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

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I see it as a waste of money is all

 

[GillMeister]

How do you even know you have a good pod population? This is mind blowing to me.
D

At night they scurry all over the rock and glass. I mean, this tank is alive at night. I also see a lot of amphipod molts floating around in the tank during the day. I have nearly 300lbs of rock in a 6ft tank so they have plenty of places to grow and hide.

 

[Gogol_frag]

Hippo tang, magnificent fox face, tribal blenny, and 5 cleaner shrimp. I will be getting more tangs in the future but am dealing with velvet, flukes, and black ick in my dt so im moving my fish over to a qt im setting up on friday and am going to treat the fish for 2 and a half months and leave the tank empty for that time before i get more fish

Good luck Jwise, and you may want to change your fish supplier(s). I realize that i have been playing with fire a little bit, but i have a few select fish suppliers from whom i have gotten (and continue to get) really healthy fishes. So I never QT even though my suppliers keep begging me to. Primarily because I dont trust my inept QT skills with $$$$-fishes.

So far, I have been able to handle most of my fish-issues with good nutrition, and have actually been 100% unsuccessful in treating any fishes that were doing poorly (during my earlier days when I would feed sparingly).

So, i have given up on QT/medication. I feed my reef until the fishes have had enough, and also feed a lot of phyto/zoo plankton/cyclopeze/amino acids for reef health. Then hope and pray that my healthy reef will be able to fight off diseases.

I know that i am bating the law of averages (technically its the law of large numbers) but whats technicality between reefers

My No3 and Po4 run a little high (No3 - 3ppm, Po4 - 0.5ppm) and i have reached the limit of my NoPox dosage-levels. So i guess i will have to start using GFO in my reactor. But will still bet that stable water conditions and good nutrition will solve my fish issues better than medications.

 

[Jwise]

Good luck Jwise, and you may want to change your fish supplier(s). I realize that i have been playing with fire a little bit, but i have a few select fish suppliers from whom i have gotten (and continue to get) really healthy fishes. So I never QT even though my suppliers keep begging me to. Primarily because I dont trust my inept QT skills with $$$$-fishes.

So far, I have been able to handle most of my fish-issues with good nutrition, and have actually been 100% unsuccessful in treating any fishes that were doing poorly (during my earlier days when I would feed sparingly).

So, i have given up on QT/medication. I feed my reef until the fishes have had enough, and also feed a lot of phyto/zoo plankton/cyclopeze/amino acids for reef health. Then hope and pray that my healthy reef will be able to fight off diseases.

I know that i am bating the law of averages (technically its the law of large numbers) but whats technicality between reefers

My No3 and Po4 run a little high (No3 - 3ppm, Po4 - 0.5ppm) and i have reached the limit of my NoPox dosage-levels. So i guess i will have to start using GFO in my reactor. But will still bet that stable water conditions and good nutrition will solve my fish issues better than medications.

I feed my fish super heavy as well i feed until they don't want to eat anymore i also mix all the food that i give my fish together with vitamin and garlic additives and freeze it and that is what they get every meal. Luckily it hasn't raised my levels any my nitrates i struggle to get above 0 lol opposite problem then what most people face

 

[NaCl addict]

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.

I have tried two urchins and both died within 2 weeks. No idea what happened. Do hermit crabs eat them?

 

[kevgib67]

I have tried two urchins and both died within 2 weeks. No idea what happened. Do hermit crabs eat them?

No, I have about a dozen hermits ( dwarf red and blues). I would think any reef safe crabs would. I know that they require decent water conditions but if you are successfully keeping lps and sps you should be good. I’m not sure what kind you had, but my only experience is with my royal tuxedo urchin.

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens]

My MVP is copepods, hands-down. I think they've historically been under-appreciated, but I can't think of any other animal that can get deep into the cracks in my rock work to clean up detritus, etc. I've also added a heavy dose of pods and watched a terrible cyano outbreak disappear very rapidly. Count me in as a HUGE fan of pods. Wherever you choose to get them, pods are AMAZING!

 

[killer2001]

My MVP is copepods, hands-down. I think they've historically been under-appreciated, but I can't think of any other animal that can get deep into the cracks in my rock work to clean up detritus, etc. I've also added a heavy dose of pods and watched a terrible cyano outbreak disappear very rapidly. Count me in as a HUGE fan of pods. Wherever you choose to get them, pods are AMAZING!

AND, fish like to snack on them throughout the day.

 

[Nano sapiens]

My MVP up until recently was this little guy:

I guess he won't be celebrating Halloween this year

Update: Turns out this was just his molt that the Button Scolly seemed to have found delectable.

 

[lelolai15]

Found the water cooler!

I have the same issue, my snails always make it to the top of the tank.

are you saying lower he water temp? I have my tank set to 77-79 depending the time of day.

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

I have the same issue, my snails always make it to the top of the tank.

are you saying lower he water temp? I have my tank set to 77-79 depending the time of day.

Haha no the water cooler is in reference to an area employees in a office congregate to gossip. Lol

 

[kingoftheHiLLpeople]

I have the same issue, my snails always make it to the top of the tank.

are you saying lower he water temp? I have my tank set to 77-79 depending the time of day.

Your temp is fine.

 

[ShoalSister]

MVP CC in my tank = me.

My m&&*^^%((&**ing coris wrasse wiped out my crew from reefcleaners.
So I scrape. I shuffle sand. I yank the algae off the rock.

Same here. I keep wondering if an urchin will survive...

 

[ComfortRacing]

MVP, a close tie between my Tuxedo Urchin “skippy” laying waste to hair algae (or algae of any flavor) and my Diamond Goby “goobs” keeping my sand-bed pristine!!

*disclaimer - my teen daughter names my fish, my names were were NOT G-rated and i lost my naming privileges!*

 

[ilikefish69]

I do believe in microfauna and the bacteria yes and the smaller animals are present and required just to a different degree than all of you. Sorry. My ignorance is mine and only mine. Lol
Reef on all
D

lol I am dying reading through this thread. I wish my children can have 1/10th of your confidence Sir! Well done

I have no opinion on the pods or the other stuff. Just here to say I am along for the ride and enjoying it

 

[ilikefish69]

Same here. I keep wondering if an urchin will survive...

My urchin lives happily with my melanarus and leopard

 

[G Santana]

In my 1st year I had 3 huge GHA breakouts and the only critter that made any appreciable dent into the GHA lawn was Meatball my Urchin. He went as far as taking trophies of the defeated!!!
Honorable mention to my algae blenny and tangs.

 

[Nick_Turbo]

Honestly, the main reason I scraped and saved to get a MUCH bigger tank was so I could continue to add to my CUC! I love having a large, diverse ecosystem; it really just makes the cake for me. Hands down, my CUC MVP is my Spider Conch. It does an amazing job keeping my 3” sand bed in tip-top shape. Although he spends the vast majority of the time burried in the sand, it makes it all the more exciting when I catch a late-night glimpse of him proudly roving the sandbed.

 

[Nheko]

I use snails, crabs, shrimps, starfish and urchins. I believe in diversity to get the job done.

 

[HawkeyeDJ]

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 have a variety of snails and a peppermint shrimp. Trochus and turbo snails stay busy on the rocks cleaning algae. Nassarius snails and Tiger conchs keep the sandbed turned over pretty good. The peppermint took care of my aiptasia problem.

For some reason, I can't keep emerald crabs alive to save my life.