TEAM CUC: What does your CUC team (clean up crew) look like and who's your MVP?

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I like bumble bees. I have 2 I think.
D

 

[trevorhiller]

Urchins are probably my favorite invert, I have 3 different species in my 60 cube. They don’t bother anything and nothing bothers them.

I hate hermit crabs and won’t buy them anymore. They eat all my conchs and snails. Once they are gone, no more will be added. They also don’t seem to eat algae, but dart for settling fish food… not worth the trouble they cause. My emerald crabs aren’t much better because I always find them on my SPS after lights out.

Trochus snails are way better than Mexican turbo which don’t live long for me. Plus my 3 Trochus snails have turned into 60+ by reproducing.

Money cowries are cool too. I have a few, but I’m going to add a lot more next time I order. They seem hermit crab-proof.

I did just add a sea hare the other day because I thought it was cool and have a ton of hair algae that I’ve been battling for months, but so far it doesn’t seem to be making much of a dent, although it’s only been a few days.

My favorite clean up crew not listed though is myself… nothing removes hair algae faster than me with some tongs and a bottle of peroxide.

 

[ying yang]

I've got....
Nassarious snails for sand.
Trouchus for glass/rocks.
Both picked as can right themselves.
Scarlet red legged hermits.
Red legged hermits
Blue legged hermits.
Various other mixed coloured hermits.
Did have 2 Blue tuxedo urchins but had holiday and arrived back to one dead and other died few days later.
Did have 2 coaches but 1 died as arrived back on another holiday and other died few months later,then bought another and lasted about a month,tank was like 9 and 13 months old when had holidays and urchins and conchea died,maybe tank to clean and instructed tank sitter to feed less and only once a day instead off my 2-3 times a day feed ,so maybe they died as lack off food as I usually target fed them quite often,or maybe one/some off hermits killed them as tank got fed less,or found what could be a very small polyclad flatworm so maybe that killed them or if its larger mum and dad in tank killed them but really do not know.
Am going add a halloween urchin to tank now tank 16 months old and rocks little more dirty than used to be.
Did have 2 cleaner shrimp but 1 died last month and they/ it often clean fish if they let them,once this cleaner shrimp dies won't be replacing as steal food from corals mouths and just seem to be bullies to other smaller cuc,also seen one of them harrowing my 3rd conch which was just busy away cleaning sand/rocks and then next thing shrimp got part of conch/and one eye and eating it then Nassarious snails rose and finished it off.
Got a blue streaked cleaner wrasse that looks like just posters most off the fish to clean them lol and often see my cbb and a wrasse chase it off lol.
Got 3 naughty murderous hermits in "sump jail' 1 cos always chasing and trying kill a conch,and another 2 as killed a few snails infront off my eyes pffft
Did get given 2 astrea snails by a very inexperienced member off staff who usually works in warehouse but was front off house as lfs had a big hand opening event after a large refurbishment/extension, asked for several trouchus snails as dont want get snails that can't right themselves but 2 was mixed in the bag,1 lasted few hours then got eaten ,other lasted few days then got eaten,part off its shell got smashed in,so either wrasse picked it up and smashed on rocks or I've got a suspected mantis shrimp as hear the clicks and doesnt sound like coming from where my pistol usually is.got pistol shrimp to turn sand bed over and does excellent job.
Got 7 different pods that can see from ampripods/2 kinds off copepods,munnid isopods,3 different kind off orthrapods.

Silver belly wrasse does good job off dive bombing sand through day then goes around catching all micro fauna that now in water ( very clever lol) But very annoying as keeps covering gsp with sand so going super glue the gsp/rock to back overflow now it covered in coraline so should help it stick better hopefully .
Did get some hitch hiker sea slugs on gsp but they eating it so bad pest and see multiply holes in gsp where polyps used to be so hopefully got rid off them all ( pulled maybe 40 +from gsp in last 3-4 months

I'm not sure what " MVP" stands for but assume it's what is best cuc,so as pods in my tank is so many,even though they small,there's so many off them so logicically I would say they doing the most work,followed by urchins when had them,but trouchus snails dont stop working that often.
If you read all this, I give you a virtual medal as feels like typing for 20 minutes or more lol ^_^

 

[meganf]

Snails, hermits, emerald crab, conch, shrimp, pods, micro brittle starfish but the tuxedo urchin takes the top spot at MVP!

What do you like about your tuxedo urchin? I’m looking into adding an urchin to my cuc

 

[Rp8]

I voted 1-6 plus pods. Favorite would be urchin. Did the most damage during ugly phase.

 

[Rmckoy]

Happy Monday Reef Fam! This week we're going to be discussing CLEAN UP CREWS or CUC to keep it short! 100% of us have some type of CUC whether it is a group of inverts that are housed specifically to keep the dissolving organics clean (eat poop) or it's a pretty fish that just so happens to love the taste of unsightly algae! Let's talk CUC!

1. What cleaner inverts, cleaner fish and micro cleaners do you have "on the team" in your reef aquarium? Please list them!

2. Who's the MVP of your clean up crew and why?


image via @OceansGarden

I can’t pick just one.
3 urchins , 6 crab apple size turbo snails .
dozens of hermits .
2 serpent stars .
cleaner shrimp , and emerald crab that’s never seen

 

[Gogol_frag]

Urchins are probably my favorite invert, I have 3 different species in my 60 cube. They don’t bother anything and nothing bothers them.

I hate hermit crabs and won’t buy them anymore. They eat all my conchs and snails. Once they are gone, no more will be added. They also don’t seem to eat algae, but dart for settling fish food… not worth the trouble they cause. My emerald crabs aren’t much better because I always find them on my SPS after lights out.

