Clean Up Crews

Viatorem

New member
Hello all

I'm not necessarily "new" to the hobby -- does anyone really not have a TON they can still learn? -- but I am in the beginning stages of a 65 gallon reef tank when I'm accustomed to 30 gallons or less.

My question here is what does everyone's clean up crews consist of? There are two LFS stores in my area that offer cuc "packages" that are about $150 for my size tank (again 65 gallons, reef) and for me that seems relatively expensive and mores excessive. One LFS suggested roughly 90 critters split between hermits, snails, a few emerald crabs, sand sifting star, shrimp (plural), and an urchin.

Any input? In my last 30g I have 2 turbos, about 4-5 other snails, 4-ish hermits and an emerald crab, so doubling the tank size but x6 or x7 on the cuc seems a bit much
 
I wouldnt get that many critters.. i have a 68g.. when i first started out i got a bunch of clean up crew that just ended up dying.. and polluting the tank...

do you have a lot of algae in there??? i would get a two turbos, a tuxedo urchin and a couple large hermit crabs.. something you can easily keep track of.. if you got sand get a fighting conch.

all i have in my 68 right now is 1 turbo, 1 tuxedo, maybe a few small hermits and cleaner shrimp... i thinking of getting another tuxedo.. they are the best ... they clean rocks to the point where they leave a white sparkly path.. and i might get a peppermint shrimp.. i hear they eat poop.. i just recently went BB and i can see poop and i want somthing to eat it.. ;) actually being BB makes me wanna vac it up.. good luck
 
Im new to the hobby as well but my LFS and after alot of research shows that those packages most the time are wasteful. Unless ur feeding your cuc which seems to be wasteful imo then you’ll get alot of them dying. Add them slowly and as needed imo. Hermits are great, my son and I enjoy watching them move around the tank, but know that hermits are scavengers first then hermits. If they cant find food theyll eat each other as well as snails..sometimes just because they like the look of anothers shell. Sandbeds a few nas. snails and/or fighting conch..turbos are great and i plan on adding some in a few days actually. But overall id recommend a variety of cuc but only a few of each and just up them as u feel u need to. Also if u choose hermits buy some extra shells
 
Im new to the hobby as well but my LFS and after alot of research shows that those packages most the time are wasteful. Unless ur feeding your cuc which seems to be wasteful imo then you'll get alot of them dying. Add them slowly and as needed imo. Hermits are great, my son and I enjoy watching them move around the tank, but know that hermits are scavengers first then hermits. If they cant find food theyll eat each other as well as snails..sometimes just because they like the look of anothers shell. Sandbeds a few nas. snails and/or fighting conch..turbos are great and i plan on adding some in a few days actually. But overall id recommend a variety of cuc but only a few of each and just up them as u feel u need to. Also if u choose hermits buy some extra shells

Thank you for the info. That was my first instinct, but I wanted to double check with non-retailers first. I've got plenty of extra shells already, my main concern is detritus...algae is well under control by my kole tang.
 
Cerith snails eat detritus and a serpent star/fighting conch/nassarius snails to agitate the sandbed especially near the rocks can help your skimmer pull the detritus well. Im a strong believer in variety
 
We don't have retailers selling CUCs in Australia and everything is bought individually. A$30-50 typically for crabs and snails. More for other critters.

In my 6 month old 65g tank I have a red legged Hermit crab, an absolutely beautiful Nassarius snail we don't see enough of, a Trochus snail and a Coral Banded Shrimp. I also have a couple of random slugs that came with the LR. I am planning to get a couple more snails but that seems enough. All are fairly large.


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I'd recommend getting a "snail only" CUC from here BUT... pick one thats about half the size of your tank..
So for a 65G tank get their 30 to 35G size packages..
https://www.reefcleaners.org/cleaner-packages-with-free-shipping

I say "snail only" because crabs tend to go after snails more than anything else and one day you realize.. "hey.. were did all my snails go"..

This. I have a few nassarious snails, a tiger striped serpent star, a fighting conch, a few turbo snails, a few trochus snails and a few cerith snails in my 90 gallon. I won’t ever add an emerald crab back to my display because of issues I had with them in the past, but I do have one in my drain section of my sump to clean up mysis that gets in there. I do have hermits as well but it’s because I like them, not because I feel they are necessary and I admit I need to replace snails sometimes because of it. I always start small with a clean up crew and add to it if needed.

Editing to add a pincushion urchin that I added to take care of a massive hair algae outbreak. It eats nori now though because there isn’t enough food for it naturally in the tank so I don’t really consider it part of my clean up crew, but they do a good job. They will eat rock down until it’s white though so you won’t get coralline algae on it if that matters to you.
 
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