TOP 3 Cleanup Crew Critters & when's the last time you got a new crew?

When is the last time you purchased cleanup crew critters?

  • Past few days

    Votes: 81 12.5%
  • Past few weeks

    Votes: 168 25.9%
  • Past few months

    Votes: 204 31.5%
  • Over a half a year

    Votes: 92 14.2%
  • Over a year ago

    Votes: 98 15.1%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 5 0.8%

  • Total voters
    648

carbasaurus

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the best clean up crew are the ones that clear the food before it hits the bottom. If your tank is big enough get an oinker of a tang or rabbit fish. My scribbled rabbit fish and my kole tang win top honors. They buzz around the tank at feeding time and will not stop until every speck of food is eaten. The rabbit fish will even slurp food off the surface before it hits the water column
 

Gogol_frag

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The saltwater aquarium clean up crew plays a very important role in helping us maintain the ecosystem of our reef tanks. The CUC or cleanup crew can consist of a variety of critters, mixed and matched to fit your specific cleaning needs. But which ones are the best? Let's talk about it!

1. What are your TOP 3 cleanup crew critters? Please don't just say "snails" but be specific as to what type of snail you like best and so forth.

2. When is the last time you purchased cleanup crew critters?

cleanup crew.jpg
 

iMi

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Honestly a pistol shrimp has been the best cleaner I think I have ever added. Snails are nice, but nothing beats a razor to the glass. The pistol shrimp and other sand sifters clean the whole sand bed though and keep it looking nice and white!! Plus it avoids any buildup of nasty chemicals in the sand bed which I guess is also a perk .
I had a pistol shrimp and a watchman pair. The two of them had the entire tank under construction. Constantly. They buried corals, literally moved chunks of rock work. Still, I enjoyed them. Until the shrimp went carpet diving one night in what I assumed must have been some kind of freak accident.
 

Gogol_frag

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The saltwater aquarium clean up crew plays a very important role in helping us maintain the ecosystem of our reef tanks. The CUC or cleanup crew can consist of a variety of critters, mixed and matched to fit your specific cleaning needs. But which ones are the best? Let's talk about it!

1. What are your TOP 3 cleanup crew critters? Please don't just say "snails" but be specific as to what type of snail you like best and so forth.

2. When is the last time you purchased cleanup crew critters?

cleanup crew.jpg
I like the little guys more than the big guys. Microbacter 7 is the only thing that has visibly destroyed the gunk off of my not-so-shallow sand bed. I am growing TiggerPods and Tisbepods in species only tanks. Hopefully they help some.

The snails did zip (will try them again once Nitrates lowers). Hermits I won't have.
 

SauceyReef

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I had a pistol shrimp and a watchman pair. The two of them had the entire tank under construction. Constantly. They buried corals, literally moved chunks of rock work. Still, I enjoyed them. Until the shrimp went carpet diving one night in what I assumed must have been some kind of freak accident.
Huh that is very strange! A pistol shrimp jumping out of the tank I am not sure if I have heard of that one.. I only keep Randals pistol shrimps for the very reason of the throwing sand and frags everywhere. I mean dont get me wrong they still do it, but not nearly as much as every other species. Still I love them and am happy to lose a frag now and than to keep such a beautiful and showpiece pair. The symbiosis is so cool, plus they do one of the best jobs at cleaning the sand.
 

Jarry

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1. Conomurex luhuanus (Strawberry Conch)
2. Conomurex luhuanus (Strawberry Conch)
3. Trochus Histrio

Strawberry Conch is the best by far, you only need 1-2 per 75 gallon to get the sand clean - they even eat cyano, or at least disturb it enough to help a lot. Trochus Histrio is great to clean the glass and rock, but not that importnant if you have some algae eating fish.
 

Boaz1021

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1) Halloween Hermit Crab : I think they look SUPER cool and I got 2 for 1, (LFS thought 1 was just changing shells, but they were holding on tight to each other lol). Now they are on opposite ends of my 150g DT and doing WORK on some diatom.

2) Emerald Crab: Little guys have VERY different personalities and went straight to work on my rocks.

3) SNAILS: Trochus, Conch, Sand Sifters, Bumble Bees. All have been zooming around the tank, rockwork, sand and glass cleaning everything in sight and out of sight.

HM: Peppermint Shrimp, mine likes to hang upside down inside a rock tunnel and clean up there. He also likes to dance when light goes down and it's feeding time. Lol 20210920_025259.jpg 20210919_131058.jpg
 

mattybecks

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All my clean up crews come from the beach. Urchins, crabs, pods, snails and other stuff that I don't always realize I have collected
 

MnFish1

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1. What are your TOP 3 cleanup crew critters? Please don't just say "snails" but be specific as to what type of snail you like best and so forth.
I have had several. Unfortunately, my harlequin tusk has decided to clean up the clean-up crew - which since I noticed no difference in algae, etc - I did not replace. IME - most of the time the 'clean up crew' dies off anyway - and is just replaced. I'm not sure they help - unless you're overfeeding.
2. When is the last time you purchased cleanup crew critters?
about 3 years
 

725196

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I replenish my CuC about 2-3 times a year. Mostly snails. Unfortunately my hermit crabs eat most of them over to course of 3-4 months.
 

Aardvark1134

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Do flame and coral beauty dwarfs count as cleanup crew? Cause they do a great job on my 8ft tank. When my tank started going through the standard mild ugly stage...they declared it dinner and ate it.
 

210 Reef Tank

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The saltwater aquarium clean up crew plays a very important role in helping us maintain the ecosystem of our reef tanks. The CUC or cleanup crew can consist of a variety of critters, mixed and matched to fit your specific cleaning needs. But which ones are the best? Let's talk about it!

1. What are your TOP 3 cleanup crew critters? Please don't just say "snails" but be specific as to what type of snail you like best and so forth.

2. When is the last time you purchased cleanup crew critters?

cleanup crew.jpg
I have 2 sand sifting star fish and sand sifting snails, red hermits, turbo and mexican snails.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 38 50.0%
  • Gate valves.

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  • Check valves.

    Votes: 16 21.1%
  • None.

    Votes: 19 25.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 7 9.2%
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