Clean up crew time!

[Andrew]

Well I've gotta get a cleanup crew for my 75 gallon reef. Let me know what you think about this. Also, what snails will keep the sandbed clean for me?

Astrea Snail- 50
Blueleg Hermits- 25
Peperment shrimp- 2

[Travis L. Stevens]

I would get something along the lines of this. I would actually go with the first number or slightly above. I would do the maximum if you are having trouble in your tank.

25-50 Astrea Snails - Cleans glass and rocks of film algae
10-15 Red Legged Hermits - Cleans meaty detritus off of rocks and sand. Occassionally will predate on snails for shells or food when not enough food is present in the tank. Will munch on algae from time to time
5-10 Mexican Turbo Snails - Eats macro algae and filamentous algae. Very powerful and can knock frags and small rocks over
25-50 Nassarius vibex - Eats meaty detritus and occassionally munches on cyanobacteria, diatoms, and dinoflagellates (but quite rarely). Keeps the top layer of sand stirred

FYI's
- You can substitute Illyanassa obsoleta for Nassarius vibex.
- Cerith Snails are a great option. They reproduce in your tank and go from sand, rock, and glass
- Avoid Margarita Snails. They are temperate water species that will die with the higher temperatures of our reef aquarium.
- Urchins make a great clean up crew, but they are powerful, eat coralline algae, and painful if poked.
- Sailfin Mollies make a good addition to small tanks that need macro algae control. They eat the soft, new growth on it.
- Emerald Crabs will occassionally eat Bubble Algae, but it is hit and miss. Like all crabs, they are opportunistic feeders and aren't shy of taking bites out of meatier fare.
- Shrimp shouldn't be part of a cleanup crew. Though they tend to help keep nuisances under control, the use of a quarintine tank should eliminate pests.
- Keep your clean up crew at a lower amount. Use a refugium to curb algae growth. If you can't curb your algae growth, then up the clean up crew. But don't let them starve to death when they finish everything
- Horseshoe Crabs are also very good, but they grow large and are very powerful diggers and rock movers

[dc_909]

I personally like to slowly add my clean up crew, that way you can make sure that there is enough food for everyone that goes in. You don't want to overpopulate and just have some die off.

[jer77]

I personally like scarlet reef hermits, (Paguristes cadenati). They clean my sand bead and live rocks of detritus, filamentous algae, and cyanobacteria. They are slightly larger than red tipped, or left-handed(blue leg) hermits, and don't attack other hermits or snails. One of my blue leg hermits grew to about an 1.5 inches and would eat my snails and weak and smaller hermits.
Also the larger nassarius snails(N. distortus) than N. vibex can eat larger pieces of detritus and left over brine shrimp from feeding easily before it rots in your tank.
I too add small numbers of my clean-up crew at a time.
I have never had to add the amount that most clean-up crew packs recommend. There just isn't enough algae and food for the number they recommend. I have about 15 snails and 10 hermits in my 55 gallon and this seems like a good amount to me. I try to elimanate nuisance algae and detritus by other ways like a refugium w/ macroalgae, skimming, and water changes. I believe my refugium lessens my nuisance algae and greatens the time between water changes a lot.

[FindingNemo318]

A-ok from what i have seen... also try a sand-sifter (star fish). a horseshoe crab also will sift thru your sand. best of luck!

[Newreeflady]

I just added a fighting conch to my 12g tank. He seems to graze both sand (and in my case also rock, maybe due to lack of stuff in sand.) I think 1 per 20g is recommended... but you should feed them if there isn't enough in the tank. I fed mine a flake. :)

Just didn't see them mentioned, they seem like neat little creatures.

:)
-A

[Reeses]

Nerite snails are my favorite. They are really attractive, and stay small. They don't mess anything up.

Peppermint shrimp may take care of any aiptasia you have, if it's a problem. Mine knocked my aiptasia right out in no time, and then was a wonderful inhabitant that was great to watch.

I personally don't care much for astrea snails because when they fall they can't get up themselves. I have "saved" them so many times. That doesn't really happen with any other species of snail that I've had yet.

Nassarius snails are my other favorite, just because they are comical to watch. They are like little snail submarines with periscopes.

I hear that if you want a killer sandbed cleaner, get a cucumber. I can't wait until my 75g is up and running so I can have one. :)