this crew too large?

[dbrown]

100 cerith, 50 blue leg, 15 astrea for a 58 gallon w/ 70lbs LR?

[dbrown]

anyone?

[ghostshark]

Seems like a lot of hermits per gallon, especially since blue legs have a reputation for being holy terrors that kill snails. You might need them to kill some snails, though, since you've got so many.

A lot of those reef cleanup crew packages you get online seem to be overkill. In my 90 gallon, I probably have 50 snails total (a mix of astraea, nassarius, and cerith), and only a few hermits (the scarlet reef ones, which seem to be fairly peaceful). If you're adding all that to a tank without an algae problem, it seems like you'd just end up losing a lot of your crew to starvation.

I'm no expert yet, but I asked this same question to some of the geniuses on RC, and that was the answer I got.

HTH,

td

[Miller357]

I would say if you have an algae problem, then no....

If you don't they are going to starve and you will end up with a few.

I only use clean up crews when I have a problem and need help getting rid of the algae. I have a 90 gallon and my crew consists of 1 large hermit, 1 small hermit, 1 very large serpent star. :D

[Bomber]

Originally posted by dbrown
100 cerith, 50 blue leg, 15 astrea for a 58 gallon w/ 70lbs LR?

I would not mix bluelegs and cerith, bluelegs like their shells too much.

Cerith are very small and you need about 3 cerith to one astrea. They both eat different things and compliment each other. Astrea will eat nuisance algae, cerith will eat astrea poop.

I would use at least 50 astrea and 150 cerith, especially if you have sand.

Waiting until you have a problem will mean you need to use more than if you just keep a constant population of them.

[dbrown]

Thanks guys

How far into the cycle can I safely add them?

[Bomber]

When your nitr - i - tes test zero.

[dbrown]

thanks bomber