how neccessary is a cleaning crew?

[irishstout]

I see that the majority of people have several different cleaners in there tanks. ie.." I have 10 emerald crabs, 12 turbo snails" ect... Should you have that many cleaners in, say a 55 reef tank, to keep it looking good? as of now I have two turbos and thats it. Would adding several more of something really help the appearance of the tank?

 

[birdy]

The amount of animals in a clean up crew depends on how much algae/detritus, you have in your tank. If you don't have anything for them to feed on they will die without supplemental feeding. The idea is to get what you need to keep your tank looking nice, a lot of people vary what they get because the different animals eat different things. Also some of the animals are very interesting, I really injoy watching my fighting conch's ( I have heard them called vaccume cleaners for reef tanks).

 

[mlm]

The cleaning crew is what keeps the sand sparkling white.

 

[irishstout]

My sand looks ok, but its the rock im worried about.

 

[galina]

I think all reef tanks should have a clean up crew. Some tanks, with very large and complex rock structuring could have a fish die and you would never be able to find it. In some systems, this would slowly rot and poison the system. In others, the fish would be eaten by the clean up crew withing a couple hours.
Then again, you shoudn't throw in a huge cleanup crew in a tank where they have nothing to eat, as mentioned above. Get a clean up crew that suits your tank.
Galina

 

[irishstout]

What would you suggest for a 55gal with 2" sand bed and 55lbs of live rock? I only have 3 fish, a 1.5" coral beauty, 5" Marine Betta and a 3" Atlantic blue tang????

 

[jakob4001]

biodiversity is always a good thing in a reef tank; as mentioned before you probably want to get clean up crew that suits your tank's needs best; it's only natural that you will lose some of the clean up crew from time to time; they can also serve as an indicator/alarm on how your tank is doing; sudden multiple die offs may alert you to an unknown problem in tank quality that you may be able to head off before things worsen; or sometimes certain items in the clean up crew may spawn producing items you may be able to barter w/ other hobbyist or LFS or simply supply free quality food for your tank; of course certain creatures may simply serve as tasty sometimes expensive "treats" for other tank inhabitants

 

[drummerboy]

MLM,
You mentioned that the cleaning crew keeps the sand sparkling white, what do you have that does that? Any suggestions? Not a single thing I have has left the rock work since I've had them (about a month)! My rock looks really nice, but my sand is really looking horrible. What are some good things to sift through the sand?

 

[dirtybilge]

Start with a Clean up crew for a 20-30 Gallon tank then add from there.

 

[blondenaso1]

I have found that the best thing for the sand are brittle/serpant stars and hermits. The turbos usually stay on the glass or the rocks. I have a 55. In mine I have 3 emerald crabs, 3 scrarlet hermits, about 8 blueleg hermits, 4 or 5 common hermits, a serpant star, and about 15 turbos. They seem to do a pretty good job and like was said before, it is what is right for my tank. If If I try to add more they just die from lack of food. Every system has the drive for homeostasis, which means no matter how many you add they will balance themselves out. That doesn't mean add 100 turbos, it just means that you will find an equilibrium in your tank.

 

[striker]

IMO a cleanup crew are one of the most important things in my tank. Any leftover food, deritus and unwanted algae is taken care of by them. I've had two fish die and a day later there was nothing left to remove. I have so much lr in my tank the bio-diversity is a definite plus! I try to make it diverse so they don't compete for the same foods and die-off. The only ones I don't like too much are my 2 long spined urchins which are cleaning up my coraline algae

 

[volitan]

I agree with Striker. A good clean up crew is a MUST for a successful reef. There is a much greater margin for error in a system with an adequate cleanup crew.

 

[mlm]

In my tank I have a sand sifting star, brittle star, serpent star, 6 scarlet hermits, 5 trouchus snails, 3 turbos, and a fighting conch. I think some of the hermits, the sand sifting star and the conch do the most to clean the DSB. I started with 4 conchs but am now down to one. I dont know what happened to the others and I can't even find there shells. Right now I am blaming there dissapearence to the brittle star.