CUC for my 29 gallon?

[little_tuna]

I just added a bottle of turbo start yesterday to jump start my cycle. My ammonia level was 1.0 ppm yesterday and today it is 0ppm. Now my nitrites are at 1.0ppm so im hoping to see that drop real soon. The only other thing is my pH range is 8.0. I have been adding some aquavitro 8.4 but no improvement so far.

But back to my point. Im hoping to add my cuc soon sooo any suggestions?

I need some reef safe cuc members and probably some that will eat green hair algae just incase it breaks out on my live rock again (they had a little on them when i bought them)

Any suggestions? What would be good and how many?

And maybe a good place I could order them online for cheaper?

 

[little_fish]

Your pH will stabilize when your cycle is over, so i would not be concerned about that. Also 8.0 is a perfectly find pH anyways. If you tank stay stable around that, i wouldnt concern yourself with trying to "fix" it.

Also, i wouldnt add a CUC till you have algae in there, otherwise they might starve to death.

The best place online to get your CUC, and you will probably get a better deal than your lfs is reefcleaners.org. Plus you get a discount for being a member on here. Just pick a premade one for your tank size or you can custom make one.

 

[stringztoo]

Best CUC I found was from liveaquaria.com. If you order $60 or more you get free overnight shipping. For $60 I got:

Pincushion Urchin
Emerald Crab x2
Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab x11
Brittle Sea Star x2
Banded Coral Shrimp
Nassarius Snail x5
Mexican Turbo Snail x5
Porcelain Crab x2

 

[little_tuna]

Ok so any ideas on what my clean up crew should consist of and how many?
Turbos? Crabs? Shrimps?

 

[little_fish]

I would go for a variety of snails, turbos, nassarius, astraea, cerith, nerites etc. just stay away from margarita snails, they are a cold water species and will slowly boil to death in your tank.

I kinda like hermit crabs, i think they are good detrius eaters, so i would get a handful of them.

Cleaner shrimp/fire shrimp are great cleaners too.

Brittle stars are nice as well. Stay away from sand sifting stars though, they require very large sandbeds and well matured tank to support them. They are often sold to people who dont understand their feeding requirements and they end up starving to death.

 

[Supurderek]

Once cycling stops, only add CuC based on the algae growth. I only started my solana 34 g with 5 nessarius, 5 astreas, and 5 hermits. Just be careful of turbos; they are known to bulldoze rock work if it is not secured.

 

[Waddi]

Only get like two turbo's and i wouldn't get Emeralds for a tank that small, because they can grow and start killing fish.

 

[little_tuna]

K i think im going to go with just a few different guys to start with.

Im just now getting my algae bloom and it seems to be spreading fast. My Nitrites however dont seem to be changing. My ammonia levels dropped to zero within a day but my Nitrites have stayed steady for about 3 days now. Does it normally take a while. I added turbo start to my tank to get the cycle going.

Oh and I have what might be a Zoa and a few spaghetti worms on my lr rubble in my fuge. So far they are my only lr gifts so i thought about putting them my main display. Will my hermits eat them??

 

[Waddi]

No you should be good with putting them in the Display. Got pictures for ID??

 

[little_tuna]

We're not sure what kind it is yet, ive jst been told it might be a Zoa

https://www.livingreefs.com/whats-my-live-rock-t33859.html

 

[little_tuna]

My tank finally finished its cycle and I just picked up my first scarlet red hermit. Hes doing great so far. Started munching down as soon as I put him in the tank so tomorrow ill be getting the rest of the crew.

Thanks for all the advice