Clean-Up Crews | Answering Beginner Questions Part 5

[@InappropriateReefer]

Great info man, my friend Sally's tank is at the point of adding clean-up crew so I sent her this video, very timely. Have a great holiday!

[@FishOfHex]

Thank You

[@whiterican8885]

I love this series!! Gorgeous reef btw.

[@FishOfHex]

Thank You

[@Hartwig870]

I think you have to increase feeding if you're planning on keeping a clean up crew. Likely not much but when they eventually starve to death they just end up being little nutrient bombs. Although this only applies if you're properly matching your feeding habits to your stocking levels, and not over feeding in the first place.

[@koaleighhomestead2606]

G'day Travis, loving watching these beginner videos, they're full of great information, keep them coming. Wishing you and your family a happy and blessed Christmas.

[@FishOfHex]

Thank You

[@berniegrant2633]

Thank you so much for this video!!! I'm one day into a cycle of my new reef tank and eas thinking of the most effective clean up crew

[@ScottM]

great video Travis and Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[@FishOfHex]

Thanks you too

[@joeschmo8755]

I’m very new to this hobby so this is probably a stupid question. What are you doing with your powerhead? Are you just blowing stuff off the corals or just loosening all the food out of the sand? Why is the speed so high?

[@seventiesandbeyond]

I find using rowaphos during cycling helps with any algae issues, especially when using live rock. Phosphate leaching from rock

[@FishOfHex]

Iv only used gfo but same stuff

[@Vosssssssss]

I really dont need to quarantaine the fish i get because the store does it its a really special store

[@Alphaxcentauri007]

Why do you not quarantine starfish ???

[@HobbyAyah]

Hi, how many tentacles turbo snail have? I have seen around 6 tentacles, is that belong to snail itself? its not spray any net like vermited snail. Thank you

[@karennation3580]

What is the best for left over food? I Have nassarius and an astrea, the astrea died probably starvation. Maybe I got a week one from my lfs because I saw no algae in her tank and they were kept with fish, I had no fish for a week after my first fish died and had just vacuum the sand. My nassius are the same they dont do much at all! Could they be week from my lfs? I just got a baby hermit and it dosnt move much either! Just put him in yesterday. I turkey baste the food often since my snails dont mess with it but left some under the rock bridge which is where the hermit stays! I only have 10 gallons and no skimmer plus new tank so scared to leave much food out. I just started running lights about 2 weeks ago and dont run them but at 25 % which is bright enough since I havt bought corals yet, maybe algae is gong to happen soon as I am getting corals this week! Should I just let it go with my worthless snails or wait until I have algae to replace?

[@PhiCongDoan7587]

Beautiful acquarium!!! So I still have empty shells in my acquarium, should I just leave them in there? I was planning on buying a CUC pack from WWC.

[@stephenkellerjr3767]

I am about to get the first addition of my clean up crew and want to QT them. How would you keep them feed? My QT tank is clean and only has a few pieces of pvc pipe.

[@FishOfHex]

I feed a little nori every few days

[@fitzfam9923]

Love the content! I think I've watched them all but do you have advice or a video on quarantine of corals? New 230 with huge sump. Want to do this RIGHT. Watched all the fish and cuc qt vids. Scared corals will die?

[@FishOfHex]

I have talked about it but havent done a video as of now.

[@larrybu2000]

What small metal tool did you use to clean your tank in this video?Acrylic or glass tank?

[@richardnation3379]

I have a 10 gallon no skimmer, all youtubes i Have seen aggressively clean every week with water changes. Like blowing of rocks with turkey baster and corals, scrubbing algae with magnet. vacuum sand. Would This not take from my beneficial bacteria not to mention food for the glass type snails I have 2 astrea babies?

[@rafaelsoriano5365]

Another great video 👍

[@FishOfHex]

Thank You

[@donlocke64]

what was that powder looking substance you were putting into your tank,thanks for the video

[@markmanuel3187]

12 gauge I thought that too but I’m pretty sure it was just bubbles because of the wave maker being out of water

[@sereeres2946]

what equipment did u use at 5:57??

[@douglassmith4403]

Merry Christmas and thank you for another great video! At the 6:15 mark you are blowing a lot of air bubbles from your wave maker(s) back into the tank? It looks like you are cleaning the corals some how? Did I miss the explanation?

[@FishOfHex]

Thank You, Yea its microbubbles.. check out a few videos back i go in on all that.

[@wcdeich4]

What is he best cleaner to clean up the slime in tiny crevices in the rock? Also, people say hermit crabs die b/c they fight over shells - but is that really the reason? Do they need to come up onto land at a certain age??

[@Lawrence012010]

Hi just curious to know what are the little (coral/plants) inside your system, that you move around while cleaning, are?

