The cleaning crew..

[Rich]

When's the best time to start adding my cleaning crew to my new tank? I can't remember when I added stock like hermits and turbo snails to my last reef tank, but I do remember it was quite early on in the tank's life.

I'm working on maybe a dozen turbo snails and a dozen hermits....that sound about right?

Rich

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Don't add any clean up crew till your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate have zero'd out.

As far as what to add, I'd suggest a mix of snails since some clean the sand bed, some the glass, and some the rocks. Nassarius snials for the sand bed, some ceriths for the sand and glass, margaritas/nerites/astrea for the glass and rockwork. Turbos - true turbos, are not a good choice for nanos because they get too big and basically bulldoze everything in their path.

I'd go with more snails than hermits. 6 hermits should be plenty, maybe 3 blues and 3 scarlett reef hermits. Don't forget to toss some extra, larger empty shells in the tank for them so they don't go after your snails when they need a larger home.