Little confused about CUC.

[FinsToTheLeft]

My 75 gal has been cycling for a little over 2 weeks now. Ammonia is now 0 and nitrites is still up at 5.0. I am planning on adding a CUC when nitrites comes down.

So I am looking around and I see packages for 75 gal tanks saying they contain 30-40 types of hermits and 30- 40 types of snails. This seems like alot to me, which is ok cause I am looking foward to all of these cool inverts walking around. But do I really want that many?

Thanks.

[demonsp]

What are they going to eat?
Its what you cant see thats important,your beneficial bacteria that is maturing and multiplying that your tank needs to support stock.
You need to wait atleast 4 to 8 weeks then start small.A few hermits and nass snails or margeritas then wait and add a fish or coral then wait and add more CUC and a fish or coral.COral puts a small load on the water and CUC puts more and fish is the largest. Heres a link to whats happing in your tank now.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/bionitrogencycle/a/aa073199.htm

[FinsToTheLeft]

Thanks demo, I was just reading that link. I saw you post it in another thread. I know to add slowly and wait until the tank has finished cycling. When my tank has fully matured, 30- 40 hermits along with 30-40 snails and some shrimp won't be over doing it?

[jvr1102]

My 90 has about 40 crabs, 40 snails and a few emeralds. Most will say it is to much I disagree...Nature of this game some things are a matter of opinion. I just know I have never had any major issue with my tank so it worked well for me.

[demonsp]

Yes that many CUC would be to many at one time let alone overall. They will compete for such a low food source and if not get killed many will suffer a slow starvation.The term LFS should be AFS or any fish store.
The die off will slow tanks maturing and could effect any added stock and water quality. Its about a balance CUC to fish to coral.You then feed more as tank ages and the CUC has nither to much or to little food. My 75 has about 10 hermits ,2 turbos,5 nass 2 conch and 3 or 3 margs. To keep LR clean you need flow and proper feeding scedule or less more often and a wide variety.

My daimond goby is my SB cleaner and does an great job. CUC are only tools we use for water control.Theres no one tool for any problem but many tools working in balance.Pods are a tool LR is a tool the SB is a tool. Cant fix a car with 1 tool.

[jvr1102]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12494624#post12494624 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by demonsp
Yes that many CUC would be to many at one time let alone overall. They will compete for such a low food source and if not get killed many will suffer a slow starvation.The term LFS should be AFS or any fish store.
The die off will slow tanks maturing and could effect any added stock and water quality. Its about a balance CUC to fish to coral.You then feed more as tank ages and the CUC has nither to much or to little food. My 75 has about 10 hermits ,2 turbos,5 nass 2 conch and 3 or 3 margs. To keep LR clean you need flow and proper feeding scedule or less more often and a wide variety.

My daimond goby is my SB cleaner and does an great job. CUC are only tools we use for water control.Theres no one tool for any problem but many tools working in balance.Pods are a tool LR is a tool the SB is a tool. Cant fix a car with 1 tool.

Well put

[FinsToTheLeft]

Thanks... I will add everything slowly and see what works.

[mrbigshot]

i generally go much less, 1 snail per 3 gallons or so, i also limit hermits to 1 to 5 gallons, 1 emerald to 25 gallons.

[demonsp]

Im sorry but i would rather have a cool fish in place of maybe 10 or 15 hermits. This is overkill and not really needed,many old time reefers dont even use hermits as there not needed and are more f a funny addition. Im sure you get buy fine. Hey how about some pics....

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12494583#post12494583 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jvr1102
My 90 has about 40 crabs, 40 snails and a few emeralds. Most will say it is to much I disagree...Nature of this game some things are a matter of opinion. I just know I have never had any major issue with my tank so it worked well for me.

[Aquarist007]

I would also suggest that it is not a good mix--snails and hermits
Eventually the hermits will kill off your snail population going after their shells.
IMO snails based on their types have more versitile roles then do hermits--class cleaner, rock cleaners, sand bed cleaners etc etc
I have about 4 maybe five hermits left in my tank--the rest are in the refugiums. Since I removed the bulk of them the snail population has remained stable