Cleanup Crew??

[badjuju]

My question is i really need to add a good clean up crew, but in my research I find that most cleanup crew for my size tank are large in number. I have a 125 reef tank with two sumps that are about 50 gal. total. I just set the second one up as a ref, so nothing in it yet but rock. So how big of a cleanup crew do I really need? Also am I just doing the tank volume or tank and sump? Here is an example of a cleanup crew -
Lettuce Slugs 4
Lawnmower Blenny 1_
Serpent Starfish 2_
Sand Sifting Starfish_3_
Astraea Snails_ 22
Nerite Snails_ 24_
Margarita Snails_ 24_
Turbo Snails_ 9_
Onyx Nassarius Snails_28_
Nassarius Snails_ 24_
Cerith Snails_ 24_
Tonga Fighting Conch_4_
Red Leg Reef Hermit Crabs_ 24_
Blue Leg Reef Hermit Crabs_ 24_
Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs_ 14_
Sally Lightfoot Crabs 2_
Emerald Crabs_4_
Atlantic Sand Cucumbers_2_

Is this really necessary? Seems like alot. My tank load is 1 marine beta, 1 yellow tang, 1 xmas wrase and 2 clowns, not a heavy fish load. I have some softies, like mushrooms , xenia, frogspawn and a hammer. Advice please.

 

[ROB2005]

I'll give you a hand on what may be best for you. The ones that dont have an X beside them are good choices for a clean up crew.

Lettuce Slugs 4 (x)

Lawnmower Blenny 1_ (ok) Does a decent job of cleaning hair algae. Just make sure there isan abundance of it.

Serpent Starfish 2_(ok) Good scavengers of dead or weak fish. Stay away from the green brittle star though as they have been known to eat healthy fish

Sand Sifting Starfish_3_ (X) No, It turns your sandbed over, but eats the critters in the sand that keeps it live.

Astraea Snails_ 22 (ok) Good algae cleaners, just make sure you right them if they fall on their backs.

Nerite Snails_ 24_ (ok)
Margarita Snails_ 24_ (iffy) They are usually a lower temperature snail, not really used to the temperatures in our tanks.

Turbo Snails_ 9_ (ok) Great eater of film algae, may have a tendency to knock some rocks and corals over. Cannot right itself if dropped on back.

Onyx Nassarius Snails_28_ (?) Haven't heard much about these snails.

Nassarius Snails_ 24_ (ok) Entertaining to watch them as they "pop" out of the sand in when the scent of food drifts by them.

Cerith Snails_ 24_ (ok) Good snail to have in your tank.

Tonga Fighting Conch_4_ (ok)
Red Leg Reef Hermit Crabs_ 24_
Blue Leg Reef Hermit Crabs_ 24_
Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs_ 14_
(iffy) They are good scavengers in cleaning for leftover bits of food, just make sure you have extra shells of different sizes for them in the tank or they will kill other crabs and snails for their prized shell to call home

Sally Lightfoot Crabs 2 (iffy) An always active crab, never stops searching for food. Can be an opportunistic feeder of snails and such IF the opportunity presents itself (although mine has been living peacefully with them)

Emerald Crabs_4_(ok) Decent cleaning crabs, never had a problem with them in my aquarium harming anything, can be quite "busy crabs" as well.

Atlantic Sand Cucumbers_2_ (x) I never really was keen on keeping sand cucumbers in my tank, I have heard reports than when they die, they can release a toxin that can wreak havoc on your tank.


Hopefully this will help you. You dont have to choose all of them, but you can make your selection on the ones you want.

GL!

 

[badjuju]

Thanks for the input. Some of the items you dont recopmmend I agree with as they can be hard to keep alive or agressive. Is there some type a ratio when figuring out the size of a clean up crew?

 

[ROB2005]

Depends on the size of the tank, at least that's how I do it when determing the amount of critters needed for a a CUC.

 

[plateboy3293]

I have a 90 gallon with about 100 lbs of lr. I have
1 emerald myrtax
6 mexican turbos
12 nassarius
12 astrea turbo
1 sand sifting starfish
1 serpent starfish
1 atlantic cucumber
1 arrow crab
as my cuc and they do just fine with cleaning the tank

These were all ordered from liveaquaria and I have not had a problem with any of them. For the 125 you have I would say maybe 2 more emeralds and 12 more mex turbos then what I put.