Clean Up Crew

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PrettyFishies

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Mar 7, 2003
Messages
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Location
Durham, NC
Can you guys identify what I should consider for a CUC for my 125 gal. Also, what can input in my fuge?

What species and how many of each?

I have a few turbos, maybe 5 nassarius and like 3 hermits. I inherited these when I purchased the tank. There's also two brittle stars and a coral banded.
 
nothing that eats algae or pods goes in the refugium.

don't go crazy with a cleanup crew. your tank will do good or it won't, depending on you, and a bunch of tiny inverts aren't going to have a say in it.
nassarius snails eat meaty foods. if you have a problem with uneaten food on the sand bed, they will be fine, but if not, they may have trouble staying fed. they also like to steal food out of the mouths of corals, so if you like feeding your lps, don't get too many of these.
you have the brittles anyway. they should keep the sand bed free of uneaten food.

hermits kill snails, so i would also use these sparingly, or get 20-30 of the little tiny ones. if you are going to do that, why bother getting any at all. when you think about it, the stomach mass of 50 hermit crabs doesn't amount to hardly anything, so i don't see how they can do a good job "cleaning up", and if they did, where is it going? it's getting pooped back out again. they don't "clean" anything.

snails are ok for the tight spots here and there i suppose, but they do a poor job on the glass. you can't rely on snails alone- you will need to scrape the glass, so i ask, why have them?

if you like these creatures and want to have a few here and there just to watch, then by all means, buy some, but please don't go by the "standards" and buy X amount of snails and crabs per gallon.

good water parameters, flow, and a mag float is the best cleanup crew you can have.
 
Well, tell me how you really feel. lol

I do like looking, but I can understand that if they're not really doing anything, then I should be concerned.

Speaking of flow - i have 2 Koralia's in the front on opposite sides and 1 maxijet in the back pointing a little down to blow up the stuff on the sand surface. I actually don't know the GPH ratings because I got them with the tank. Do you think I need more PH's?
 
nothing that eats algae or pods goes in the refugium.

don't go crazy with a cleanup crew. your tank will do good or it won't, depending on you, and a bunch of tiny inverts aren't going to have a say in it.
nassarius snails eat meaty foods. if you have a problem with uneaten food on the sand bed, they will be fine, but if not, they may have trouble staying fed. they also like to steal food out of the mouths of corals, so if you like feeding your lps, don't get too many of these.
you have the brittles anyway. they should keep the sand bed free of uneaten food.

hermits kill snails, so i would also use these sparingly, or get 20-30 of the little tiny ones. if you are going to do that, why bother getting any at all. when you think about it, the stomach mass of 50 hermit crabs doesn't amount to hardly anything, so i don't see how they can do a good job "cleaning up", and if they did, where is it going? it's getting pooped back out again. they don't "clean" anything.

snails are ok for the tight spots here and there i suppose, but they do a poor job on the glass. you can't rely on snails alone- you will need to scrape the glass, so i ask, why have them?

if you like these creatures and want to have a few here and there just to watch, then by all means, buy some, but please don't go by the "standards" and buy X amount of snails and crabs per gallon.

good water parameters, flow, and a mag float is the best cleanup crew you can have.

think of it this way, whats easier to clean up poo or algae, as well you get other cleanup crews that eat the poo and use whatever nutrition from that and they turn that poo intoi less poo.

in a way i can see your point but in a way its also safer in their stomach ratehr then decomposing in the water creating pollutents
 
it never stays in their stomach. it never disappears. it's just changed. no matter what, it's not removed until you remove it.


yes, definitely no urchins in the refugium. nothing that eats the nutrient absorbing algae or the pods that we want to breed and find their way to the return pump.

i can't answer the power head question because like you, i don't know what GPH they are. also, you want to decide what you want to keep in terms of corals. will it be softies and LPS, or perhaps you'd like to try the SPS corals as well? if you are going SPS, you want a medium to strong, random, turbulence in the tank.
 
Don't forget the shrimp. Skunk or scarlett cleaners. 3 since they come out a lot more in groups. They'll even clean your hand once they get used to you. But they can also be a problem stealing food targeted for corals.

Maybe even drop a like number of pepppermint shrimp also. They'll hide a lot. If any very small aptasia ever takes root, they may eat it before you ever even see it. They do nothing for larger growths. Pretty mild, but I had one once that would actually fight with my hand for food. Fiesty, he was.
 
Looks like I have Zooanthids, Green star polyps, yellow polyps, mushrooms, xenia, leather cabbage and some unidentified stuff. I'm told i don't need to target feed. So, if that's correct, the shrimp and the theft shouldn't be a problem.
 
just make sure they are in fact peppermint shrimp and not camel back shrimp. they tend to look similar as juveniles, but they definitely act different as adults.
 
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