CUC advice for 55L nano cube

Laz

Reefing newb
Hi guys, needs some help on cuc.

I was looking to increase but want some advice on if I should add, what I should add, how many and if I should at all.

It's 55 litres, which I believe is 14.5 US gallons, or 12 Imperial gallons. It currently has two clownfish, one fire shrimp, two turbo snails, one nassarius snail and one red legged hermit crab. The LR amount in the display is minimal as half is in mini sump.

Any help would be great. Thanks
 
Hi there. How long has your tank been set up? Why are you looking to increase your cuc? Are you having an issue? I'd go for a few different types of snails. Cerith, nass, astera (sp). Variety is the key.
 
Hey Sarah, thanks for the reply. It's been set up for about 5 months. I decided to re-do after I had some problems. I've got some hair algae problems and I continuously on my sand bed get diatoms. I do use RO water from the LFS so that shouldn't be a problem, although I'll probably buy a TDS meter just to make sure it isn't that. I also want a busier tank.

Alright, would you recommend a certain amount? I don't want to starve the tank, just need to find a good balance of it all. I'd also like to mention I prefer hermit crabs a lot more to snails if that can be mixed up, but I don't want to jeopardize my Fire shrimp's life (heard hermit's can attack them?)

The imperial gallons is what is sometimes used in the UK. Just wanted to put it out there to avoid confusion.
 
Hermits are supposedly good for hair algae. I have 3 hermits in my 60 and they do eat snails but leave my cleaner shrimp alone. You'll get small hermits and it'll be a loooooong time before they grow. I can't imagine my hermits getting big enough to take down my shrimp. So, you can grab a couple blue leg hermits, and let's see, maybe 4-7 nass snails, those will bury themselves and stir your sandbed so more of those would be very helpful. Then maybe 10-15 dwarf ceriths and a couple of nerites. That should be a nice little crew.
 
I found ceriths to be good with hair algae. I didn't have a lot when I bought mine, but what I had was gone within a couple days and I haven't had any since.
 
Sarah, by hermit crabs, you don't mean the really tiny ones do you? Because I was thinking of the bigger types.

Right, so my full CUC would be:

1x fire shrimp
1x red hermit crab
2x turbo snails
2x blue hermit crab
5x nass snails
10x dwarf cerith snails (is there a difference between cerith and dwarf cerith's or are they the same?)

Would that crew be fine? Any adjustments? Maybe more or less? Want to double check before I order anything.
 
The dwarf ceriths are just that: essentially midgets. I think they're either a subspecies or they may be a different species altogether, but I don't remember. A good mix would maybe be some dwarfs and regular ceriths, nassarius are a must, nerites and astreas are both also great, but they'renot something you have to have. The first 3 I listed are the main ones, though. I would also avoid turgid. Big and clumsy, they also tend to fall, get stuck upside down and die. Hermits will almost always make a meal of snails and I used to have lots, but I decided I'd rather live without than replace snails monthly.
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply, kbuser. I was told one Nass is more than enough apparently for my tank? I'll look for some regular and dwarf ceriths. Any particular amount of each you'd recommend?
 
I agree with Kyle. Ceriths and Nassarius are what I would focus on. I'd add a couple of Astrea/Turbos too, but that's just a personal preference. I'm not overly fond of scraping my glass with a razor blade, so I tend to stock up on good glass cleaners.

3-4 Nas
10ish Cerith/Dwarf Cerith mix
1 x Cleaner/Blood Shrimp (Might even do a pair of them)
5-6 Blue legs/Red leg hermits (the small ones)

and that'd be a great clean up crew.

The bigger hermits can be a pain. Some of them CAN get big enough to take out a blood shrimp. The reason people with reef tanks and small fish get the smaller ones (like the blue legs) is because they don't grow to a size that is dangerous to fish or other large inverts. I've seen some baseball sized hermits at a couple of LFS. I wouldn't want that in a tank with a sleeping clownfish.
 
I don't like hermits anymore, and I've found astreas are hit or miss with quality, but I love the look so I guess I'm hooked...never bothered with turbos, though.
 
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