Clean Up Crew-What can I add?

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cooling1981

Aquarium Advice Newbie
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Jun 16, 2015
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Hi All!

My tank is doing great! I added an Emerald crab and he's doing great cleaning algae off rocks.

I have a lot of brown algae that is coming up on the sand and some of the rock pieces. Is there a CUC member that eats brown algae that I can add? Any others I should be adding?

Thanks!
Ben
 
So many types of snails. Astrea, margarita, turbo come to mind. A conch. Urchins. Sea Stars. Hermit crabs for sure.. I really like Nassarius snails
 
Depends, how old is your tank? If its still new, and those are diatoms, then I'd not add anything to clean em up. Diatoms will die off once the silicates are eaten out of your system.
 
I wouldn't add any more eating, pooing critters to the tank than I wanted for diversity. You don't need a single crab or snail to have an algae free aquarium. "Cleanup crews" are completely unnecessary.
 
I wouldn't add any more eating, pooing critters to the tank than I wanted for diversity. You don't need a single crab or snail to have an algae free aquarium. "Cleanup crews" are completely unnecessary.

So are aquariums but we still have aquariums. Why would you say clean up crews are un-necessary? Don't you feel as that's misleading to many hobbyist?

I'd encourage the OP to consider a clean up crew as their bio-load is not noticeable and their benefits far exceed any negative impact their waste would cause :/ (I never said they're necessary though)
 
I believe the term "cleanup crew" was created by vendors to sell livestock. No snail can clean the glass better than an algae scraper and no crab, shrimp, or starfish can do better than good tank husbandry would in terms of keeping the tank clean.
I've kept tanks with lots of snails, crabs and shrimp, and tanks with none, and the end result was the same, except for the fact that I ended up having to add food for the snails and crabs or in a short while I'd have to "recharge" my clean up crew (which was depleted due to starvation).
 
Snails and hermits will eat the left overs that the fish have forgotten, and its gotten stuck in behind the rocks. Over time this will build up and your tank will turn to crap.
Also, snails, Turbos, will keep your rock clean, I don't know of anyone that removes their rocks on a weekly basis to clean the film off of it, it gets the same film algae that the glass gets. And yes, its much faster for us to clean the glass, but the rocks?? Really?
A variety of snails, not a ton of them, a handful, 5-10, are easily enough for a 60g tank. 5 Turbos, 5 Bumble Bee Snails, will keep your rocks clean and will not starve out.
Lastly, unless you plan on keeping strictly SPS, then no ones tank is that clean, as LPS and Softies tend to like some phosphates and some nitrates.
 
Anyone who buys snails expecting them to clean the glass is clueless. Are you?

I can think of quite a few places hermit crabs can reach that I cannot with tweezers. Even with a turkey baster the hermit crabs are able to reach in there and remove whats on or in the rock. I believe leftover food was mentioned.. Come on whats better leftover food in display, or inverts who eat it and provide a non-stop service :/
 
You're missing the message in the statement earlier, I think in this thread, that a sponge or magfloat will do a better job than a snail. I have snails all over my glass cleaning things up...but in the end I just have a nice pattern every day that I have to wipe away because they miss a ton. This is a case of two things having the same job and judging which is better at it...
 
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