Advise for clean up crew

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fmuakkassa

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Dec 6, 2002
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Akron, OH
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I need advice on custom ordering a cleanup crew for my reef tank. I've seen a lot of packages on the internet (etropical) but I don't know what is compatible in my tank and how many of each critters should I buy.

Tank is 180g with live rock, corals, a Miracle Mud sump with Cualerpa and Bioballs, a second return sump with Koralin C1502 calcium reactor, 2 MH 175 bulbs 10,000K, 2 60W Blue actinic PC.

Fish:
Naso tang
Yellow tang
Sailfin tang
2 rusty angles
Foxface rabbit fish
Cole tang
Maroon clown
Mandarin fish psychadelic
Manderin fisf green
Arc eye hawk
Cardinal fish
Tomatoe clown
Six band wrass

Green serpent star
Coral banded shrimp

Any help in selecting a cleanup crew that will not be eaten by the above is appreciated.
Thank you.

I love the new look of the forum Unfortunatley I had to re-register and lost my previous post number.
 

quantim0

Go Packers!!
Feb 19, 2002
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Westfield, NJ
wow, that's a ton of fish for that sized tank. the sailfin and yellow tang will probably end up mauling each other, especially when they become adult size. and that Naso is going to hit around 2' in length. but stocking is not your question.

however, i think the biggest problem facing the clean up crew is the arc eyed hawk. he'll eat anything that will fit in his mouth as in all your hermits and most of your snails. i don't have any experience with the arc eye, but my falco hawk decimated my clean up crew and he's only 1/4 the size of a full grown arc eye.
 

fishfreek

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Apr 8, 2002
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I agree thats an awful lot of fish for even a 180.

But, the cleanup crew ?

How much live rock do you have? The more live rock you have the more hermits you should/could get.

I would say 30-40 snails and 50 hermits or so. Make sure the hermits have plenty of grow out shells so they will less likly go on a snail killing spree.

If you have a big algae problem then you might want to increase those numbers.

I have 20-30 hermits and 2 snails in my 80 and I have some algae on the back glass but thats about it. So the qty of critters really does vary from tank to tank.
 

Soccer

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May 14, 2002
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Sorry i dont have any advice on the Clean up Crew fmuakkassa. But the same thing happened to me i had to re-register lost my post count. E mail reefscape he can help, he changed mine. :)
 

Boogiechillin

It's ok, I confuse my students too.
Oct 26, 2000
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Howdy Doc :)

The Arceye is definitely a problem as it will take a swing at most any shrimp, hermit, or crab. As it grows, it may even go after small fish. Arceyes are the least "reef-safe" hawks; while none are completely safe, arceyes are usually not recommended for a reef under any circumstances due to size and aggression. The other fish should ignore any inverts. (FWIW, I would echo the above and recommend pulling one of the tangs for stability's sake).

Your most valuable cleanup critters are going to be those that inhabit the sandbed, primarily nassarius and cerith snails. Get lots and lots of these - they stir up the sandbed and actively search the surface for missed food. Go with a handful of trochus snails for the glass as these tend to be tougher snails than your average astrea/turbo snail. If you want hermits, I highly recommend going with a smaller number and sticking with scarlet legged hermits (P. cadenati). These are a bit more expensive than blue leg hermits, but they eat a wider range of algae and are less aggressive towards snails. From here, it's up to you to decide what you want - serpent stars, various shrimp (cleaner, blood/scarlet, peppermint), mithrax crabs, and any number of other critters can be added, but these are not as crucial. As for where to get them, I would do it via a "build your own" type package so that you don't get pigeonholed into critters that you don't want. Check Etropicals and www.justphish.com
 

fmuakkassa

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Dec 6, 2002
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Akron, OH
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Hi Boogiechillin,

Thanks for the reply. This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. The arceye will go.

You said "nassarius and cerith snails. Get lots and lots of these - they stir up the sandbed". Well, I don't have a DSP. I have a very shallow aragonite and some shells substrate bed in the main tank. I rely on the MiracleMud refugium with Caulerpa and the live rock as my sand bed and denitrifying bed. Does this change what I should get?

Thanks again.
 
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