6" sugarsized sandbed (I think that would be referred to as deep) but it has not been seeded with live sand. What about dropping a cooked shrimp in there like I've read about? I did use RO water to fill the tank. Algae is not a problem right now at all. I have 2x55w PC actinics and 250 w 10k. I'm only running the actinics for 2 hours a day, slowly aclimating my tank to the light. I will start the 250 in addition to the actinics for about an hour in a day or two. Any more thoughts?

[Sylock]

Russ,
Do NOT put a cooked shrimp in your tank. You can put a completely raw shrimp in your tank. In my 75 I tied one to a string and tied the string to the middle brace. This will help create Ammonia faster. You don't need to do that though. The thing you need to do is put the live rock in your tank _NOW_. This will be the cycle and believe me you will love it. There are critters that will go from the rock to the sand. You should, once the cycle is coming down, get some sand from some other reefers so that you can get some micro life (other than bacteria) in there. The live rock will help your cycle a lot.

As far as clean up crew and all, this is what I like and will be putting in my new 75 (I have had a nano running for almost 9 months and just set the 75 up, see sig). First number is what I'll put in at the end of April, the second number is what I'll end with sometime in the summer:
Trochus (black foot or tiger), 25 (40)
Cerith, 15 (25)
Nassarius, 25 (25)
Fighting Conch, 1 (2)
Stomata, As many as I can get. They usually come as hitchikers from live rock.

Scarlet Hermits, 3 (3)
Hawaian Hermits, 1 (3)
Emerald Crap, 0 (1 or 2)

Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, 2 (3)
Peppermint Shrimp, 0 (4 to 5)
Harlequin Shrimp, 0 (2) Not really a clean up crew but still inverts

Brislte worms, as many as I can get in the tank from fellow reefers and my nano

As you can see from my sig I set my tank up March 14th. Took a couple weeks to cycle. I'll put the first big group of cleaners in the weekend of the 26th of April. I will have a few things in there from my nano but basically nothing until then clean up wise.

Hope that helps.

[RussC]

Great stuff. Thanks. Did I read somewhere that some shrimps will not get along or am I imagining that? For some reason I thought banded shrimp and peppermint don't get along.

[Sylock]

Coral banded shrimp are mean, I'd stay away from putting those in your reef. Some people have reported bad things with peppermint shrimp, I have not though.

Also one thing I forgot to mention as a clean up crew that I have in my nano that I'll be moving to my 75 is a Yellow and Black Serpent Star. He's about 14 inches tip to tip now and has eaten a few of my shrimp that I've put through my nano :). Hopefully with the added space he won't be able to trap my shrimp so easily.

[kmk2307]

Hi Russ,
Coral banded shrimp are general predators and kind of nasty. I think they are cool as heck but are also, unfortunately, sometimes destructive. They tend to eat small animals that live in the sandbed. I have heard pistol shrimp will also attack other shrimp but I think this is because of their territorial nature, not because they want to eat them.

Kevin