What keeps Live rocks Clean

[fijiwigi]

My Live rocks are getting kinda fuzzy water parameters are good. Nitrates below 2ppm and Phospates not detectable with my kit. Just thinking I need to increase my clean up crew a bit. Just need to know what invertabrates digest the fuzzy algae and polish my live rocks till they are clean. Thinking of adding a starfish to my clean up crew but need to know what other species tend to favor munching on the rocks verses the sand and glass. I noticed my fuzzy algae on the rocks after my Sally light foot crab died ( I think ) the sally light foot body was laying on the sand I assumed it just molted. but its been about a week so I am thinking maybe it just croaked, But maybe it will show up? Last time it molted it was about 5days before I saw it again since my algae on the rocks is increasing I am thinking it was the actual crab that I threw away and not just the ectoskeleon. I really want to stay away from crabs so am looking for other options to munch on my rocks.

 

[Ziggy953]

Astrea, margarita, and turbos. Hermits will pick at it but the snail will do a better job. I'm really happy with how my margaritas are working out.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

To add to ziggy's list... trochus snails. Those are the "big hitters" in my tank. Well... beside the two turbos that are starting to get a little larger than I'd like. Good thing I've got everything glued down.

Other thing you could do if you're not doing it already is just before water change, blast all your rock with a turkey baster. Or if you're pumping the PWC water back into the tank with a powerhead, direct the stream of incoming water at the rocks. Blowing off all the junk on your rocks might help in keeping things less fuzzy too.

 

[fishcrack]

I'm curious to hear how these suggestions work. I have the fuzzy rock issue in my nano. I use a small toothbrush before water changes but it comes back. I have a fairly big cleaning crew but I will add magarita snails - don't have any. What is the downside of getting rid of my turbos? They are huge!

 

[tamra&steven]

ziggy is right all those snails are great, i wouldnt use turbos with corals just to big and knock things over. hermits are cool to but the snails do the best job get alot too. i dont know how big your tank is but i have a 60ga with 20 hermit and 30 diff types of snails. starfish are cool but dont clean very well. bigger starfish will eat your inverts if it get on top of them. fiji sand stars are neat for going through the sand

 

[roka64]

My pincushion urchin mows down everything but cyano, including hair algae and coraline.

 

[Devilishturtles]

My urchin also does good work at keeping my rocks clean, as do the turbos. The peppermint shrimp used to be good cleaners too, constantly picking at the rockwork.

 

[Boltster]

My pincushion urchin mows down everything but cyano, including hair algae and coraline.

Same here. My urchin is a superb cleaner. When it's on the LR, you can see a path behind it. On the downside, it gobbles up coralline, but that eventually grows back.