Clean up crew help

vishboy

vishboy

New member
I need a clean up crew for my sand. What reefsafe options are there? I am looking at inverts because I like to keep my bioload low. I am primarily looking for detritrivores. Algae feeders are second on my list.

Thanks,
Viahboy
 
Well I like nassarius snails myself for the sandbed, I also have sand sifting starfish. The snails burrow in the sand until feeding time. I also have yellow watchmen gobies which keep the sand nice and white as they move it around alot. But for inverts I would suggest the snails.

I prefer not to have hermits becuase they disturb my coral polyps alot.
 
mayalasian trumpet snails, great algea and detritus eaters as well as sand bed stirrers. they will have to be acclimated to SW though as they are only kept in FW tanks at the moment i dont think people have realized that they have great potential in SW tanks.

i know were you can get them for free.
 
Thanks ben, but I think I will stick with something that is SW.
With the Nassarious snails, do you have a recommended sand bed depth? Also, would anyone else recommend nassarious snails? And how many for a 12x30x1-2 inch square surface?

Thanks,
Vishboy
 
Im my opinion for clean up crew, I'll go with Scarelete crabs, emerld crabs, blue legs crabs, peppermint and skunk scarelete cleaner shrimp, astrea snails, and a fighting conch.

Scarelete crabs scavenge left overs and eats aglaes.
Emerald Crabs eat bubble and hairy algaes, including scavenge.
blue legs crabs scavenge and eat algaes.
peppermint eats aptasia and prevent out break of it, including scavange.
Skunk Cleaner scavange left over and clean fish from parasites.
Astrea clean windows and back wall, including rocks from aglaes.
LAST Fighting conch are best for sand shifting and clean out your sand bed from algae built up on sandbeds. The suck and shift the sand so the sand doesn't have a dead spot for bult up.
 
I have both Nassarius and Cerith snails. Nassarius are great sand stirs and they quickly consume detritus, uneaten food, decaying organics, and fish waste. Cerith also stir the sand. They eat several types of nuisance algae (red and diatom), including algae on the aquarium glass underneath the substrate. A mix of both would be good. I have seen several sites that say 1 snail per gallon for these snails. Personally I don’t like Hermit crabs and would avoid adding them. When I first brought up my tank I added red, blue and zebra’s dwarf hermits. I added a bunch of shells for them to grow into. Over a year I have watched my snail population diminish and frequently watch these crabs pulling the snails out alive. I do have emerald crabs which I have never seen attack anything other then algae and scraps of food.
 
Ok, you’re going to think I’m a nut, but I buy a lot of stuff off Ebay. A few weeks ago I found some shells but cant remember where they were from. If you are buying livestock from Ebay keep in mind the shipping charges and weather where they are and you are. Not everything on Ebay is great! Helps to look at feed back and ask questions before buying.
 
I concur with Nassarius snails (avoid Nassarius obsoleta they are not a good snail and not really a Nassarius genus). Nassarius vibex are a good choice and Cerith sp. snails are also good choices.

You could add some of the smaller species of bristleworms, they help clean the sandbed as well.

Brian
 
Emerald Crabs are ravenous bubble and hair algae eaters, and are also very entertaining. I like Sand Sifting Stars to keep the sandbed stirred. They do a lot of under the surface traveling. I agree that the hermits can be a little destructive.
 
I have a 75g reef and just tossed about 40 astreas in since I was having a algae break out. But the hermits are destroying them! I saw a crab with blue/red marked legs and red tip legs that had one snail over on his back and going for the meat. (Guess I now know why the algae slowly crept in). However, I saw another crab that was cleaning the shell of another snail. My substrate is a 50/50 mix of sand and crushed coral, tho the sand has pretty much sifted down. How do the nassarius snails and bristle worms do in this type of substrate? WHere do you get the worms? The only thing on ebay I see is 'traps' for bristle worms.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8391286#post8391286 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NanoCube-boy
Would you guys recommend a small Red star fish in a 12gallon? Not Linkia, but Red/Orange starfish?
Click to expand...

I would not recommend a sea star in a 12 gallon tank. What you are probably referring to is a fromia star (they are the other common red/orange sea stars available in the hobby), it will not have enough food in a 12 gallon.

I would recommend some mini brittlestars instead, they don't get too big and are still entertaining to watch and you can feed them meaty foods so they will survive in your 12 gallon.

Brian
 
I agree with Brian. I am not much of a nano reef person, just easier to control the environment in a bigger tank, but mini brittlestars could do well in a small tank.
 
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