If
there was something natural, effective and interesting that you could
do to reduce the amount of time you spend maintaining your reef tank,
wouldn’t you do it? Saltwater clean up crews do exactly that - making
them an essential part of natural reef-keeping.
What They Do
Saltwater
reef cleaners are reef-safe animals that aid in tank maintenance by
consuming nuisance algae, feeding on excess detritus (food and fish
waste), and cleaning and aerating your substrate. Best of all? Reef
cleaners are completely self-motivated, which means a hands-free
solution to tank maintenance for you. And because you won’t be using
chemicals, there is no potential disruption in the delicate ecological
system that is your reef tank. Variety is the key to having an effective
cleaner package. A mix of different snail and hermit crab species as
well as other species is recommended for maximum efficiency.
Here are some of the most common cleaners and what they do in your tank:
| Snails | Turbo (Turbo sp.) | Consumes hair algae. Grows large. |
| Cerith (Cerithium sp.) | Consumes diatom algae and detritus. |
| Trochus (Trochidae sp.) | Consumes hair algae, cyano, diatoms, slime algae, and algae on glass. |
| Astrea (Astrea sp.) | Consumes hair algae, and algae on glass. |
| Nerite (Neritina sp.) | Consumes algae on glass. |
| Nassarius ( Nassarius sp.) | Consumes detritus. Cleans and aerates the sand bed. |
| Margarita (Margarites Pupillus) | Consumes hair algae on rocks.
|
Crabs
| Red Legged Hermit (Paguristes Cadenati) | Consumes hair algae, and detritus. |
| Blue Legged Hermit (Cilibanarius Tricolor) | Consumes hair algae, and detritus. |
| Left Handed Hermit (Calcinus Laevimanus) | Consumes hair algae, and detritus. |
| Sally Light Foot (Graspus sp.) | Consumes hair algae, and detritus. |
| Emerald Green (Mithrax Scupltus) | Consumes bubble algae.
|
| Various | Multicolour Sea Urchin (Tripneustes Gratilla) | Consumes hair algae. |
| Sea Hare Nudibranch (Dolobella Auricularia) | Consumes hair algae. Voracious, but difficult to keep. For tanks >50Gallons.
|
| Coral-Banded Shrimp (Stenopus Hispidus) | Consumes detritus. |
| Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata Wurdemanni) | Consumes detritus, and aptasia. |
| Sand-Sifting Starfish (Astropecten Polycanthus) | Consumes detritus in sand bed. Cleans and aerates sand bed. |
| Assorted Tangs | Graze on algae. |
| Lawnmower Blenny ( Salarias Fasciatus) | Consumes hair algae. |
Cleaner Package Suggestions
| 5 - 10 Gallons | |
| 15 - 25 Gallons | |
| 30 - 45 Gallons | |
| 50 - 60 Gallons | |
| 70 - 90 Gallons | |
| 100 - 150 Gallons | -
15 - Trochus Snails -
20 - Margarita Snails -
20 - Cerith Snails -
20 - Astrea Snails -
15 - Nassarius Snails -
80 - Algae Eating Hermit Crabs -
1 - Multicolour Sea Urchin -
1 - Sand-Sifting Starfish |
| 180 - 240 Gallons | -
20 - Trochus Snails -
30 - Margarita Snails -
30 - Cerith Snails -
30 - Astrea Snails -
20 - Nassarius Snails -
130 - Algae Eating Hermit Crabs -
2 - Multicolour Sea Urchins -
1 - Sand-Sifting Starfish |
