All Spring Cleaning Helpers

Nature is amazing - If you want a clean tank without hours of cleaning - employ the professionals!!

Got Crabs?? You can reduce algae and waste by just keeping the number of crabs in your tank at the optimal level. What is the right amount? 1 crab per gallon!!

• 100 gallons Tank = 75 Blue Legs, 20 red legs, 5 emerald crabs - give some variation by using white legs, brown legs and scarletts also!!

Snails - they eat more than just algae!! When you think of snails you may forget that not all snails eat algae - Nassarius Vibex are the Queen Gems - they eat the YUCK that causes nitrates which feed the algae. So if you want less algae you MUST reduce the nitrates first.

• Nassarius can be kept at 1-2 snails per gallon. They eat left over food, dead stuff, waste from other animals - lots of yucky stuff- NATURALLY!

Algae Eating Snails

• Cerith Snails and Xlg Cerith Snails are great at cleaning brown and green algae from the rocks and glass - adding them at 5% of water volume is generally advised.
• Turbo and Astrea Snails are fantastic green algae cleaners focused on the smooth surfaces like tank walls - adding them at 5% of water volume is generally advised.
• Nerite Snails are also fantastic at cleaning brown and green algae from the rocks and glass - adding them at 5% of water volume is generally advised.

Shrimp - a fantastic addition to any calm tank - not recommnded for tanks where aggressive fish are housed!!

• Peppermint Shrimp - known to eat aiptasia (nuisance anemone) as well as left over food - can be kept 2 per 20 gallons.
• Cleaner Shrimp - acts as the scrub brush and tooth brush for the fish - kept safely at 1 shrimp per 20 gallons.
• Feeder Shrimp / Ghost marine Shrimp - can be used as live food however these shrimp are also fantastic cleaners!! Can safely be kept at 4-5 per 20 gallons.

Starfish - the natural janitors! Starfish are also great cleaners because they spend most of the day hours hiding among the live rock - but they keep the hard to reach areas clean and void of debris.

• One Brittle or Serpent Starfish is recommended per 20 gallons.

• One Sand Sifting Starfish per 50 gallons - Tanks under 50 gallons should not employ these types of stars - they require more nutrients than the tank can provide to maintain these animals at an optimal level.