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View Full Version : Whats a cleaning crew?


mhhauser
01/23/2006, 02:04 PM
So I have heard lots of ppl mention, having a clean up crew in their tank.

From what i can guess, its a bunch of crabs and maybe inverts that are used to eat all the extra food in the tank.

Can anyone enlighten me.

TekCat
01/23/2006, 02:11 PM
Cleaning crew is a collection of snails, crabs, shrimp, etc... that help you to have your tank clean of micro algae, diatoms, cyano, detrius, food leftovers.

poppin_fresh
01/23/2006, 08:55 PM
Yep...TekCat is right on. A clean up crew is anything living in your tank that makes your life easier.

Kazz
01/23/2006, 09:31 PM
Just to add to that.....a clean up crew are a pretty important part of the tank & as such nobody should consider setting up a tank without them IMO.

wrano
01/23/2006, 09:36 PM
Just curious what would be optimal for your cleanup crew and how long should your tank be up before adding them.

Anthony Clay
01/23/2006, 10:28 PM
a lunar wrasse , peppermint shrimp, turbo snails make sure not to ver do on sanils to many and they will keep the tank to clean- no food dead snails

TekCat
01/24/2006, 12:32 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6570955#post6570955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wrano
Just curious what would be optimal for your cleanup crew and how long should your tank be up before adding them.

selecting crew depends on what you're planning to have in your tank. For example if you have sand bed, then you probably benefit from nassarius snails, bristleworms, etc... There are also consideration on what lifestock will you have, but I am far from an expert on that subject.

Usually you can add small cleanup crew after you tank had cycled and ammonia/nitrite stayed at ZERO for at least a week or two. When you get more algae usually after the cycle you can add more cleaners. Don't over do it, as Anthony Clay said, if you add lots of herbivore snails but your tank have very little algae growing, then snails starve to death.

Good luck :)

mhhauser
01/24/2006, 01:53 PM
thanks for the resopneses who sell clean up crews.

Ti
01/24/2006, 02:00 PM
your local fish store

Kazz
01/24/2006, 03:23 PM
There are quite a few online stores that also sell clean-up crew packages.