stiffler70
Member
Hey guys/girls
As the title states, what would be the best or optimal clean up crew for an sps tank?
As the title states, what would be the best or optimal clean up crew for an sps tank?
blue legged hermits would be my first rec as they are the only cleaner that will scale SPS in order to rid them of debris.
Dwarf ceriths are thee best snail I've found for any tank. They will stir your sand bed and are eat an incredible amount of material for their size and will breed in the tank. Since they are in the sand bed by day and only feed at night , they don't cover your glass like other snails do.
Nerites are another great cleaner, since they stay in the upper portion of the water column and really only come down to eat at night.
I'm not a huge fan of astrea and turbos since they constantly bulldoze corals. They do a great job of cleaning but at the expensive of moving corals. I've lost more then one coral by an astrea knocking it down into a rock I couldn't get it out of. Turbos generally get large enough they can no longer clean effeciently.
If your going to feed the tank (like if you house fish) nassarius and serpent stars do a good job of picking up any left over food, but the blue leg hermits can handle this task on their own. I've heard a few claims that serpent stars may turn to hunting.
by the way the best place to get the blue legs and the dwarf ceriths is ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home . If you live in South Florida you can collect them yourselves. If not John at reef cleaners is the man.
blue leg hermits get big though dont though? so wont they get to the point where they just climb all over ur sps corals possibly damaging them?
As for cleaning acros, i was thinking getting acro crabs or bandit crabs for that purpose. I dont want hermits getting big and walkin all over my monti plates.
I would have to disagree on the Blue Leg Hermits, In addition to them getting big, they are most notorious in killing off snails and other hermits.
If you have glued down your corals, you won't have to worry about the Turbos knocking them down.
They do a great job of cleaning but at the expense of moving corals. I've lost more then one coral by an astrea knocking it down into a rock I couldn't get it out of.
:hammerhea :hammerhea :hammerhea :hammerhea :smack:
I give up.
I just dont want to put a clean-up crew in my tank that is going to damage my sps corals.