[@travissomething3341]

My snails have disappeared from my tank for some reason. I have no fish in yet, and its been about 2 weeks. I still have my shrimp and my hermits, but my snails are no where to be found. Do you have any insight?

[@FishOfHex]

The hermits are probably killing the snails for new shells

[@travissomething3341]

Wow, that can happen?? Perhaps I should put new shells in

[@ClickClan100]

Tom lmfao

[@mid-amaricaaquaticsurvices536]

Great video man got me thinking about a few things. I have a 29 gallon refugium on my system that has some shrimp and crabs and other clean up crew in it with one little goby. should I feed that tank. it has quite a few different macro algae. I also am not sure how much to feed my main tank it seems like im feeding to much. how can i tell if im feeding to little?

[@FishOfHex]

You can put a small amount of food in the refugium if you want. As for the amount to feed start off with a small amount and see what your fish eat in five min. If food is still floating around after that time you feed to much. Remove the food or feed less next time.

[@creepy6208]

Hi! I have a 12 gallon tank with nothing but two hermit crabs that are from the adrian sea. Are they reef safe? I looked them up on Google but I couldn't find much other than the fact that they are in the same family as blue leg hermits,(they also look like bluelegs except they're green) Also I have some, not excessive hair algae, so is it bad if you have even a small amount of hair algae?

[@richardnation3379]

I just finished cycling my ten gallon.. my lfs sold me 2 astrea snail, and 2 nassarius snails. I think the nassiurus are dead, I see hollow when I Look inside their shells. I probably should have not put them in. Wouldnt I see some meat inside the shell if they were alive? I thought maybe it might be drawn back inside the shell a little. Looks like I see something back further from opening but they are so tiny and its hard too see. Should I remove them and throw them away or return to store? The astrea are clinging to glass already! They are pretty tiny to, I know they dont have a longlife span. Should I get snails larger size, these are maybe a 1/2 wide, and the nassirus are super tiny and thin. Since I have anew 10 gallon and no skimmer I want to keep every clean. Is 2 of each of what I mentioned plus maybe a hermit and a tailspot blenny enough? Since they are so small not sure how much good they are doing! I Like to get a emerald but I dont want to overdue it and I Have no algae yet but on my glass and perhaps in m y sand bed.Should I supplement with two little fishes sea veggies or something or maybe i just dont much of a cleanup crew yet.them yet?

[@benlevene99]

Turn the plug off by the tank and give the cuc back your gona fuck a fish up

[@BillyPipes]

what's the "best" working snail all around

[@FishOfHex]

I love turbos

[@jonathanschulman5462]

I'm kinda new to the saltwater world and was wondering if you add the clean up crew as needed or do you keep them in all the time?

[@FishOfHex]

I add them once i see the diatom bloom on new systems and every 6-12 months i just add a couple more of everything. You really dont need a big cleanup crew if you stay on top of the systems water quality

[@kevdan264]

I'm trying to add more flow to my reef tank since i am starting to keep more sps coral. What pump(s) would you recommend? I have a 65 gallon aquarium.

[@FishOfHex]

Jebao pp8s would work fine for that size tank.

[@inrealtimeshowing4195]

What if you do not have a main tank. This is my first so no established tank. How do you quarantine?

[@FishOfHex]

get yourself sponge filters and another tank to hold the cleanup crew or fish. Checkout my quarantine playlist it has a ton of stuff on qt

[@itsadino5806]

Why do you pull off the pump head and shoot the oxygen at the coral?

[@FishOfHex]

I used the micro bubbles to clean the coral and blow detritus off the rock. Check out my micro bubble video

[@matthewwagner4042]

Don't feed your clean up crew? If your gonna add a clean up crew you better start planning on growing some algae and upping your nutrients. Why buy animals just to starve and torture them? They aren't worthless things there to get you out of a jam. They are living creatures. Either meet thier needs or don't add them. Their lives are in your hands. Take every effort to meet thier needs, that's the responsible thing to do. Hermit crabs are killing your snails for shells... Before you buy them make sure you can meet the hermits' needs. Have hundreds of shells lining your sand bed to reduce that pressure. That to "messy" for the "fashion" of your tank? Don't get them. If your trying for a sterile, lab like, coral farm go bare bottom, manage your elements by machine, and leave the other animals to the wayside.

[@FishOfHex]

You don't need to target feed a cleanup crew period.

[@matthewwagner4042]

@@FishOfHex kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5u7eaRspM6YbNU

[@FishOfHex]

Please see my previous comment

[@lunes-1]

💜👍

[@jmotanks8960]

Hey what’s up I’m new to saltwater, I just setup 13.5 gallon I have a pair of black and white clown fish! It’s been running for about a week now. When do I know when it’s cycled to add a clean up crew

[@FishOfHex]

This question will be answered in my next email/comment Q&A video

[@jmotanks8960]

FishOfHex when is that?

