cheap clean up crew

[cantfunction]

this is my frst tank the cycle just ended and i was wondering where i would get a good priced crew in edmonton. my tank is 70 gallons but i onlru hsve 35 lbs of sand and rock so i should only need like 30-40 snails and crabs right?

[Proteus]

You need a variety IMO. Some say no crabs even emeralds and hermits. But I use both.
As for snails. Nassarius,cerith,asterias are great. Turbos are good but are bull dozers.
Also any snail that's pyrimid shape can have trouble flipping themselves upright and will die without your helping hand. Adding nutrients to tank

A conch and urchin are also benifical.

With the urchin they are herbivores so once algea is gone they should be supplemented with nori. If it starts loosing spines you know it's not doing to good.

[dino]

I would suggest to not get that many to start get 5-10 and see how they do

[Proteus]

Is that 35lbs rock and sand combined

[cantfunction]

Originally Posted by Titus99

Is that 35lbs rock and sand combined

35lbs of live sand and 35lbs of live rock

[Dearth]

CuC is a hot topic as some reefers will never ever have a snail or crab in their tank while others like me love them in my tank

Blue legged and red legged hermit crabs are great at cleaning up detritus and left over food especially between rocks and crevasses and will eat some types of algae but I've found that is hit and miss

Snails will clean the film on your tank glass and detritus off rocks and sand and some will burrow into it and clean in the sand too but again hit and miss

Downside to having smaller CuC in larger tanks is if you have larger fish they can view your guys as snacks.

Cerith and Astreria snails will propagate themselves haven't had much luck with nassarius procreating though.

All the above are relatively cheap per se and I would try 20 or so hermits and 30 assorted snails and go from there