what to use for clean-up crew?

I'm having issues with algae, and am thinking of adding a clean-up crew for my 90g tank with ~100lb live rock and 40 lb aragonite sand. What animals would you recommend for a clean-up crew, and how much of each?

 

You could easily start with 25 hermit crabs and some cerith snails Imo. Turbo snails also but try and avoid zebra turbos if you have coral. As they may bulldoze them.

 

urchins, they eat alot of algae but may knock stuff over and eat coraline(trust coraline gets to be a pain after a while).

personally i would recommend a mix of turbo and astrea snails, with no hermits since they will pick off snails for meat and shells.
you can have emeralds, they eat mainly algae and dead stuff.
sally crabs are great little scavengers but if you have very small fish they may make a grab at them when they get older.
the emeralds and sallys may try to eat snails but there not as big a problem as hermits.
maybe a conch for the sand bed.

 

If you send an e-mail to John Maloney (reefcleaners.org, one of the 3reef sponsors), he'll make recommendations for a CUC. We started with a mix of dwarf cerinth snails, a few of the larger Florida cerith snails, nassarius snails, blue legged hermit crabs, limpets, and a few other odds and ends. I stayed away from the larger turbo snails.

 

Turbos, whether they are the Cortez sea ones or the IndoPacific ones do get big and will bulldoze things that aren't firmly attached to your rock. The Cortez ones are sold by the millions in the hobby but if you keep your tank fairly warm(80+) they will not be as happy long term than if you kept them at say middle to upper 70's. The Gulf of Mexico is still considered by most as Subtropic, thats why many invert purists will shun any invert from that region. Also avoid the snails that come from the California coast as they will get cooked in your tank long term.
Some love dwarf crabs in the genus Clibanarius but some hate. I have had success with C.tricolor aka dwarf blue leg or the dwarf red legs C.spp
I personally avoid arrow crabs, emerald crabs and many other crustaceans as they tend to do more harm than good.
AVOID blindly ordering CUCs online, as most places sell you WAY too much or they sell you things that are NOT cleaners and have NO BUSINESS in tanks, i.e HORSESHOE crabs!!!!
I would start with some astrea spp. snails, and some cerith. I would also look into nassarius snails, be them vibex or tonga, the tonga get a little bigger and look cool when they POP out of the sand bed.
I would get a small about of the Clibanarius crabs like stated but I would go slow. Too many people have a little algae out break so they throw hundred of snails and crabs in the tank only for half,if not more, to starve to death.
Add a little at a time and watch how things balance out.
In my 180, I only have 3 turbos, maybe 5 margarita type snails maybe another 5 nassarius and tops 20 each of the dwarf blue and red leg crabs, BUT I have an immense group of hitchhiking stomatella and strombus snails that help keep things tidy.

REMEMBER that nutrient export is FAR more important to a clean tank than a CUC is.
CUC is like playing catch up, you need to be proactive to have a healthy and happy tank!!

Good luck and happy reefing!

 

Great ideas, thank you to all!

 

Reef Cleaners. The guy isn't just a sponsor, he knows what he's talking about, and is active on the forums. It's not about giving John your business, it's about him giving you the CUC you need.

 

I emailed John, but unfortunately they are not able to send livestock to Canada, where I live. So I have to use someone local, I guess.

 

Is there a UPS store or something on the US side that could take delivery of an overnight express there by 10 am thing.

 

Just want to add that Trochus snails are a big more agile/less bulldozery than turbos and eat similarly to them, I have a few and like them a lot.