good clean up crew?

[dmh41532]

I have a 20 gallon long tank with two clowns and an orchid dottyback. Im not sure if I should add more to my cleanup crew. I have two turbo snails, two tiny bumblebee snails and one hermit crab. I've noticed a lot of detritus buildup latley between water changes. Anythouhts about this?

 

[Rain999]

Perhaps you could increase your circulation on the bottom of tank and capture the debris with your skimmer.

 

[dmh41532]

I've thought about doing that. I do not want to add too much though. I have a hydor nano power head that pumps 425 g.p.h. I have mostly lps corals and some macro algea.

 

[amutti]

The bumblebee's aren't very good, the eat micro fauna. I'd put in a few nassarius or glowing marginella, a few cerith and maybe a few of the little blue hermits. I like variety.

 

[MARINECRITTERS]

Get some sand sifters/stirrers, they will help oxygenate the sand bed keeping it healthy and free of toxins + anaerobic bacteria buildup. For detritus build up you can not rely on a clean up crew, you need sufficient flow without any dead spots, or get ready to fight nitrates and phosphates ( leading to green hair algae, bubble algae, cyano, etc ).
To get better flow either change your aqua scape to be more open or get some powerheads, for powerheads get the magnetic ones, the suction cup ones will eventually fall and cause a huge sandstorm which will create many problems.

 

[dmh41532]

I've discovered the bumblebee snails aren't very good. Would another hydor nano pump be sufficient? How many nassarius snails should be added? I was thinking for our five

 

[cloak]

Other than maybe a cucumber, there's no other critter that I'm aware of that will make these piles of detritus disappear. Your going to have to remove that yourself with either a siphon or some type of mechanical filter. I'm not sure how deep your sandbed is, but you might want to get into the habit of stirring it up on occasion right before a water change. Siphon that muck out.
Adding things like nassarius snails is fine, but don't forget that these will have to be fed and are going to poop, thus contributing to the detritus problem.

 

[d2mini]

John at reefcleaners.org will give you a quote for a custom cuc.

 

[Reefahholic]

best clean up crew ive found thus far is my two hands.

my crabs and snails don't do much...lol

 

[dmh41532]

My sandbed isn't deep, about 1/2 inch, maybe an inch in some spots. i do stir the sand up a bit before i change the water. I have thought about adding more flow, hoping the filter and skimmer will trap the ditritus. I haven't ordred a pump yet, i don't want too much flow for my corals.