When to add the clean up crew?

[texasaggie]

hey, i am new to this and have a 12g with 17 lbs of lr and 20 lbs of CC. I bought premade water from the LFS so I wouldnt have to make my own. Also the LR was already cured and some pieces have lots of coraline alge on them. I have tested the water and everything looks perfect, so on the advice of a friend of mine who owns a fish store, i added 2 scarlet crabs. The tank has only been in place for one week. The crabs were added 48 hours ago and everything looks perfect. When do you recommend adding the rest of the clean up crew? Before or after I add a fish/coral (I wont be adding a fish/coral for another 3-4 weeks just to make sure everything stays okay).

 

[Anonymous]

I usually add clean up crew members as they're needed. For instance, if the walls are getting a bit of algae, add a couple cerith snails (These are AWESOME grazers, by the way.) If your sandbed isn't getting stirred enough, add some bristleworms or nassaurius snails. To be honest, I don't know what a scarlet crab is... What do they look like?

 

[texasaggie]

scarlet crabs are the red hermit crabs.

i am concerned about the CC not getting stirred up because there is no movement in the tank. Do you think it is wise to add a snail to stirr up the CC?

 

[Anonymous]

Hehe, I'm dumb. Is CC crushed coral? I believe most people use a bit finer sand, like sugar sized, than this for their tanks. Besides creating pockets where detritus builds up, crushed coral is hard for clean up critters like bristleworms and snails to dig through. You may consider yanking it out and replacing it with a finer sand.

By the way, WELCOME TO REEFS.ORG!