Do you think clean up crews are necessary?

[nicks387]

Just asking because alot of the fish that are listed, and believed to be "Not Reef Safe" are in fact perfectly fine with corals, but not with certain inverts. I prefer some of these fish over the inverts so I don't have a clean up crew. I do have a large snail thats a bit smaller then a tennis ball, and a few mexican turbos, but no shrimp and no hermit crabs. For a 300 gallon its definately not much of a "clen up crew" This allows me the ability to keep a larger variety of fish. I have a few Tangs that keep algae in check.
After many years without one, I question why so many people feel they need to load up on snails and hermits when theres alot of other ways to get the job done. These "clean up crews" produce waste too.......

 

[cjvale]

Im tagging along, i have asked the same question to a few ppl with no real answer.

 

[coral88]

Hard to keep a Tang in a nano
but if you have a big tank one tang can probable do the work of a lot of bluelegs and snails.

 

[nicks387]

Lots of people think they are but I don't. I mean, if you like them thats one thing, but the whole term "clean up crew" leads people to believe they are necessary and i just don't feel thats true, hermits and snails etc produce waste too so it just doesnt make sense to me. You can certainly keep a succesful reef without them.

 

[nicks387]

I hear ya on the nano tang thing. I was just stating my tank has tangs that do graze a bit so its not completely free of cleaners, but in general tangs are not what people think of in terms of clean up crew. Point is you can have a nice system without a traditional cuc.

 

[keokea]

My tank is only a month old, I don't like a bunch of snails either. I been holding off on a clean up crew till i find a better solution.

 

[Rogger Castells]

I think they are very useful when you first start a tank, new tanks seem to go through what I call ugly cycle were you seem to get all sorts of weird algae, after you go through this I think you can let go of them since coraline won't allow algae to grow on it, unfortunately the reverse is also true.

 

[Reef Keeper 18]

Honestly... people have said you need one.. I HAD one.. stuff died.. my tank only has one turbo and one blue legged hermit crab right now.. Lol

 

[Starblenny]

My CUC randomly dies off. Bit of a mystery for me, my parms are normal. If one of your CUC dies, then they're gonna decay, espically if they die behind your rock works. I still use them though, to clean my sand and some of my rocks off.

 

[DJ_in_WV]

I dont load up like some do I have 4 turbos and 10 hermits in a 180. One place I am going to add some snails in my fug to help with detritus build up and stir up the sand bed since it is low flow

 

[Znut Reefer]

I don't believe you have to have them either. Snails spend a lot of time on the panes of your tank and we all have to clean the panes ourselfs regularly. I think tangs are one of the best cleaners for a reef tank. If you have a nano then I guess a CUC is needed.

 

[soccerbag]

I don't have a single crab or snail. I personally do not think they are necessary. While they will consume some food on the sand, fish will also do the same thing as they graze. Tangs do their job for me. It's nice not having to "right" a snail so it doesn't die and all the hermits do are get into acros and get trapped...lol.

I don't argue with those who want them but I've seen plenty of phenomenal tanks without any at all.

 

[dakotasreef]

I think in the traditional sense of the word, they are not necessary. It's true, every living thing in our tank produces some sort of waste which adds to the bioload.

I think it's just finding the balance in your little ecosystem.

 

[Nuocmam]

No crabs for me. Just snails.

 

[tclipse]

They aren't absolutely necessary, but have their niches to fill in certain tanks (i.e. nanos as mentioned).

I have a few hermits, nassarius, and a brittle star in my tank, because I feed my Z's & P's pretty heavily. rotting mysis in the dead spots would be pretty rough on water quality.... besides my hi-fin goby, brittle star & hermits, nothing else can get into some of the nooks and crannies.

I will definitely say that brittle stars are VERY helpful with the janitorial duties, they're cleaning powerhouses and can get the smallest piece of waste out of the smallest hole imaginable. If I lost my hermits and nassarius, I doubt I'd replace them..... if I lost my brittle, I'd have a replacement by the end of the week.

 

[milkman]

If I only had one member in my CUC, it would be a queen conch. I have had one for almost two years and it just constantly patrols the sanded and keeps it clean of anything that settles on the bottom. Tangs take care of the rest.

 

[SDguy]

I agree that snails are helpful during the first year or so, especially if there aren't any algae eating fish in the tank. Beyond that, I don't use a CUC. My reef has two tangs, and lots of bristleworms :bigsmile:

 

[-Logzor]

Agree with Craig on this one. My rabbitfish can eat more algae in a few bites than all my snails in a entire day. I think it's fun having other critters around the tank, though. Sometimes snails can be a pain, if a small one falls deep into a tabling acro there is almost no chance of getting him out.

I don't have a single crab or snail. I personally do not think they are necessary. While they will consume some food on the sand, fish will also do the same thing as they graze. Tangs do their job for me. It's nice not having to "right" a snail so it doesn't die and all the hermits do are get into acros and get trapped...lol.

I don't argue with those who want them but I've seen plenty of phenomenal tanks without any at all.