Clean up Crew Essentials?

[FishyReef]

Hi everyone! I'm getting ready to replace/restock my CUC in my 90g and add a CUC to my 42g. When I first stocked my 90g I went with a CUC from LA that consisted of about 6 different varieties of algae eating snails, nassarius snails, and a few urchins (2 of which I eventually traded in.... many of you remember my rogue urchin who ended up in jail!). Since then I've also added 2 brittlestars, and have tried but lost a few other inverts over time - lettuce nudibranch, turbo snails, emerald crabs, conches. Now I'm looking at Reefcleaners (I know they have a great reputation), and they have several types of smaller snails on their site that sound great but I don't know how necessary they are. I'm also thinking of getting one of the non-toxic cucumbers from LA. So I guess I'm just curious what critters other people think are an essential part of their clean-up crew? Any particular type of snails or urchins or crabs that you would never go without?

 

[chichimom79]

I love my brittlestars and cerith snails. I haven't had good luck with emerald crabs for some reason.

 

[Shep]

I have had pretty good luck with emerald crabs, they are great at eating leftovers. They have in the past snapped at some of my fish when they were sick/on the way to the great reef beyond.

 

[reefnoob]

My favorites are the dwarf cerith, cerith, nerites, and aestrea snails. I'm not a huge fan of nassarius as they are too small for my sand. I feel like a sandsifting goby does a better job.