Need help picking more CUC

[Altohombre]

we have our NJ Reefers club swap coming up on the 25th and one of the venders is bringing in CUC. He is bringing a bunch of stuff I am not that familiar with either and wanted to know what you would recommend. I currently am battling hair algae on every rock and sand. Also still get detritus on glass. Good corraline growth.

Approximate CUC I have already in my 46g:
5 Nassarius
10 blue legged hermits (newly introduced)
2 small turbos
6 Trochus/Astrea (not sure anymore)
? some baby snails


Here is what he is offering:

Astrea Snails - 55 cents each
Cerith - 80 cents
Emerald Crab - $4 each
Small Blue Leg Hermits - 30 cents each
Lettuce Nudibranch - $8 each
Serpent Stars - $8 each
Nassarius Snails Small - 70 cents each
Bumble Snails - $1.50
Peppermint Shrimp - $5
Yellow Gorgonian - $15
Purple Gorgonian - $15
Ribbon Gorgonian - $15
Scarlet Hermits - $2.50
Large Fire Shrimp $32
large cleaner shrimp 32
electric blue hermits 5
black turbos 1.60
strombos conch 2.75
orange chestnut turbos 2.99
large nassarius really cool 1.99
large turbos 1.99
cucumbers 10
red porcelain crab 12
blue linkia 15
red fromia star 13
choco chip star 6
3 inch green lip deresa clam 39

 

[dustin_P74]

those are good prices on the turbos, i would maybe grab 1 or two. i would also throw some more emeralds in there.

 

[reeffreak]

You have two turbos and still have hair algae?Alto,you must really have it bad.

Emerald crabs(if small) and the chestnuts for the hair.Maybe the lettuce nudi.You like the big nassarius,if you get them they may need to be fed.The derasa could be nice too

 

[yote]

Try the lettuce nudi.Just trade it off once the hair is gone.And maybe a couple of the serpent stars to clean up some of the waste.

 

[Bifferwine]

Lettuce nudis will only eat one type of hair algae - bryopsis. So unless you have bryopsis, pass on the nudi. If you do have bryopsis, you can get a nudi, but like Yote said, give it to someone else when it's done. Since they only eat bryopsis, they'll quickly starve to death as soon as it's gone.

 

[Piggy]

They are some great prices. I would get a emerald crab. My nassarius snails will eat the slime off my glass plus are great for sifting the sand. Serpent stars are cool to have. Mine will come to me when I feed the tank.

 

[Altohombre]

my turbos don't seem to do much. I have had about 3 others. One of them was very large but would only come out at night. It would get stuck between rocks and I would have to manually move it. Many times I thought it was dead and it wouldn't move for a couple days and then all of a sudden it would be alive again. It finally died though.

Here is what my tank looks like with hair algae a couple months ago. It got much worse than this. Currently I took most of it out manually, but it will come back.
http://s202.photobucket.com/albums/aa147/mtallman14/?action=view&current=July112008-VID00057.flv

 

[Altohombre]

will an emerald crab or serpent star mess with a Mandarin? I am slightly worried about this.

 

[dustin_P74]

they shouldnt

 

[daugherty]

i would not worry about that

 

[reeffreak]

will an emerald crab or serpent star mess with a Mandarin? I am slightly worried about this.

No.


Not so bad Alto.I'm in love with the green toady and duncans.I would try some of those chestnut snails for the hair.They are less likely to knock stuff over.

 

[Bifferwine]

I think either a serpent star or brittle star (or more than one) is vital to a good cleanup crew.

 

[simpleman]

Emeralds are great hair algae eaters. Are you running a sump? Macro seems to be the best defense against micro.

 

[Altohombre]

no sump or refugium. Probably main reasons why I have more algae than not.

 

[Altohombre]

you guys know anything about the blue linkia star fish. It looks really cool.

 

[dustin_P74]

http://peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+2158+2224&aid=2195

 

[yote]

you guys know anything about the blue linkia star fish. It looks really cool.

I've heard that most linkias dont last long in captivity.Think I would dodge that one.

 

[Bifferwine]

I too would avoid it. They usually starve to death over a period of a couple months.

 

[Altohombre]

I picked up a serpent star, but it doesn't seem to do a damn thing. What does it do in your tanks?

I also got the emerald crab and saw it for the first day or two and now I can't find it. It was pretty tiny. Hopefully it's still alive.

 

[cgoodman381]

Serpents can be really sensative to light. So he probably comes out at night when your not looking. :p

Emeralds can go weeks without being seen... Then one day youll see it. I wouldn't count him dead yet.