Clean up Crew

[anewell1321]

Hi! I have just gotten my fluval evo up and running. I plan to keep the stock lighting and pump for the time being and do not have the skimmer upgrade. I will be putting the intank media basket in chamber 2 probably sometime next week when it comes in the mail. (any filtration media tips also appreciated) at the moment I have the stock filter foam still in that chamber. I currently have two clown fish and several small soft coral frags in the tank. I would like to start stocking a clean up crew and am looking for some suggestions. I love the look of cleaner shrimp. I would also like to possibly add an emerald crab or some hermit crabs. I am not a real fan of the look of snails so I'd like to stay away from those. Any suggestions from fellow Fluval evo owners would be much appreciated.

[Murphs_Reef]

The shrimp and crabs are absolutely fine to add. Snails I would say, when you have been running for a couple weeks/months, it's not really an option not to have them, you will need them to help keep the tank clear of algae.. you have so many varieties that I'm sure you will find some that are non offensive. 👍🏼

[DevilDuck]

Remove the stock filter sponge and throw it away. It does more bad than good. For filtration keep it very simple, filter floss and carbon in Chamber 1, live rock rubble or some other ceramic media in Chamber 2. Do bi-weekly/monthly 20 percent water changes. I would go snails over crabs. Get a variety of snails since they all prefer different types of algae and surfaces. If you don't have a lot of algae start with a small CUC maybe 4-5 snails.

[Crusher895]

This is just my opinion with my little experience but this is the cuc I would choose with your tank and your preferences from what you have stated:

1 Cleaner shrimp

5 nassarius snails/super tongan snails (They mostly stay in the sand so you don't see them much

5-10 dwarf blue tip hermit crabs

1 fighting conch or tiger conch

 

I feel like this would be a really good cleanup crew for you since the snails I chose wont be out much as they sift under the sand mostly. Hermit crabs are great but IMO not as good as snails for algae control so you should go with dwarf hermits to get into small places. The cleaner shrimp I can't say much about since I have never had one but from what I hear and have seen they are pretty cool. I think a Conch would also benefit you since they are like giant tongan snails that don't go on the glass and stay on the sand bed most of the time. A green emerald crab I would not suggest from what I have heard about them, they may be good at controlling certain algaes but I have heard they are opportunistic eaters and will turn to eating polyps in some situations.

[Ratvan]

In my Evo 13.5G I have 

1 Astrea Snail

2 Turban Snails

1 Cerith

1 Nassarius 

 

And hermit crabs but they're snacks/food

[mcarroll]

5 hours ago, anewell1321 said:

[...]do not have the skimmer upgrade. I will be putting the intank media basket in chamber 2 probably sometime next week when it comes in the mail. (any filtration media tips also appreciated) at the moment I have the stock filter foam still in that chamber.

Consider trading the media basket for the skimmer.

 

If you decide against that, then just don't use the media basket.  It's not going to be helpful in a new tank....if anything, it's likely to complicate things.

 

5 hours ago, anewell1321 said:

I currently have two clown fish and several small soft coral frags in the tank.

How long has the tank been running out of curiosity?

 

5 hours ago, anewell1321 said:

I would like to start stocking a clean up crew and am looking for some suggestions.

This was supposed to be done in the beginning, so you're slightly behind the curve already.

 

5 hours ago, anewell1321 said:

I love the look of cleaner shrimp.

Not a cleanup crew critter.  But you can get one if you like them – just make sure it gets fed regularly.

 

5 hours ago, anewell1321 said:

I would also like to possibly add an emerald crab or some hermit crabs.

Crabs are omnivorous scavengers – I tend to avoid them completely.  If you add any, I would keep it VERY limited....1-2 small specimens, such as (ideally) the blue-legged hermit.  

 

Emeralds are a slight exception, but they are NOT a generalist algae eater.  Again, add no more than 1 if your do these.

 

5 hours ago, anewell1321 said:

I am not a real fan of the look of snails so I'd like to stay away from those.

Why do you need to be a fan of how they look?  Do you care what your garbage-person looks like too?  I bet not.  (And hopefully that's a funny analogy.) 😉 

 

Snails are algae eaters and they work for you as-needed – 24/7 if necessary!  So you, as the #1 member of the cleanup crew, should reconsider.  Seriously.

 

What size is your Evo?   Those are TINY tanks, so unless you have a ton of algae growth, start small with 1-2 snails and see how it goes from there.  

 

Overstocking cleanup crew leads directly to die-off, so stocking a bunch (of anything) at once is a bad idea.

 

Can you post a pic of your tank?  Wondering how your algae growth is currently.

[Murphs_Reef]

I like heavy CUC In my tanks so in my daughter's Evo, we have 8 cerith, 4 turbo, 3 Nass, 2 Astrea Snails, a Halloween hermit a zebra hermit.. added lots of bristle worms from my tank as well... Also keep it stocked with pods to get the micro crap eaten up. 

 

Not cleanup directly but also a porcelain crab and a cleaner shrimp. 

[jservedio]

4 hours ago, Murphych said:

I like heavy CUC In my tanks so in my daughter's Evo, we have 8 cerith, 4 turbo, 3 Nass, 2 Astrea Snails, a Halloween hermit a zebra hermit.. added lots of bristle worms from my tank as well... Also keep it stocked with pods to get the micro crap eaten up. 

 

Not cleanup directly but also a porcelain crab and a cleaner shrimp. 

Holy hell that's a lot of turbos in a little tiny tank! You're going to have some traffic jams once those things get beefy.

 

OP - one thing I didn't see mentioned is if you started your tank with dry rock or live rock. If you started with dry rock, don't add algae eating snails until you have some algae since they'll just starve and make sure you feed your hermits and nassarius until you've got enough life in the tank for them to graze on. If you have live rock, you can start with a full CUC and don't have to worry about feeding them.

 

I think Murpych's CUC suggestion is good, but maybe half the turbos! Those things get massive after a couple years.

[Jakesaw]

10 hours ago, anewell1321 said:

I would also like to possibly add an emerald crab or some hermit crabs. I am not a real fan of the look of snails so I'd like to stay away from those. Any suggestions from fellow Fluval evo owners would be much appreciated.

I had same no snail bias - and finally added Snails this week ( 1 yr after starting my first nano reef ).  Your path won't be the same as mine, but I think you'll eventually get some snails in your tank, like it or not. 

[Murphs_Reef]

6 hours ago, jservedio said:

Holy hell that's a lot of turbos in a little tiny tank! You're going to have some traffic jams once those things get beefy.

 

Haha! The will move to my reefspace when they get to big and new babies will be dropped in.  

[mcarroll]

9 hours ago, Murphych said:

Haha! The will move to my reefspace when they get to big and new babies will be dropped in.  

I'm sure you'll have to downscale the # of CUC in that tank sooner or later. 😉

 

[Murphs_Reef]

17 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

I'm sure you'll have to downscale the # of CUC in that tank sooner or later. 😉

 

Na the dusky Wrasse takes care of that for me... 👍🏼