[@oneguyandhisfish5337]

I have a big issue with hair algae in a 12g tank, biologically the tank tests almost perfectly nitrates 5 and everything else 0. Low stock in tank and bi weekly water changes, what should i do?

[@FishOfHex]

+OneGuyAndHisFish you are only reading zero or really low bc the algae is using up the nutrients. First if you haven't watched my algae video please check that out. Next you need to find the source of the nutrients. The video goes over all that. After you remove that source things will start to come around. I'd wait before adding chemicals or equipment until you can pinpoint what's causing the problem. Contact me after watching the video so we can come up with a game plan, it's difficult to do anything without knowing the cause of the problem.

[@oneguyandhisfish5337]

FishOfHex Just watched it, I dont have a skimmer on the tank, do you think that should be a concern as its only 12g? I also have a reasonably small clean up crew but i dont feed much. Tank has been running for a year with no fish for most of that time.

[@FishOfHex]

You dont need a skimmer for that size tank just keep doing your water changes

[@kevdan264]

OneGuyAndHisFish are you using rodi water? You could be adding extra nutrients to fuel the algae growth.

[@oneguyandhisfish5337]

Kevin Danilowski I buy salt water from my lfs, I believe they use rodi for their salt water, but i top up with ro water

[@wilkorfilms8478]

Where can I find a similar cleaning tool?

[@FishOfHex]

Ebay?

[@DJ_LittlePea]

I have hair algae in my side chick and I just can't get rid of it so I'd love to know what he he'll I'm doing wrong and if I'm honest I'm at the point of giving up I really am ..... my crabs aren't eating the hair algae at all and my corals are getting tangled in the hair algae and look like there about to give up just like me 😱

[@FishOfHex]

Have you checked out my algae video?

[@DJ_LittlePea]

***** yeah I've watched it a few times now and everything you say I have checked and I'm still left scratching my head all I've done over Christmas is read about algae and it's not helping my issue out at all .... I swear as soon as I cut it all away and scrub with a toothbrush it looks nice for about an hour or two and bam it's back and when it does come back it's even thicker ... thinking of leaving it and seeing how long before the whole tank looks like a wig haha

[@FishOfHex]

How old is your rock? was it in a prior system? If everything is checking out i would think the rock could be leaching nutrients into the tank. I would personally remove the fish coral and put in a qt system. Remove the rock and get new dry rock and let the tank run for a couple weeks without lights before adding coral and fish back into the system. You are adding nutrients into the tank one way or another. You just need to find out how and remove the source. If its not the water or over feeding/ over stocking it has to be from the rock.

[@DJ_LittlePea]

FishOfHex it was dry rock when it was added so I'm leaning towards it being the rock too .... thanks for the advice unfortunately I don't have another tank to quarantine and some of the corals are stuck to the rock so I might have to think of something else thanks all the same for the advice

[@FishOfHex]

You can always use a hammer or dremel to remove the coral growing on the rock. If you have to you can always setup a frag rack in that tank for the corals while you replace the rock. The sand will cover the filtration and populate the new rock with bacteria. I would half on feeding the tank for a few days after adding the new rock. Let me know what you do and best of luck.

[@davidwinckley824]

How many clean up crews would you put in a 25 gallon tank. ?

[@michaelk8289]

David Winckley The rule is 1 member of the clean up crew per gallon since you have a 25 gallon then 25 members of the clean up crew. You should have half of each so 12 or 13 snails and 12 or 13 hermit crabs. You can add one serpent star but you need a really small one

[@michaelokrepky4542]

WOLYO 12 I definitely would not do that that is a lot I would do 1 snail for every 2 gallons and a hermit for every 3 or 4 gallons

[@jaredc5789]

I have a 30 gallon and I added 4 hermits and they ate each other except for one that is really massive. I just recently added 4 banded trochus snails they are doing a great job and my hermit leaves them alone probably because he's so big. If you get hermits I would suggest getting shells of different sizes. I put in three giant shells thinking there's no way he's going to get that big... he's now in one that's about 3 1/2 inches long so take that into consideration. I might have to get rid of him because I think he's kinda bothering my Coral with his giant shell haha.

[@nelsonaviles344]

Where you get that cool scraper

[@FishOfHex]

Ebay

[@johnmarkzimm]

Speaking of piss and shit. Some of the corals have mouths and eat like other animals... but I have never heard anyone mention their waste. Does it look like fish poop etc?

[@FishOfHex]

I have never looked into what coral shit looks like haha but i do know they produce waste as with everything else living in the tank. How much waste im not sure.

[@paultepes2775]

Rotting snail is the worst thing you will ever smell.

[@FishOfHex]

Yea its nasty