Clean up crew needed for Large Reef Tank

[Shnabbles]

Ok I need to upgrade my cleaning crew. I have a 180 display with a 50 Gallon refugium with about a 6-7 inch sand bed.

Currently i have no clean up crew in the refugium.

In the display i have a hand ful of hermits, blue, red leg, maybe a tri color here or there..

2-3 mexican turbos
2 fighting conchs
3 large nassarius snails
1 queen conch
1 green brittle star
1 sally lightfoot
1 cucumber
2 cleaner shrimp

i have been continuely fighting a red hair alge build up on the sand bed, and i get some pretty good detrius build up

What should i add? What should a tank this size have?

 

[Nanook]

You can add myriad clean-up critters, but I would first recommend finding a way to limit nutrients, ie: water changes, carbon, phosphate removal, limited feeding, better flow patterns, etc. The red hair algae is a symptom of excess nutrients.

 

[Shnabbles]

Nanook can these nutrients not be decreased with a better clean up crew?

 

[Nanook]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12498493#post12498493 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shnabbles
Nanook can these nutrients not be decreased with a better clean up crew?

I suppose some of the critters you have may eat the "red hair algae", but perhaps not on their list of fine dining. Spaghetti worms aka terebellid worms and certain bristleworms will eat fine detritus, but they are not the end-all answer in my opinion.

If you can limit the nutrients into the tank, then you won't need to buy critters in the first place. I do prefer adding detritivore kits from IPSF and IA to get the sand and rock teeming with life. So, if these are things you have not yet bought, you might be advised to get some. Whether or not they will "control" this red hair algae is another story though.

 

[yoboyjdizz]

Re: Clean up crew needed for Large Reef Tank

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12492813#post12492813 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shnabbles

2-3 mexican turbos
2 fighting conchs
3 large nassarius snails
1 queen conch
1 green brittle star
1 sally lightfoot
1 cucumber
2 cleaner shrimp

I would add atleast 12 turbos 12 nassarius 12 astraea snails 12 cerith snails the rest looks fine besides the green brittle star and they can be predators toward fish. I would start with that and add more if needed. picked 12 just a good round number and some places give discounts as well.