Is it time for CUC?

Tanks been up a month now and I have algae on the rocks. None on the sand, but I'm thinking the MP40 has a lot to do with that. The algae is green, not brown and I think there is enough there to sustain my Clean Up Crew. The two Spotted Cardinals are alive and well and my amonia is <0.2 ppm

CUC composition:
8 Nassarius Snails
12 Red Leg Hermit Crabs
1 Electric Blue Hermit Crab
1-2 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Blue Tuxedo Urchin

Think it's too soon? Crew composition seem correct for 75 gallon? Suggestions welcome!!

 

I am a little concerned with having any ammonia in there. It really should be at zero. How long have the fish been in there?

As far as the cleaners go I would check out reefcleaners.org and send a msg off the John. There is a custom cleanup crew form on the website. He will hook you up with whatever you need and prices can't be beat.

 

being that we both started our tanks relatively at the same time....

took me 2 1/2 weeks for my algae bloom. i have no mp40 running my tank. just the 500GPH temporary return pump and a koralia 1 in the DT to mix things up a bit more. i have 3 damsels. (the third just added the other day).

i cycled with the lights off (think im still cycling). two weeks into it i wasnt getting an algae bloom so i turned the lights on one day for like 8 hours. thereafter i had nice brown patches of algae.

ive had 3 hermits and 2 turbo snails in there since that day. the film algae is now all over my glass, sand, and starting into the rocks. im not adding in my full CuC personally till the full cycle is over.

i did however add a couple more snails, thanks rubystar (she donated some snail babies she had in her tank to me). they're cleaning it up 24/7 now trying to catchup to the bloom, but they cant.

im also not running anything in my fuge except a filter sock, which im actually going to take off. i had a couple copepods i found in it (must have hitch hiked cuz ive not seeded it yet). id rather those get filtered around back into the DT at the moment. they dont need to sit in my filter sock....

so perhaps you wanna turn your mp40w down, turn the lighting on, and see what happens?

 

i would wait , as coylee said, until youve got your ammnia down to zero. youre sounding very close. your cuc composition is a good start , but you will want quite a bit more in regards to snails for sure. at minimum id want at least 40 snails. but that can also depend on your budget too. you could get a nice mix of different snails for different jobs. and its never too late to add even more down the road. im always adding a bit more CUC here and there. good luck

guy

 

+1 on comments about waiting for ammonia to 0
+1 on increasing number and species of snails - hermits are great, but useless on the tank walls ( OK once they get covered in coralline, this changes to some extent)
+ Reefcleaners, as you will then get a balanced CUC , with a mix of critters that excell in particular areas

Steve

 

reefcleaners.org - johns quote to me on my 75 gal... its like 120 snails in total