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

[GillMeister]

Why would I research little crustaceans my fish eat? Lol! Read a book about reefing instead of the internet.
D

If I could only choose one thing for a CUC, it would be a variety of pods. No question about it.

 

[Jedi1199]

We never had a pod shortage 10 years ago. Why would we know? O maybe cause all the rock is artifical now.
Not porous.
Get pod houses or pod breeders.
Do I think a small little bug multiplied in the 1000s or even millions will keep my tank clean? No I do not. That is hogwash imo. Lol.
Maybe I'm just old school and the old school people have a hard time adopting the new ways and vise versa but again I don't buy it sorry. If your relying on bugs to clean your reef than more power to you. I do not.
D

Let me ask you this.... Do you think Mother Nature is stupid? Do you really believe that humans are smarter? Seems like old Mom has been doing pretty well on her own for quite a while...

Nature does what she does for a reason EVERY time. There is NOTHING in nature that does not serve a function.

Just because us stupid apes are just beginning to understand the value of micro-fauna, does that mean that what we thought we knew decades ago is irrelevant? For all you know, the micro-fauna was more responsible for your results than the snails and fish ever were. You just didn't realize it.

 

[nicowboy]

So far turbo snails and 1shrimp

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I gave my opinion. Top crown snails. Cerith. Nerite snails. Also the shrimp and the stars and urchins. No i.dont think.mother nature is stupid

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

There's a reason pods stay at the bottom or in rock or in detritus fish poo. Or only come out at night
They are the lowest of the low on the food chain and I can't rely on them for anything other than that.
D

 

[Slocke]

By far my favorite snails are the large Mexican turbos. They do so much more work than most snails and they're cheap and they don't fall on their back every day and die.

 

[GillMeister]

There's a reason pods stay at the bottom or in rock or in detritus fish poo. Or only come out at night
They are the lowest of the low on the food chain and I can't rely on them for anything other than that.
D

Actually, bacteria are the lowest of the low on the food chain. And without them, you can not keep a reef tank. I understand the thought that bigger creatures get more work done but the reality is the small, insignificant things that live in our tanks are the most essential.

 

[Bruce Burnett]

Snails, counchs, foxface

 

[cdnco2004]

There's a reason pods stay at the bottom or in rock or in detritus fish poo. Or only come out at night
They are the lowest of the low on the food chain and I can't rely on them for anything other than that.
D

Your willful ignorance is blinding.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

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

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I'm all for being deep and scientific about things but really some things just are what they are. You can call it what you want. Ignorance is bliss.
D

 

[killer2001]

Snails + Copepods!!! Also my fire shrimp.

 

[Jedi1199]

I'm all for being deep and scientific about things but really some things just are what they are. You can call it what you want. Ignorance is bliss.
D

My only problem here is your statement that pods are negligible. This is a false statement. Microfauna is just as important to a stable system as macro fauna.

If you do not believe this, that is fine. If your system runs well as you have it set up, fine. My issue is with the misleading information that just because pods are "fish food" they hold no value. This is false and misleading.

Remember that not everyone reading these threads is an experienced aquarist.

 

[Gogol_frag]

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

Reef size: 180 gallon. MVP - Bacteria.


My reef is sump-less and water-change-less. It has Fought off dinos (without a blackout), GHA, and Diatoms. Still has some cyano and some turf-algae, and many, many, many aiptasia (One ridonculous problem at a time, folks!!)

Nitrate: 3.3 ppm, Phosphate - 0.5ppm (the latter has to reduce)

I have a snail-based CUC. But none of the living creatures does as good as a job of cleanup as my bacteria. However, i do have an army of 100+ snails (largely ceriths, some turbos, and trochuses). I have 10 chitons that clean the rock to bone-white, and one Tiger Conch, that looks cool - but does not really clean much. Ditto for my herbivore-fishes - they do graze but nothing to speak of. I have one hermit, and one nassarius snail - both of whom hitch-hiked, and i dont have the heart to willingly kill them. But if i did, i would.

My hitchhiker Bristleworms on the other hand do a great job of turning the sand-bed and scavenging (my largest being a one-foot-long gentle giant). If i can keep my paired Bella Gobies from jumping, they will likely outperform the bristle worms, sand-wise. I also have the multiple colonies of sponges, coraline algae, isopods and asterina-stars that have hitch-hiked and proliferated. I am sure they contribute somehow in maitaining the reef.

 

[Jmcdaniel0]

Cleaner package from reefcleaners.org, cleaner shrimp, tuxedo urchin. Diversity is key.

really hard to go wrong with the quick crews they have.

 

[chimbo84]

I have trochus and turbo snails from reef cleaners and a few emerald crabs and urchins that do a good job.
I also intentionally added some bristle worms, spaghetti worms, and asterina stars from IPSF that do a wonderful job.
If I had to pick just one thing as MVP I would say my urchins do the most work with the least headache. They’re hardy and peaceful.

IMO hermits are useless and actually detrimental since they kill helpful snails.

 

[Swede Reef]

Mvp shared Trochus snails, abalone. Really gets any algea. Abalone is a quick mover and leaves a large path if I anything on rocks and glass. Assorted hermits and emerald crabs, stomatella, and alots of nassarius snails etc.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Astrea snails. Sure they need flipping over, but they keep the tank spotless. I put about 80 of them in my 75 gallon.

 

[chimbo84]

From my experience the best sand cleaners I currently have are my dwarf ceriths. I probably have about 100 or so in each tank and they do great work. For the rock cleaning astraea and trochus snails are my favorites. They can make rock look super clean.

I agree the dwarf ceriths are awesome but I cannot keep them in my display tank with my wrasses. They’re dwarf cerith killing machines. For my frag tank though they’re great.

 

[Dr RBG]

How about

Bumble Bee snails and Money Cowries