Who's in your Clean Up Crew?

lapin · Feb 7, 2019

My tank is about 1 year old.
I have added snails but dont really know how many are still alive.
Snails of all types (I prob forgot some) nassarius-big and small, ceriths, dwarf ceriths, turbos, bumble bees, astraeas.
I have 1 red leg hermit, about 10 emerald crabs. 1 large pencil urchin.
Plus amphipods and 1 lawnmower . I have seen a worm but only once.
Oh and I forgot the firecracker shrimp, cleaner shrimp and the pair of peppermint shrimp.

nguye829 · Feb 7, 2019

The trochus snails and blue-leg hermits are what I have in my tank.

Xandernfs · Feb 7, 2019

I have 2 fighting Conchs, a hand full of nassarius and trochus snails. I believe these 2 types of snails are the best for a reef tank. Nassarius snails do a great job at turning the sand and torchus are great at maintaining the glass. It's also a nice surprise when I find a baby that I can put in my DT.

Dragon52 · Feb 7, 2019

I have nassarius snails, ceriths, dwarf ceriths, nerites & 2 Conchs.

Ashley Kekua · Feb 10, 2019

My wrassse done eating all my clean up crew!!! Now no clean up crew! but only need to scrape the walls every week that's all. I'm surprised to not have much problems since crew gone away!

Ashley Kekua · Feb 10, 2019

NY_Caveman said:
Tank is a 45 gallon AIO, bare bottom. I find Trochus and Cerith snails to be a great combination to cover most nuisances. As a bonus, they can right themselves. My Trochus reproduce at a ridiculous pace. I currently have some Turbo snails that are bulldosers and too big for my tank, but are true workhorses.

Non-snail helpers include dwarf hermits (red and blue legged), ministars, pods, bristleworms, various other worms and an Emerald Crab.

Of course, as @mcarroll once said, "You are the star of the CUC!"

what is secret to populate trochus snails by breeding?

Salps · Feb 10, 2019

90 gallon with a yellow Tang, 2 urchins and 2 turbo. The ocean has algae and my tank does also. With this little crew and good husbandry I never need to bother with the algae growing in the display.

NY_Caveman · Feb 10, 2019

Ashley Kekua said:
what is secret to populate trochus snails by breeding?

I have no idea why they are so prolific in my tank. I am not playing them Barry White albums or anything. I just assume they are healthy. Temperature is 78.5 *F in the display, nutrients are very low. I put seaweed in the tank every other day with an IM Gourmet Feeder since they already ate most of the algae.

C-Reefer · Feb 11, 2019

My mvp is probably my Tailspot Blenny. Always busy eating algae, especially hair algae. I think my two bristletooth tangs will be the same when they get out of qt. Second would be my Emerald Crab, and third my fighting conch. He keeps my sanded sparkling.

After that I've got to have one or two red leg hermits, quite a few of the little blue dwarfs, and then trochus. Haven't tried ceriths yet though.

Tuan’s Reef · Feb 11, 2019

Tell you what's not going to be in my reef anymore is emerald crabs. Sneakey little buggers will eat my softies, pick on my BTA, and killed my yellow watchmen . Will only stock hermits moving forward.

DirtDiggler2823 · Feb 11, 2019

Trochus, margarita, and certiths for me right now. Need to add a fighting conch or two, and some nassarius snails to address the detritus and sand bed. I keep hearing horror stories about crabs, so I'm abstaining from them.