Hardy Clean up crew...

[austinfish]

Could I get suggestions on hardy tank cleaners.
Could be fish, crabs, whatever.
My tank is 45 gal and is reef, so it would have to reef safe.
I have 1 salifan tang and 1 sorta mean tom clown.

 

[jonthefb]

cerith snails and trochus snails are the best cleaners ever, IME. trochus eat like pigs, and have the ability of righting themselves if they fall over (instead of drowning) and cerith just do an all around great job, spending time int he sandbed, on the rocks and on the glass, plus they spawn readily in a captive environment! good stuff! scarlet hermits are also good grazers, as are blue leg hermit, but blue legs tend to be a littel meaner and might eat some of you snails. if you have problems with bubble algae, you moght try an emerald crab, sometimes they eat the stuff, sometimes they dont, and maybe some peppermint shrimp as a prophylacctic, in case any aiptasia anemones decide to pop up. this is what i have in my 20 anyway, oh and maybe a florida fighting conch to help the creiths move the sand.
hope this helps, and good luck
jon

 

[jim672]

austinfish,
Snails, snails, and more snails. Mix turbo, cerith and nerite. If your tank is well established and you have lots of algea, you can get anywhere from 30 to 45 snails.
Hermit crabs are also good janitors. Again, if you have lots of algea, mix 20 to 30 red-and blue-legged hermits.
Jim

 

[jonthefb]

its a good rule of thumb to go with one cleaner per gallon of water, therefor, 45 gallon +45 critters. i would get the majority snails, a good chunk hermits, and then the rest all the other stuff!
jon

 

[jim672]

austinfish,
I just read your other post where you mention your phosphate problems......which are certainly adding to any algea issues you have. Removing your cc, which you said you're doing, will help alot. Drop a good phosphate spong in your tank also.
Between the good clean up crew and reducing your phosphates, you're definitely well on your way to getting that algea under control!!
Jim

 

[austinfish]

Jim,
Any suggestion on what is good substrate to replace my CC with.
I would prefer something that will last, pull this stuff out is no fun and I'm really worried about a crash. I know I'm killing stuff and removing tons or muck.
Thanks everyone for you input.
I love this site and chat group!!!
I'm not the only fish geek...
There is always so much to learn, that's why I love this stuff!

 

[jim672]

austinfish,
I replaced my cc (had the exact same problems you seem to be having!!!) with live sand. Most on this board would suggest you use a Deep Sand Bed (DSB) /about 4 to 6 " of sand. Packaged live sand is pretty expensive so a good way to do it, if you go DSB, is use SouthDown play sand or any good argonite play sand and "seed" it with some live sand.
I have live sand in my 45 but only have about 25 lbs.----it's a sand bed, not a deep sand bed. I like the look of sand but didn't think I needed the additional filteration/denitrification of a dsb. I'm rethinking that now and may add more sand.
Your next question may be: "How do I get the sand in my tank?"
I know there's been alot of past posts on that topic. you can get lots of opinions of what worked for lots for different people who have done that if you run a search on "dsb".
Jim

 

[jim672]

I forgot to mention.......
You say you're pulling alot of muck out with the cc. If you aren't already doing it, get a cheap gravel vacuum and vacuum the cc very thoroughly BEFORE you remove it. That will minimize the amount of muck you recirculate into the tank.
Jim

 

[austinfish]

I thought part of my problem was a deep sand bed? There were parts of my tank I could not reach due to live rock and an amazing amount of muck colleced in the CC and on it.
I thought there might be stale, places in the rock that was not getting enough air through it and that was bad?
I'll look at the deep sand bed stuff.
I did that for years. I had 3 to 4 inches or CC with rocks and it was basically live. I was like that for 9 1/2 years and now after over a year of algea problems that I could not cure, I feel like I'm doing anything I can to cure this problem...
Any thoughts...

 

[jim672]

austinfish,
I'm confused.......
You said you have a CC substrate, right? CC is Crushed Coral. Sand is not crushed coral, it's sand. Do you have both? CC over top of sand?
If you have some water circulation around and through your rock, it should be fine.
Jim

 

[austinfish]

I have a mixture of CC on larger quartz rocks(I had about 3 inches with my algea problems).
I'm looking to replace this with Live Rock? I guess and only about 1/4 inch or just plan sand. I'm try to avoid future problems and hopefully help get rid of my dead spots in the tank and all my algea... I'm confused because I heard both was are good.
I just want my tank to be easier to keep up and get rid of my algea.

 

[austinfish]

I meant to say I'm replacing this with Live sand or plan sand..

 

[jim672]

Yes. I'd continue with your plans to replace your cc with sand. Before you make any final decisions about the depth of the sand, though, read through some of the old posts about dsb's. I think you'll see that the benefits from a dsb far outweigh and negatives. You'll see, for example, that a dsb will become a denitrifying area and that alone will help reduce your algea problems.
Good luck!!
Jim