I have a 180 AGA and have purchsed part of a clean-up crew. I have 100 Nassarius snails, 50 cerith snails, 4 emerald crabs, a sand sifting star, and a red serpernt star. I don't want any blue legs. The few I had immediately started attacking my newly intorduced Nassarius snails, so I took them all out. What else should I add to effective cleaning? I was thinking about red legs (scarlet), but was told by my LFS that they get bigger than blue legs and can be just as agressive and devestating. Please advise.
clean-up crew advice
- Thread starter hurrifan
- Start date
while my tank is only 37 gallons i have absolutely no algea problems by using the following method.
First i went to a live sand bed only about 1 in in depth this is stirred by a sand sifting star
Second i added as much diversity in my critters as possible 2 linkas (1 red 1 yellow)several blue legged hermits several red leg hermits an anenome crab a cleaner shrimp about 6 large mexican turbos 9 sm bumble bee snails 1 tapestry snail and a cucumber
this is a realitively new tank 3 months old but it runs on only 35 lbs of live rock and a skimmer no mechanical filtration. the crabs do not bother my snails or corals and i dont have to even clean the glass.
this is a great improvement over my last setup which required cleaning the glass everyday i would say go for as much diversity as you can in you critters what one doesnt eat the others will
First i went to a live sand bed only about 1 in in depth this is stirred by a sand sifting star
Second i added as much diversity in my critters as possible 2 linkas (1 red 1 yellow)several blue legged hermits several red leg hermits an anenome crab a cleaner shrimp about 6 large mexican turbos 9 sm bumble bee snails 1 tapestry snail and a cucumber
this is a realitively new tank 3 months old but it runs on only 35 lbs of live rock and a skimmer no mechanical filtration. the crabs do not bother my snails or corals and i dont have to even clean the glass.
this is a great improvement over my last setup which required cleaning the glass everyday i would say go for as much diversity as you can in you critters what one doesnt eat the others will
Rich-n-Poor:
No offense, but three months is nowhere near enough time to pass the algae bloom stages. Give us an update in 9-10 months.
Mithrax crabs will devestate any macroalgaes first, then move on to microalgae. Also, they are quitr opportunistic. (They will nip at corals from now and again)
I have had mixed results w/ hermits, and this time I will probably stay away from them (I too just set up a 180 AGA)
Ernie
No offense, but three months is nowhere near enough time to pass the algae bloom stages. Give us an update in 9-10 months.
Mithrax crabs will devestate any macroalgaes first, then move on to microalgae. Also, they are quitr opportunistic. (They will nip at corals from now and again)
I have had mixed results w/ hermits, and this time I will probably stay away from them (I too just set up a 180 AGA)
Ernie
Sorry to tell you this bad news but if you are using sand sifting star, your sand is simply not alive anymore or will not be alive anymore soon
http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/invert_page/whsandsr.htm
I like cerith snails.. but I also like Astrea snails for a good cleaning. Mine do a better job then the cerith I have. And I lost more cerith then astrea. Turbos are the best if you don't mind your corals being bullied and they also eat some macroalgae.
http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/invert_page/whsandsr.htm
I like cerith snails.. but I also like Astrea snails for a good cleaning. Mine do a better job then the cerith I have. And I lost more cerith then astrea. Turbos are the best if you don't mind your corals being bullied and they also eat some macroalgae.
I like snails, snails and more snails. My tank has an assortment of Trochus, Strombus, Hawaiian Turbos, Nassarius, Ceriths, and maybe a Nerite or two. The Trochus are the best grazers in my tank. Both the strombus and hawaiian turbos have bred sucessfully in my tank. The ceriths and nassarius also are breeding.
I'm not a big fan of crabs from what I've heard of generalized reputations. I do have a couple of left hand hermits(big), couple of blue legs, and several of the "microhermits" that Indo Pacific Sea Farms sells. The last hermits have stayed small.
If you have a live deep sand bed and want to keep it that way, I would remove those big starfish. The brittle stars you want are small white stars from www.ipsf.com. Your nassarius snails will also do a good job stirring the top layers of you DSB while eating detritus.
[ September 30, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]
I'm not a big fan of crabs from what I've heard of generalized reputations. I do have a couple of left hand hermits(big), couple of blue legs, and several of the "microhermits" that Indo Pacific Sea Farms sells. The last hermits have stayed small.
If you have a live deep sand bed and want to keep it that way, I would remove those big starfish. The brittle stars you want are small white stars from www.ipsf.com. Your nassarius snails will also do a good job stirring the top layers of you DSB while eating detritus.
[ September 30, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]
esmithii
when this tank was changed over it was done from a 37 gallon in which i previously used a undergravel filter supplemented by small amount of live rock. an algea bloom was in full force as this tank had already been up a year i did not strip the tank when i made the change over just moved the livestock to a holding tank removed the plate filter and crushed coral and repetively vacumned the bottom glass for 2 days before adding the sand bed nitrates were off the scale during the teardown and it took three weeks for the tank to recycle with the addition of some live rock and live sand to seed the bed.
i have kept aquarium for 20 years and salt water for about 6 this is the most effective setup i have found and i know several reefs up and running for years using this system which are beautiful.
As far as sand sifting stars killing sand beds i have had mine for several months and i still see lots of small organisms when the lights go out
when this tank was changed over it was done from a 37 gallon in which i previously used a undergravel filter supplemented by small amount of live rock. an algea bloom was in full force as this tank had already been up a year i did not strip the tank when i made the change over just moved the livestock to a holding tank removed the plate filter and crushed coral and repetively vacumned the bottom glass for 2 days before adding the sand bed nitrates were off the scale during the teardown and it took three weeks for the tank to recycle with the addition of some live rock and live sand to seed the bed.
i have kept aquarium for 20 years and salt water for about 6 this is the most effective setup i have found and i know several reefs up and running for years using this system which are beautiful.
As far as sand sifting stars killing sand beds i have had mine for several months and i still see lots of small organisms when the lights go out
Well that starfish might not have done anything so far but check what Ron Shimek says about them here:
http://www.reefcentral.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30190&highlight=sand+sifting+star
And if an expert like him in sand bed says so, I would believe what he says.
http://www.reefcentral.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30190&highlight=sand+sifting+star
And if an expert like him in sand bed says so, I would believe what he says.
esmithiii, For a good deal on clean-up crews check out http://www.etropicals.com/main/rock_specials.htm
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THE 120+ G GORILLA Package
100 Scarlet Reef Hermits
100 Astrea Turbo Snails
150 Blueleg Hermits
$144.99 including FedEx Priority and the box.
This is the cheapest I have found so far.
Rich-n-poor
No one is saying you aren't experienced, just that a 3-month old reef tank is not old enough to be a good test for clean up crews. Also, most people recommend that a DSB be 4-6", not 1". I have had bad luck w/ the hermits. IME the ones that last the longest do so by killing off the others and you are left w/ the most omnivorous of the bunch surviving.
Ernie
No one is saying you aren't experienced, just that a 3-month old reef tank is not old enough to be a good test for clean up crews. Also, most people recommend that a DSB be 4-6", not 1". I have had bad luck w/ the hermits. IME the ones that last the longest do so by killing off the others and you are left w/ the most omnivorous of the bunch surviving.
Ernie
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