Let's talk about cleaning crews

[albert_dao]

*fanfare please*

... Anyway, Matt, your best bet is to probably just grab yourself an emerald crab or two. As far as traditional cleaners goes, I'd skimp on stocking them unless you really had an overblown diatom problem. I'm going to recommend what I tell all the other new reefer-heads starting out, "add 4-6 Trochus or Cerith snails, you can always get more later if you feel you need them." Most people don't get more.

But yeah, for people who keep a shallow sand bed at the bottom of their tanks, I suspect the same principles apply. You could probably skimp on regular crabs and snails and instead opt for more effective detrivores such as small conches, certain brittle stars and possibly a tiger tail (assuming your bed has enough surface area to support one). All that aside, none of these guys have anything on a gravel vac used weekly. Go ahead, try it, take a gravel vac to your sand for five minutes. $10 says it will put your cucumbers to shame