how many cleaners am i supposed to have?

Cheeser

I Love Reefer
is there a particular ratio like # of cleaners/gallons or # of cleaners/lbs of live rock? or per fish?
or u just kinda eyeball it?

what would be ideal for a 55 gallon? i have about 55lbs of rock.
i have 4 turbos 3 ceriths...a couple other kinda sand sifting snails, & 1 emerald crab.
thats only 10 in my cuc.
im probly gona get some peppermint shrimp and a hermit crab. ..
what else do u guys reccomend?

and how much is too much?
 
2 scarlet skunk cleaners, 25 blue/scarlet hermit crabs, 10 astreas, 10 ceriths, 5 turbos and 5 nassarius sounds good. Then maybe one serpent OR brittle star.
 
The skunk cleaners are more decorative than functional, and you dont need the hermit crabs either. They can kill snails for their shells, but you do decide you want them, make sure you have spare shells from them to upgrade into. I would also increase the nassarius snails to 10ish.

There really arent any hard and fast rules for this because it also depends on how much algae your tank produces. Having a variety of different snails is best because each will go after a different type of algae.
 
The blue/scarlet hermits are reef/snail safe. Youre probably thinking of the huge red-legs that menace larger turbos and astreas for shells.
 
so is it safe to say that snails are the best cleaners?
i mean i can most likely get away with like 20 snails?
just to avoid problems like crabs eating snails or anything.
 
the only types of underwater slugs are nudibranches, which will either eat your corals or starve to death in your tank, so I would pass on them.

If you are thinking about sea cucumbers, one per tank can be good for keeping the sand bed clean. Be very careful about the species you chose, some can be very toxic to the rest of the tank if they die.
 
How many, hmm, that's a good question and one I have looked at since before I bought my tank. If you look at the packages offered on various sites, the numbers they suggest are astonishing! For my system is is suggested that I add up to a total or 225 critters to my tank! (Liveaquaria, Mega Attack pack for 100 gallons) That's just nuts IMO. For me, I have 13 Turbin snails and 3 Mexican Turbo snails. Even with my High PO reading and cyano, I have very little in the way of algae in my tank. A little green on the rocks but nothing long and nothing trying to take over.

I did have a sand sifting sea star, but it was returned because they need a more mature tank. A fact I either missed or wasn't noted in my research. I have a few "slugs" that come out at night. Not sure what they are, but pictures I posted came back with a "good guy" rating and I have seen no damage from them. I have only seen two of them. I did have 2 Sun Dial snails also. Bad for my corals so they have been moved to the sump.

That's my clean up crew. Maybe I need more? Maybe I don't.
 
Call John over at ReefCleaners.org - I've ordered from him several times and he is a great guy to do business with - far better than Reefs2Go
 
Will nassarius snails die without a sandbed? I have 4 in my tank and they just keep climbing the walls trying to get to the surface of the water. I want to put more in my tank now that I have 3 fish and am feeding regularly to help control waste and left-over food, but don't want them to die from starvation or lack of substrate. If I do add more, how many more should I add at this point (esp. given that at least one of my fish is sick and might die off hiding in the rocks without a way for me to get him out)?
 
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