Help with clean up crew

I looked some and people on a few forums wrote that Rabbit fish, Naso tangs,and Sailfin tangs ate their bubble algae. It seems that Naso's and Rabbits eat it more commonly though......Also emralds are a type of mithrax crab, so some other kinds of mithraxes may work as well.

 

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Hahaha only kidding with the number there. I will prob go for about 5-10. Its only a 55g tank. I will also get a turbo snail and will try to get a couple of ceriths. Hopefully they last.

Yeah I read the same thing. But I cant really get any of those fish as my tank isnt really big enough. If I had a 75g or 125g I would be all over it haha.

I will look into some more mithrax crabs, I dont think I have seen any other species though.

 

IIRC, the Emerald is the only Mithrax crab that is considered reef-safe, and that does not come with a 100% guarantee.

FWIW, I had a large amount of algae in my 29g before adding a CuC; I went with 30 hermits and 10 Astrea snails. The hermits have never bothered anything else in my tank. They do, however, keep the tank so clean that I barely have enough film algae left on the back glass for the snails to feed on.

 

What types of numbers would you recommend for a 55g?

 

Get some Nassarius snails for sure. They are great scavengers and will eat up everything before it gets a chance to decay and feed the algae. They also will pop out of the sand as soon as you feed your tank and cruise around for a few minutes and then bury themselves again. Mine love to surf the glass, pretty entertaining as far as CUC'ers go.

Astraea snails are good algae eaters, but you have to keep your eye on them. If they fall over, they're unable to right themselves.

 

anywhere from 10-25 should be fine. I personally would not go over 25 because once your algae problem is under control they will be competing for food.

 

Yeah I have one left from four that I first got. I will get a nassarius though.

I dont think I will get that many to begin with, I stay with around 5. But slowly build it up if needed. And enough film algae for my linkia is the main priority.

 

I may be getting to you a little late. get the small dime sized blue legged hermits. avoid Margarita snails, I end up saving mine from the sand bed almost daily. Stick to astraea and turbo. Nasarius or a sea cuc for the sand.

 

Not to late at all, and thanks for still posting a comment. I wont be going down to the LFS to get some of the hermits/snails until this weekend.

So I will definately only get ones that dime sized? And coming from Australia, I assume that means small....

I will definately maybe one or two turbos and nassarius.

I have been told to stray away from sea cucumbers because if they get pissed off they release stuff that kills everything? I dont think my water chemistry is quite up to those. Its still fluctuating abit. Im doing my best to sort it out and make sure it stays stable.

I also got my refractometer today and found out my salinity is 1.023, which is abit low, im going to slowly bring it up to 1.026.

 

I'm only 5 days late
Anyway, from what I know. Sea Cuc's don't release toxins until they die. Mine hasn't died yet, and my water quality right now is awful.