Clean up Crew help needed

[slaag]

Hi there,

I need some help identifying what additional clean up crew I may need.

I have a Fluval 13.5 gallon tank.
Currently have:
5 hermit crabs
2 trochus snails
2 nassarius snails
1 pep shrimp

My tank currently looks like this:

Do I need to add more? The algae is growing relatively fast and I don’t want other nuisance algae taking hold. What do you recommend? (Also maybe something else for sand on top of massarius snails)

thank you!

 

[brandon429]

I recommend none of those.

reasons why: fills up your sandbed with waste, and the system is going to get algae anyway being all white new rock.

of course they won't hurt anything, that's what everyone stocks regarding initial clean up crews...they're not going to help much with the coming algae but all their waste will for sure go right into the sandbed and compile. lots of pellets, a heavy amount each week.

one good factor though: not much matters in a nano reef because you can just rip clean it any time you want and instantly fix any invasion, any algae challenge the same day vs an extended trial.

you can stock those and any other CUC's you like, since removing their collective waste and tank aging consequences isn't all that hard in a nano reef.

 

[brandon429]

lowering your light level 50% and running only blues would help with algae far more than any cuc combo in that tank for sure. that and manual cleaning, lift the rocks out and scrape off algae externally to guide it/don't assume everything has to be done via the water.

 

[I never finish anythi]

New tank with dry rock . You have to go through the ugly phases. Just get snails to deal with it . Good luck

 

[V A R I A N T]

I'm a fan of crab free systems. My typical crew are Gold Ring Cowries (also called Money Cowries), Banded Trochus snails, a Fighting/Strawberry Conch, Mini/Micro Brittle Stars, Limpets, Stomatella, and the occasional Urchin. Given your tank size, you're right where you need to be but adding the Gold Ring Cowrie and Mini/Micro Brittle Stars would compliment nicely when you have more algae types to address. Good luck!

 

[Nman]

If it was me cut the lighting down and get turbo snails . My tank went through the ugly stage . When I got green algae the turbo snails nailed the algae from the rock