[Hemi now?]

I'm new to saltwater and just setup a 55 gal aquarium. spec's follow
5" sand bed with 20lbs. live sand and 100 base sand.
22lbs. established live rock from brother in laws aquarium
10lbs. live rock dealer
24lbs. dead live rock
have star pollops, yellow sponges, black sponge, white sponge, mushrooms, a bristolworm, and other inverts I don't know there names.
I have 2 powerheads pushing 300gph, and 2 filter units pushing 350gph.
I have tracked my levels and saw small spike in all and now all are at zero.
I have experienced a diatom bloom and now have lots of green algae, also have deep reddish algae.

Question is that I was told I should go ahead and put some crabs and snails in to take care of algae and my cycle was virtually over due to my live rock and use of shrimp to cycle the tank. Is this correct and what ratio should I use??

[leebca]

WELCOME TO REEFLAND!

The amount of live rock is short for handling nitrogen wastes right off the bat in this aquarium. With time, the 'dead live rock' will become suitable contributors to the biological cycle.

The deep red you see could be a type of cyanobacteria or slime bacteria. Maybe not. But this, together with your other observations indicate the system is young and still going through transitions.

If you look at the recommendation I provide for starting an aquarium: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium, you'll find where you are at in that process. I'd guess you are about at step 12.

It is time to start adding clean up crew. That advice would seem to be correct. However, I don't agree with adding hermit crabs. Stick to snails, worms, benthic creatures that work the substrate, etc.

Snails are 'self limiting.' By that I mean when the food runs out they die off and come to a level where there are enough to keep the aquarium relatively clean. So buying/putting in more at this point in time is a good idea.

I would choose multiple different types of snails according to the recommendations in the articles I've listed at the end of this post. I'd favor the Cerinths, Astraea, and Nassarius. But there are, as you can see, dozens to choose from.

Make sure the snails you are getting are coming from true tropical waters. About all you can do is ask, I know. Snails and inverts that come as cleanup crews that originate from Mexico, CA, FL, etc. all may be used to cooler waters and in our aquariums, would just cook to death. The tip off is how fast they die. Unfortunately, that's after the fact that you bought them. So be aware.

You should probably begin with a dozen (assuming you're getting small ones) Nassarius, 3 dozen Cerinths, and another 3 dozen mix of the rest. If you're getting larger snails, cut the numbers by half.

Snail articles:
The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
The Grazing Snails, Part II - Abalones, Limpets and Nerites by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com
The Grazing Snails, Part III: Conchs, Ceriths, Cowries, and Columbellids by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

Good luck! We're here to help. Read! Read! Read!
Ask questions if you have them.

[Hemi now?]

Thanks lee. You seem to be a very mature and patient aquariust with lots of helpful knowledge I hope to learn from as I go on this journey.

[leebca]

You're welcome.

You'll find a lot of posts that will help you on your journey (nicely put BTW ) If you check this Table of Contents/Index link, you might find other things worth reading:

Table/Contents - Link List

[FireEater]

I've found that two of the best cleaners you should have are the Yellow Cucumber and the Queen Conch. I have two of each in my system and they do nothing but clean 24 hours a day.

The Cucumbers are constantly cleaning the sandbed. "Dirty sand goes in and clean sand comes out" is what I say to everyone who comes over to see my tank. There is a pic of the yellow cuke in my sig if you want to see the right one to get. You can see it's tentacles cleaning the sand. I have a pink one also, but he doesn't move about much. He is mostly just a night feeder and I suspect he is going out for dinner somewhere anyway.

The two Queen Conchs do a great job with their trunks getting in all the tight places. If you place some nori down low for them, their trunks will eventually turn green.

Be careful about buying the very large turbo snails. They will bowl over everything in your tank to eat.