clean up crew

jclaus

New member
How important is a clean up crew? I have a new rebuild of a tank with plenty of live rock, a few hitch-hiker crabs, tiny bristle star fish, and snails. I am experiencing an algae bloom on the glass and on some of the sand that doesn't have as much water flow and am wondering how important a clean up crew will need to be. I am planning on adding the remaining corals and fish tonight or this weekend. attached is the tank as is (210dt w 40g breeder sump). Fish will include a large scat, bicolor angel, flame back angel and 2 pajama cardinals. Corals to be added are primarily SPS type. Current corals appear to be thriving as CA and ALk are decreasing- I am trying to get on top of daily adding this to keep up with the demand. Sorry for the blurring pic - should give you an idea of what my tank is, and more accurately what kind of photographer I am.
 

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Your hair algae is best controlled through lowering NO3 and PO4. There are threads here with various suggested fish and so on.
 
To answer your question, your CUC is important not just for algae control (which I've found minimal TBH) but moreso for detritus/excess food removal between WCs and other maintenance. You'd be surprised how much nitrate detritus and excess food will produce if left untouched. A good bunch of cerith and nassarius snails, just to name a few, will keep your tank water much much nicer between WCs. As mentioned above, algae is easily controlled via nutrient export, but not so much detritus/excess food.
 
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