In your opinion, which CUC member does its job best?

[Gumbies R Us]

With their being a lot of different members of cuc to choose from we all have our personal favorites. I am wondering which clean up crew member do you think does it's job best? Curious to see what everyone thinks!

 

[krollins]

Urchins and conchs do their job perfectly.

 

[slingfox]

Lawnmower Blenny has helped turn the tide in my tank. He is a hard worker and his belly is always full and round!

 

[fishywishy]

Cleaner shrimp, emerald crabs and urchins

 

[doubleshot00]

Turbos, conchs and tangs/foxface.

 

[Dbichler]

Same as @krollins conchs and urchins you won’t find better that survives aquarium life.

 

[FourPawz]

Turbos, urchins and diamond gobies.

 

[zberq]

Turbo's, pincushion urchin and my sleeper goby for sand, even though I need to blow sand off rock every few days

 

[KevinC]

abalone is often overlooked. In my experience they work harder on algae than my snails.

 

[KrisReef]

I like foxface for algae but nothing beats a Kleine Butterfly for Aiptasia cleaning.

I like the bacteria for a fish tank otherwise clams are great for ammonia but I really have not kept them for very long because my Tomato clown loves them to death.

 

[Dave-T]

Sand sifting starfish, for the Sand bed.

 

[OlafsReef]

Tried MANY inverts my favorite Non-fish members: Red banded trochus snails, nassarius snails, tuxedo urchins, strawberry/tiger conchs, emerald crabs if needed.

 

[DIYreefer]

I have a variety of tangs and a couple of Fox face rabbitfish (I have 3 separate system). The best IMO, is the naso tang. Mine will annihilate anything that even resembles algae of any kind and is just an all around great fish.

 

[Kfactor]

I like foxface for algae but nothing beats a Kleine Butterfly for Aiptasia cleaning.

I like the bacteria for a fish tank otherwise clams are great for ammonia but I really have not kept them for very long because my Tomato clown loves them to death.

i wish my fox face would do his job lol

 

[vetteguy53081]

Always for me has been Astrea snail and just added Margaritas which have thus far been impressive

 

[drolmaeye]

For my tanks, me! And it's not even close. I feel like a lot of my crew (urchin, shrimp, snails, fish) handle one or two clean-up jobs pretty well, but difficult to choose one to rule them all.

 

[Gman83]

Astrea and urchin

 

[machliwala]

With their being a lot of different members of cuc to choose from we all have our personal favorites. I am wondering which clean up crew member do you think does it's job best? Curious to see what everyone thinks!

tiger conches, tuxedo urchins and nassarius snails.

 

[JHSteepat]

I have no luck so far with cuc. I feel they are mostly making things worse. I have an 8 month old tank, fish are healthy (including a useless foxface), corals (lps/sps) growing great, LOTS of hair algae. Cannot keep a snail to save myself (ati tests no copper or other troubling elements and the hermits are just fine). I lost two fighting conchs, most of my nassarius, astreas, ceriths, and the newer mexican turbos are on their way out. Maybe its the hermits (blue legs, but I am not 100% sure), as they seem to be the only survivors.

I have a lot of hair algae that I am thinking it is mostly fueled by dead snails. No more snails…..or maybe I need to send all hermits to the sump….

Suggestions are most welcome!!!

 

[machliwala]

I have no luck so far with cuc. I feel they are mostly making things worse. I have an 8 month old tank, fish are healthy (including a useless foxface), corals (lps/sps) growing great, LOTS of hair algae. Cannot keep a snail to save myself (ati tests no copper or other troubling elements and the hermits are just fine). I lost two fighting conchs, most of my nassarius, astreas, ceriths, and the newer mexican turbos are on their way out. Maybe its the hermits (blue legs, but I am not 100% sure), as they seem to be the only survivors.

I have a lot of hair algae that I am thinking it is mostly fueled by dead snails. No more snails…..or maybe I need to send all hermits to the sump….

Suggestions are most welcome!!!

The only snails that i have are nassarius (sand bed), tiger conches (sand bed). for the rocks a couple of tuxedo urchins. Reduce nitrades and phosphates and use a toothbrush on the rocks. as your nitrates and phosphates drop, you will notice that the hair algae releases easily from the rocks.