What is your cleanup crew?

[wesreyn]

I was wondering what those of you with tanks around 100-125 gallons have for cleanup crews. I have a 110 with about 80 lbs of rock. I was going to get a custom crew from reef cleaners but it seems like a ton of snails and I am worried about there not being enough algea and them start dying off. He is suggesting a total of around 135 snails of different kinds with 80 of them being dwarf ceriths. That just seems like too many to me. Suggestions? What do you guys have?

[Mindflux]

If I could do it again (which I will with my 90) I'd avoid the dwarf ceriths. They get into your powerheads and make noise when the propeller clips their shells. (or stops the pump).

I've had some die off of my Nerite snails for some reason. I can only attribute it to the lack of feeding I give the tank while my fish are in QT. They'll just drop off the glass and by morning my nassarius snails and crabs/shrimp will have hollowed out the shell.

[kmmthree]

I ordered a custom crew from reef cleaners for my 75 gallon and my 125 gallon and my dad purchased a crew for his 144 gallon. There are going to be die offs with the snails regardless. I have never had any snails get into my powerheads and get stuck or heard them getting banged around. If you were to price out the custom clean up crew from reef cleaners and then go to a LFS and price out half of the clean up crew they suggest you are going to save a lot more money going with the reef cleaners option. If you do order from him I would recommend paying for the faster shipping option though.

[jestep]

Never cared for the ceriths either. Get some turbos and some nerites and some nassarius for food and detritus cleanup. I would probably start with 6 - 10 turbos, and about 30 nerites, and 10 - 20 nassarius if you have enough fish in the tank to support them.

Their cleanup crews are a bit overkill, definitely a good value, but just too much. I got one for my 28 a while back and it easily could work with a 50 - 70. You could probably get away with a 55 cleanup crew from them pretty easily.

The turbos are really the workhorse of snails. Each one is worth 10+ nerites. The ceriths are so small that I can't see any effect from them at all. They don't live especially long either.

[Juiceman]

Depends on what you're going to have in your tank. If you're going to have alot of LPS, and SPS, Turbos will knock stuff down and over and cause problems, or at least in my experience.

I got the quick crews from Reef Cleaners for my 75 and my 90 and it worked out great. The dwarf snails are tiny, like maybe a centimeter or 2. So they will be fine as far as algae is concerned. You need more rock for that 110g anyway.

[wesreyn]

You need more rock for that 110g anyway.

I don't think so. I will not be overstocked with fish and I always stay on top of weekly to biweekly water changes. I like the look of a more open tank. If i feel like I need more later on, I will add it to my sump. For those of you who don't like the ceriths, what exactly do you have in your tanks?

[Juiceman]

well good luck with that

[subsea]

You need more rock for that 110g anyway.

I don't think so. I will not be overstocked with fish and I always stay on top of weekly to biweekly water changes. I like the look of a more open tank. If i feel like I need more later on, I will add it to my sump. For those of you who don't like the ceriths, what exactly do you have in your tanks?

Wes, I also like the look of a more open tankscape. Because I use a Jaubert Plenumn and a mud refugium, the volumn of live rock required for denitrification is minute. I prefer decorative macroalgae in my display tank, further reducing the bacteria requirement for live rock.. With respect to jainators, I focus down the food chain on micro fauna and fana sometimes called detrivore kits. If you get the minute things on the bottom of the food chain the big things take care of themselves. Instead of hermit crabs, I prefer to use serpant and brittle stars. I have also had micro serpant stars in my sand beds. If you can get past the worry of bad hitch hikers, do sand swaps with people that have built up detrivore crews. http://www.ipsf.com/ This is a good location to meet your clean up crew. I have bought Gracilaria Parvispora (Tang Heaven Red) from this company. Vry good product and service.

Patrick

[wesreyn]

well good luck with that

Please keep your smart a** comments to yourself. This thread was about a cleanup crew, not what you thought about the quantity of my live rock.

[jestep]

For those of you who don't like the ceriths, what exactly do you have in your tanks?

Turbos, Nerites, a few urchins (they work but come with their own problems) and emerald crabs. I have a BB tank right now so the nessarius don't do well in it. I also have a foxface that eats every last strand of algae except bryopsis. Personally not a fan of hermits as they are just a little too opportunistic. If you have lots of shells lying around and the tank is well fed you may be ok. They tend to assassinate everything they have the opportunity to which I'm not a big fan of.

[bige]

+1 I no longer keep emeralds or hermits. They are just to risky. Steal food from corals. Knock stuff over. Kill snails. Snails can do everything a hermit can. Turbos are real work horse but can be clumsy. But if corals are secured, no problem.

Edited September 16, 2011 by bige

[Timfish]

I like urchins, brittlestars, sand sifting cucumbers and a few hermit crabs (they can be annoying as the knock stuff around but I like having ONE of the stripped leg hermits from the coast in my tanks, they're good at scraping algae off the rocks and comical to watch). My experience is snails have about a 95% death rate in the first 6 months and that doesn't sound like a solution to me.

On the off topic subject of live rock I feel it's very important for establishing healthy ecosystem but I typically only use 1/2 lb per gal. (using only the display tank for this calculation I do not use the volume of the whole system). I'm not opposed to anyone using more or using less if that's what you like.

[Juiceman]

I just said good luck. Not to be taken aggressively.

And to add comments from what others have said. I agree with those who have had problems with the dwarfs. They get everywhere because of their size, but that also means they're getting into the nooks and crannies of rocks that larger snails can't get to, so give and take.

And you should probably account for normal die off of snails in your decision of how many to get. But with 80lbs in the display, a crew meant for a 100-125 would probably be overkill. But remember the dwarfs account for the largest number of snails if you go with reef cleaners quick crews.

But they have custom crews you can submit for too and still get the same low prices. I have been very satisfied with them.

[wesreyn]

I just said good luck. Not to be taken aggressively.

And to add comments from what others have said. I agree with those who have had problems with the dwarfs. They get everywhere because of their size, but that also means they're getting into the nooks and crannies of rocks that larger snails can't get to, so give and take.

And you should probably account for normal die off of snails in your decision of how many to get. But with 80lbs in the display, a crew meant for a 100-125 would probably be overkill. But remember the dwarfs account for the largest number of snails if you go with reef cleaners quick crews.

But they have custom crews you can submit for too and still get the same low prices. I have been very satisfied with them.

Very cool, thank you!!! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and opinions.