Weekly Discussion: Clean up Crews

[Mr.Peanut]

I started with 6 Turbos, and a handful of hetmits and other snails. I now have over 100 snails in the tank. Tons of mini brittle stars that HH their way in. 2 cleaner shrimp.

One of the hardest workers I had was a sally lightfoot crab. That thing never stopped cleaning. It just up and died the other day. At first I hated it, now I am considering another one.

Does a diamond watchman gobie count as CUC?

[aquawolf]

Originally Posted by Mr.Peanut

Does a diamond watchman gobie count as CUC?

It helps keep the sand bed stirred up and clean, so why not.

[Geoff]

well that leads to a good question: what makes a critter a part of the clean up crew. sorry CUC really annoys me. that shorthand is reserved for cucumbers.

G~

[jonnosteams]

Originally Posted by Geoff

well that leads to a good question: what makes a critter a part of the clean up crew.

Wouldn't a member of a clean up crew be one that allows for the removal of waste in various states?

Wouldn't that make algae part of the clean up crew?

[Geoff]

i would say that there are not any critters that actually remove wastes. all critters will in turn create waste themselves. they may clean up any uneaten food or remove algae from hard to reach areas, but i do not think we can think of them as a way to remove wastes.

the removal of wastes is up to you and the skimmer.

G~

[jonnosteams]

I guess I was thinking of 'waste' as anything unwanted. Compounds, detrius, crumbs, algae, dead critters, etc... anything not readily used.

Would you say that a clean-up-crew helps to organize the waste into more manageable states for removal?

I would agree that the only real efficient clean-up-crew is the tank's 'System Admin'. Anything else produces near as much, if not more than it takes in.

[three90s&125sump]

they don't really create waste. You add it and they store (most of) it till they die then they release it unless you remove it.

[aquawolf]

Originally Posted by three90s&125sump

they don't really create waste. You add it and they store (most of) it till they die then they release it unless you remove it.

I had to read this a couple of times before I realized you were referring to the algae.

Perhaps the clean up crew is more for aesthetic purposes. Most of them eat the things that we do not want to see in our systems, and in turn we are willing to deal with the waste they produce.

[three90s&125sump]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

I had to read this a couple of times before I realized you were referring to the algae.

But I wasn't... I was refering to the clean up crew.

[aquawolf]

But don't crabs, snails, cucumbers, starfish, sea hares, and fish poo? After all according to the book I read my little boy before, everything poos.

[three90s&125sump]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

But don't crabs, snails, cucumbers, starfish, sea hares, and fish poo? After all according to the book I read my little boy before, everything poos.

Yes... But crabs eat poo and so do pods. Poo is just energy that something else wants to eat. Inturn, it will be expended as movement, biomass and more poo that something else will want to eat... All the way down to the bacterial level. Which then may be converted into things we really don't want building up in our systems like PO4, hydrogen sulfide, NO3, ETC... Which is why to me it is best to not add it if you don't need it and get it out of your system via aggressive skimming before it begins to be broken down too much for the skimmer to get it.

[aquawolf]

Makes sense to me. Smaller critters eat smaller poo, but heavy skimming is best.

[Geoff]

what do you think should be on everyone's must have list for clean up crews.

i like Astreas, Trochus, Ceriths, Stomatella, and peppermint shrimp.

i have not found a clean up crew critter that i would want to keep that "needed" the sand to live. even Nassarious snails do not need the sand, they do just fine in a BB system, along with Conchs, in fact if you put a conch in a BB system they jump in order to move faster, which is something they can not do on sand.

G~

[YLChik]

Originally Posted by aquawolf

But don't crabs, snails, cucumbers, starfish, sea hares, and fish poo? After all according to the book I read my little boy before, everything poos.

Originally Posted by Geoff

what do you think should be on everyone's must have list for clean up crews.

i like Astreas, Trochus, Ceriths, Stomatella, and peppermint shrimp.

i have not found a clean up crew critter that i would want to keep that "needed" the sand to live. even Nassarious snails do not need the sand, they do just fine in a BB system, along with Conchs, in fact if you put a conch in a BB system they jump in order to move faster, which is something they can not do on sand.

G~

so true about the conch - I forgot to add that one to my list - love watching it!

I really think my tuxedo urchin is something I wouldn't do with out.

[three90s&125sump]

Skunk cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp, nessarous (SP?), astrea, Hmmm, that's about it. Lol. Maybe a tang.

I don't like peppermints because they are so short lived. The only real use they have is for aptasia.