Trochus snails are way better than Mexican turbo which don’t live long for me. Plus my 3 Trochus snails have turned into 60+ by reproducing.

Money cowries are cool too. I have a few, but I’m going to add a lot more next time I order. They seem hermit crab-proof.

I did just add a sea hare the other day because I thought it was cool and have a ton of hair algae that I’ve been battling for months, but so far it doesn’t seem to be making much of a dent, although it’s only been a few days.

My favorite clean up crew not listed though is myself… nothing removes hair algae faster than me with some tongs and a bottle of peroxide.

If i may add, nothing fixes algae problems like getting nutrients to dialed-in levels. (My preference is >0.25 ppm nitrate and > 0.03 ppm Phosphate - but successful reefs by masters at the craft seem to prefer little higher nitrate.

Once you are there, and have identified the trick to stay there, your algae will likely automagically vanish. I used carefully measured doses or Nopox to get there.

 

[kevgib67]

What do you like about your tuxedo urchin? I’m looking into adding an urchin to my cuc

It is a nonstop work horse, you can see where it’s been because it removes everything to the bare rock. I would highly recommend one. Be prepared to have a frag or two get taken for a ride, the pickup things to camouflage themselves. I just pick the frag off and glue it down.

 

[CoralB]

Urchins , snails , brittle stars , pods

 

[Reef Jockey]

these guys probably do the most work in my tank

 

[MaxTremors]

I have (in terms of CuC):
Tailspot Blenny
Sixline Wrasse
Banded Coral Shrimp
4-5 different species of algae eating snails
Nassarius snails
Blue leg and Mexican red leg hermits
Pencil urchin
Aquilonastra starfish
Various worms (bristle, spaghetti, etc)
Limpets (a couple species)
Copepods, amphipods, and munnid isopods
Mysid shrimp
Brittle stars
Stomatellas
1 bumble bee snail

I think that’s it, but may be missing some. I’m of the opinion that most hitchhikers serve a purpose and help to keep a tank clean, so I usually leave most of them be. I recently was thinning out the population of Aquilonastra stars and instead of tossing them, put them in a jar with a little bit of sand, rubble, macro algae and some copepods, amphipods, and limpets, and sealed it and put it where it gets some light, we’ll see how well it does, something I’ve wanted to try for a long time and never got around to, kind of wish I had some aiptasia to put in there (one of the few hitchhikers I don’t tolerate).

 

[meganf]

It is a nonstop work horse, you can see where it’s been because it removes everything to the bare rock. I would highly recommend one. Be prepared to have a frag or two get taken for a ride, the pickup things to camouflage themselves. I just pick the frag off and glue it down.

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing!

 

[jerrberryjerr]

Emerald crabs hands down are the top dogs for algae control. 2 in 75 gal are just about right. Edward my lawnmower blenny is also a algae eating machine. 1st time ive had one, very active, great personality and works morning to night on the glass and rock work. For scraps a couple brittle stars and a old time favorite coral banded shrimp work great. Sand cleaners 2 conches will keep the sand as white as snow. Their little elephant trunks work day and night.

 

[JoJosReef]

Large variety of snails. Got some emeralds when Valonia hit and they'd be doing the job if the nem crab on top of the rocks would let them up top to clean. I said "other" because all of the microbrittle stars, hitchhiking brittle stars, sphaghetti worms, and yes, even the horrific eunice worms, are doing their job cleaning up everything.

And who can forget Aiptasia!? They clean up stuff floating in the water column, don't they???

 

[ABQ_CHRIS]

I really like my tiger conch. It does a great job on the substrate and that proboscis is funny to me.

 

[Mogwai]

Happy Monday Reef Fam! This week we're going to be discussing CLEAN UP CREWS or CUC to keep it short! 100% of us have some type of CUC whether it is a group of inverts that are housed specifically to keep the dissolving organics clean (eat poop) or it's a pretty fish that just so happens to love the taste of unsightly algae! Let's talk CUC!

1. What cleaner inverts, cleaner fish and micro cleaners do you have "on the team" in your reef aquarium? Please list them!

2. Who's the MVP of your clean up crew and why?


image via @OceansGarden

Snails (Trochus, Turbo, Nassarius, Bumblebee), Hermit crabs (Electric Blue, Halloween, Blue legged), brittle star fish, shrimps (Scarlett Skunk, Fire Red, Pistol), Limpets, Copepods from (Algae Barn).

 

[cdnco2004]

I really like my tiger conch. It does a great job on the substrate and that proboscis is funny to me.

My Conchs are rock stars, well the Tiger ones. The fighting conch is almost worthless lol. I am sure he helps in the 2 inches around where he has parked and hardly ever moves. Once every few weeks or so he will come out and be active for a few days then buries himself for weeks and does not move.

 

[Rtaylor]

My mvp is Oscar the abalone. He eats so much algae I have to feed him sheets of it a few times a week. He also doesn’t eat macros so that’s good too.

 

[jhuntstl]

My mvp is Oscar the abalone. He eats so much algae I have to feed him sheets of it a few times a week. He also doesn’t eat macros so that’s good too.

Awesome!! Where did you get your abalone?

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

I absolutely love these new checkered nerite snails that I’ve purchased from a seller in the Florida keys! I’m sure if you shop for reef related .. anything on on eBay lol than you’ve most likely seen the ads for them. Well I’ll tell you right now that in the 13/14 years I’ve been keeping reef aquariums these are by far the most active and best cleanup members that I’ve personally seen! These guys really deep clean the rocks spotless! They are incredible! I will continue to stock them in every tank from here on out! I’ve seen them eat red slime and even dinoflagellate types of stringy filaments! Can’t go wrong with these fellas!