New To Reefing

TunaBlue

Member
Dec 16, 2014
156
32
Cuc Options
hey been looking up my live stock options for my 50L and can't find any good references for a clean up crew.
Whats a good CUC list for a 50L with a sand bed?
Cheers.
 

Dean Lovett

Member
Apr 11, 2015
377
146
Penrith
I have a 63L and my tank has done wonderfully with a Stomb snail and two hermit crabs. It is a simple CUC, but it is effective nonetheless. The hermit crabs have an insatiable appetite for GHA and the stromb snail stirs around the sand bed nicely!
 

TunaBlue

Member
Dec 16, 2014
156
32
I have a 63L and my tank has done wonderfully with a Stomb snail and two hermit crabs. It is a simple CUC, but it is effective nonetheless. The hermit crabs have an insatiable appetite for GHA and the stromb snail stirs around the sand bed nicely!
i was thinking of adding some bristle worms as well?
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
id reconsider the bristle worms.... i had a hew to begin with....... now theres about 50 "/
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
I didn't get mine from LR, they hitchhiked in on an Acan i got from a RTAW member.

They wont actively go for a healthy fish as they are scavengers, but if one is on its way out, dont be surprised if it 'vanishes'.

If i knew they would spread that much i would have taken care not to get any (wont be re-using current LR in next tank, and also 'screening' anything brought across for this reason). I also underfeed in an effort for them to naturally reduce their own numbers....... to no avail it seems.


Just sharing my 2c worth of hindsight.
 

lukusis

Member
Sep 3, 2014
415
144
I have 2 in my 50l.

Also have 3x turbos and several stomatella's.

Just watch the Nass if you get a hermit.... my hermit murdered a nass for its shell when i first got the bastard thing (knocks over my elegance every night too).
 

gtrxu1

Member
Jun 25, 2012
363
196
I have 10 Nass in my 96L

Also Nerite are under rated, as are Stomatella.

IME Trochus are Over rated
 

Agent M

Member
Oct 21, 2011
3,536
1,586
Melbourne
IMO the most valuable clean up crew are animals that will scavenge uneaten food.

While snails do a great job, they won't leave your tank as clean of algae as you might imagine. I consider the algae eating my turbo snail population does more about feeding them so that they can provide egg masses for the fish to eat, than keeping my tank clean. They do contribute for sure and its amazing how much a single snail can eat, but they can't compete with a glass cleaner.

Dwarf Yellow Tip hermit crabs and shrimp are my top picks for scavengers. The hermits will very rarely pick on a snail if they have a collection of small empty shells on the bottom of the tank. You'll get a decent number of years out of the Yellow Tips, they've been hardy and easy to keep for me - plus I think they are plain cute and I enjoy seeing them trundling around the tank.

As for bristle worms, you will get those as hitchhikers when you buy coral - assuming you are going to keep coral :)
 

NiCd

Lead Moderator
Jul 29, 2011
4,296
1,586
Sydney
My favorites for nanos

Snails - Turbos, ceriths, nass
Shrimp - Peppermint, redline, blood, saron, sexy, emperor
Others - Brittle stars ,Micro urchins, yellow foot hermits, bristle worms

Trick is to keep them small, whilst strombs are amazing at keeping sandbeds clean they are bulldozers and will knock every frag over on the sand bed, run out of food and make their way onto the rocks and do the same thing, trochus snails can be great in big tanks with big corals but same deal, star fish, larger urchins, sea cumbers and so on all face the same issues.

You could run a complete CUC with just turbos and brittle stars and get out of the whole exercise for $25 but if you want to add interest and have lots of diversity just stick with the small stuff and maybe a star of the tank like a redline or if your budget is cheaper a saron
 

Savage Henry

Member
Feb 2, 2015
653
254
As for bristle worms, you will get those as hitchhikers when you buy coral - assuming you are going to keep coral :)
I doubt you'd ever be able to prevent introducing bristleworms into your tank unless you have just those faux corals Majestic Aquariums have in that huge display tank of theirs.

If you are worried about bristleworms as I once was, get yourself something that eats them. Banana wrasse etc.

My favourite CUC is my yellow tang.

I have urchins, but I see little effect from them apart from eating my coralline algae.

Ironically, my most active CUC are my bristleworms. My large copepods are strictly night shift CUC members, but I am not really sure what they do?
 

Savage Henry

Member
Feb 2, 2015
653
254
I should add, my tanks have heaps of bristle stars too and along with my bristleworms, they make up my CUC.
 

TunaBlue

Member
Dec 16, 2014
156
32
My favorites for nanos

Snails - Turbos, ceriths, nass
Shrimp - Peppermint, redline, blood, saron, sexy, emperor
Others - Brittle stars ,Micro urchins, yellow foot hermits, bristle worms

Trick is to keep them small, whilst strombs are amazing at keeping sandbeds clean they are bulldozers and will knock every frag over on the sand bed, run out of food and make their way onto the rocks and do the same thing, trochus snails can be great in big tanks with big corals but same deal, star fish, larger urchins, sea cumbers and so on all face the same issues.

You could run a complete CUC with just turbos and brittle stars and get out of the whole exercise for $25 but if you want to add interest and have lots of diversity just stick with the small stuff and maybe a star of the tank like a redline or if your budget is cheaper a saron
Well I'm defiantly going to be add a blood shrimp or sexy shrimp at some stage once my fish are settled in and I'm not sure on adding anything like turbos that will breed and consume the tank lol going to be having a small inlet/outlet that could be risky.
Maybe...
4 nass
2 trochus
1 blood shrimp OR trio of sexy shrimp.
 

Agent M

Member
Oct 21, 2011
3,536
1,586
Melbourne
Turbos are great, hardy and their population is self limiting according to how much food is available and the water quality. I have many more than I often realise but would be lucky to see 3 on the glass during the day, so they won't overwhelm your tank. During the night they all come out and I get a surprise as to how many there are.

Like niCd said, keeping things small is a good rule of thumb. Small brittle stars are great. Big ones (as in the ones that fill your palm or legs hang over your palm) will eat your snails when they feel like it. I have an ever increasing collection of empty shells due to my large brittle stars.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
Stomatellas are great, they are self limiting in regards to the size of the tank. M has a few nass snails as well as 2 turbo grazers. We also employ 2 hermit crabs per tank as well. Smaller species of bristleworms are fine, it the larger fire worms that are trouble. I had one that killed 2 elegance corals before I figured out what was going on.