How vital/necessary is a clean up crew?

[fadijohn]

I have a 20g red sea max nano AIO that's been setup for about 9months now. I have one clownfish, a neon blue goby and a collection of about 20-ish LPS and mushroom corals. I feed the fish fairly lightly and I don't feed the corals at all (except from what they get from fish waste/floating food). I also perform weekly water changes. I do have a bit of GHA, but nothing crazy as far as algae outbreaks go.

My question is, would a clean up crew do anything to benefit a tank like mine, or would it just be more mouths to feed? I can definitely see how they would benefit a heavily fed/stocked tank, but for something more on the light end, like mine, is a clean up crew necessary/beneficial to my tank's overall health?

 

[blaxsun]

Yes, it's beneficial - even if it's only a few hermit crabs and snails.

 

[MaxTremors]

I think they are indispensable. I need snails/conchs to turn over my sand, snails to eat algae, hermits to eat algae and any left over fish food. IMO, they’re not an optional thing for a reef tank. For a fish only tank you can get away without having any (in a FOWLR I wouldn’t go without), but for a reef tank, they’re an essential part of the food chain/ecosystem.

 

[fadijohn]

Yes, it's beneficial - even if it's only a few hermit crabs and snails.

I think they are indispensable. I need snails/conchs to turn over my sand, snails to eat algae, hermits to eat algae and any left over fish food. IMO, they’re not an optional thing for a reef tank. For a fish only tank you can get away without having any (in a FOWLR I wouldn’t go without), but for a reef tank, they’re an essential part of the food chain/ecosystem.

Awesome, thank you both for the replies. I was thinking of 5 nassarius vibex, 1 scarlet hermit, 5 dwarf cerith, 2 trochus.. does that sound good/reasonable for a tank like mine? I appreciate the help/input!

 

[MaxTremors]

Awesome, thank you both for the replies. I was thinking of 5 nassarius vibex, 1 scarlet hermit, 5 dwarf cerith, 2 trochus.. does that sound good/reasonable for a tank like mine? I appreciate the help/input!

I generally recommend 0.75 to 1 hermits/snails per gallon (tank size not tank volume). And from there I recommend 65% snails and 35% hermits. So for your tank I would do 7 hermits (dwarf blue legs, scarlets, or Mexican red legs) and 13 snails (2 turbo, 4 nassarius, 3 cerith, 2 trochus, and 2 nerite/margarita - and you can do more than this, and do different species. but you just want a variety. I would also recommend a fighting/tiger/strawberry conch.

 

[Hooz]

Just for reference, I have 12 Dwarf Ceriths, 5 Ceriths, 2 Asterae and 2 Nassarius in my 10g, along with a pair of Scarlet Reef Hermits.

The crew in my 30g is basically the same with the numbers scaled up, and I added a couple Turbo Snails and 6 (small) Nerites as well.

 

[UnrealReefer]

Let's put this in perspective everything alive is part of a food chain. It's own ecosystem. They are definitely beneficial