JL Reef Custodian packages

[Diana]

Yeah I agree, I always aim for less of the hermits. And I always request extra empty shells for them so they don't kill the snails (J&L will be happy to provide). 1 snail per gallon is good in a healthy reef. If its a new tank I would get a package recommended for half the tank size and then add more snails later.

[ron101]

The aquarist is the tank's best clean up crew...

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by Diana

Yeah I agree, I always aim for less of the hermits. And I always request extra empty shells for them so they don't kill the snails (J&L will be happy to provide). 1 snail per gallon is good in a healthy reef. If its a new tank I would get a package recommended for half the tank size and then add more snails later.

I would think the opposite?
I had pretty serious algae when my tank was 1 to 6 months old but very little now?
I bought a lot of snails to begin with and they seem to have decreased their population (with left handed hermit help, regardless of the myriad of empty snail shells I had added to combat this) to suit the amount of algae present.

Just out of curiosity, whats the logic behind adding more once a reef is "healthy", assuming by your post that it is not yet?

I think that tank size makes a difference too...
72 snails and 72 hermits would be overbearing in my little 72 bow front.
In a 400 gallon, you might not even notice a comparable number of hermits/snails...

[Pier Pressure]

I bought the recommended reef custodian package from J&L for my 28 gallon when I fired it up. I am constantly finding dead hermits and I think I am down to about half of the critters I started with or less. There is lots of algae in the tank of all kinds and yet the hermits seem to prefer killing each other to eating algae.

[Whatigot]

MOST hermits are useless with Algae, especially if there are other things to eat in the tank like each other.

I like hermits cuz they are funny to watch, but for real natural algae control, go with snails all the way.

Scarlett hermits and Zebra/left handeds seem to be the most interested in greens (scarletts especially) but even they are predatory at times.

Add a couple hertmits, maybe 1 or 2 in a 28 to eat extra food and detritus but other than that, you're wasting money.
IMO of course.

[Diana]

Say you just put live rock in a new tank. Are you going to go out and blow your wad on an excessive number of snails and hermits, with the chance (and a good chance in a new setup) that you are going to loose a good number of them to natural fluctuations within a new and unstable reef environment? Wait a month or two until its all settled out and then add more. This is of course if it is a new tank. And there is nowhere in this thread stating the age of the aquarium, so everything is just speculation. Why it even matters I have no idea.

[JDigital]

Oh, ya, its new... and I don't plan on adding any CUC really for another month or two at all. so 2-3 months before it sees anything. I just wanted to get this question out of the now since it was on my mind.

[naesco]

There used to be a guideline before sand beds were commonly used to have one snail per gallon and everyone went out and did that with the result that there were tonnes of dead snails.
They simply starved to death, or died of too low salinity or poor acclimatization.
A few is fine. (Bumblebees are predators, margaritas require cool water)

Hermit crabs do significant damage. They eat all the little critters (worms etc.) that spawn micro 'eggs' that most coral feed on which defeats one of the beneficial reasons for having sand and rock in the aquarium.
No more than one per 10 gallons is recommended.

I was suprised to read the above in Marine Invertebrates by Dr. Ron Shimak but it makes sense and he is the expert on invertebrates.

IMO, J&L should not be selling cleaner packages because they don't benefit the reef system but harms it.