Where to get a cleaner crew?

[Greg E.]

I'm looking for a cleaner crew for my new tank (I got it used, and there's a
lot of hair algae, some cyano, and a little green slime, but not TOO bad.)

I'm concerned about cost, reliability of delivery, and quality of the
merchandise. Any suggestions? Anecdotes? Experience?

I've been focussing on Garf, reeftopia, sal****erfish.com and marinedepot,
but I'm open to other suggestions.

-Greg

[kim gross]

Greg E. wrote:
> I'm looking for a cleaner crew for my new tank (I got it used, and there's a
> lot of hair algae, some cyano, and a little green slime, but not TOO bad.)
>
> I'm concerned about cost, reliability of delivery, and quality of the
> merchandise. Any suggestions? Anecdotes? Experience?
>
> I've been focussing on Garf, reeftopia, sal****erfish.com and marinedepot,
> but I'm open to other suggestions.
>
> -Greg
>
>
To be honest before I worried alot about getting a cleaner crew I would
work on your water quality, normally lots of hair algea, cyano and green
slime are all signs of very low water quality.

Also before I went with mail order I would check your local fish stores
unless you order quite a bit the shipping costs will eat up all of the
savings over your local store.

If you must order online, of the ones you have listed they all of lots
of good customer reviews and a few upset customers so you should get
good service from all of them.

Kim Gross
www.jensalt.com

[Greg E.]

The water quality seems ok. I bought an established tank (used) and it had
gone way downhill before I got it. I recured the live rock for a number of
weeks, and replaced all the water. The corraline is becoming reestablished,
and I'm interested in finding a crew to eat the remnants of the dying hair
algae (which has greened up a little with the lights) and the other algaes
before they reintroduce phosphates, etc into the tank. I've got zero
nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, high calcium, reasonable carbonate hardness, no
detectable phosphate, very little iron, and I have very stable salinity
(1.0235). The PH is about 8.4, which is higher than I'd like, but not too
bad. It's been stable for over a month since I saw it cycle (very soft
cycle).




"kim gross" > wrote in message
...
> Greg E. wrote:
> > I'm looking for a cleaner crew for my new tank (I got it used, and
there's a
> > lot of hair algae, some cyano, and a little green slime, but not TOO
bad.)
> >
> > I'm concerned about cost, reliability of delivery, and quality of the
> > merchandise. Any suggestions? Anecdotes? Experience?
> >
> > I've been focussing on Garf, reeftopia, sal****erfish.com and
marinedepot,
> > but I'm open to other suggestions.
> >
> > -Greg
> >
> >
> To be honest before I worried alot about getting a cleaner crew I would
> work on your water quality, normally lots of hair algea, cyano and green
> slime are all signs of very low water quality.
>
> Also before I went with mail order I would check your local fish stores
> unless you order quite a bit the shipping costs will eat up all of the
> savings over your local store.
>
> If you must order online, of the ones you have listed they all of lots
> of good customer reviews and a few upset customers so you should get
> good service from all of them.
>
> Kim Gross
> www.jensalt.com

[Kelsey Cummings]

Greg E. wrote:
> I'm looking for a cleaner crew for my new tank (I got it used, and there's a
> lot of hair algae, some cyano, and a little green slime, but not TOO bad.)
>
> I'm concerned about cost, reliability of delivery, and quality of the
> merchandise. Any suggestions? Anecdotes? Experience?
>
> I've been focussing on Garf, reeftopia, sal****erfish.com and marinedepot,
> but I'm open to other suggestions.

I ordered a small one from Garf along with some grunge and was perfectly
happy with it. They provided a few different kinds of snails and
hermits. Around here it was cheaper than buying at the LFSs - which
don't have a good variety anyway.

-K

[George Patterson]

Greg E. wrote:
> I'm looking for a cleaner crew for my new tank (I got it used, and there's a
> lot of hair algae, some cyano, and a little green slime, but not TOO bad.)
>
> I'm concerned about cost, reliability of delivery, and quality of the
> merchandise. Any suggestions? Anecdotes? Experience?

I bought mine from http://www.marinedepotlive.com -- click on the "Tank Cleaner
Packages" link. I checked out their packages, and then bought a variety of
critters that totalled up to about the same number of animals as one of their
packages. I'm pleased with the performance and appetite of the blue-legged and
red-tipped hermit crabs. I would recommend against the scarlet crabs -- they
seem to have canibalistic tendencies. I also bought several types of snails --
the Astreas seem to do the best job. I also got a conch and we have fun every
day trying to find it.

Shipping was FedEx and cost a bit over $40. They have an "arrive-alive" 5-day
guarantee. I was pleased with the service and prices.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

[Peter Pan]

I bought mine at a local LF store. Depending on the size of your tank, the
larger, ther more you will need..you will probably need some Red and Blue
leg hermit crabs, turbo snails and a couple of emerald crabs to get started.
You will probably want to pick up some sand shifters as welll..Here's a link
so you can get an idea of what you will need for your specifc problem. Good
Luck
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=420


"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:7nfce.9487$WX.5285@trndny01...
> Greg E. wrote:
>> I'm looking for a cleaner crew for my new tank (I got it used, and
>> there's a
>> lot of hair algae, some cyano, and a little green slime, but not TOO
>> bad.)
>>
>> I'm concerned about cost, reliability of delivery, and quality of the
>> merchandise. Any suggestions? Anecdotes? Experience?
>
> I bought mine from http://www.marinedepotlive.com -- click on the "Tank
> Cleaner Packages" link. I checked out their packages, and then bought a
> variety of critters that totalled up to about the same number of animals
> as one of their packages. I'm pleased with the performance and appetite of
> the blue-legged and red-tipped hermit crabs. I would recommend against the
> scarlet crabs -- they seem to have canibalistic tendencies. I also bought
> several types of snails --
> the Astreas seem to do the best job. I also got a conch and we have fun
> every day trying to find it.
>
> Shipping was FedEx and cost a bit over $40. They have an "arrive-alive"
> 5-day guarantee. I was pleased with the service and prices.
>
> George Patterson
> There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
> mashed potatoes.

[George Patterson]

Peter Pan wrote:
> I bought mine at a local LF store. Depending on the size of your tank, the
> larger, ther more you will need..

Yes, if you have a small tank and your LFS has or can get the stuff you need,
it's best to get it there. In my case, I got my blueleg hermits from my LFS, but
they couldn't easily get a few of the other items I wanted, and it wound up
cheaper to just order the rest. The difference in price on the scarlet hermits
alone more than paid for the shipping.

George Patterson
There's plenty of room for all of God's creatures. Right next to the
mashed potatoes.

[CheezWiz]

Etropicals.com has a good deal on a Build Your Own package.
Order $60 of critters and get free shipping.
I spent that much on 4 red legs, 20 blue legs and a single shrimp at LFS,
could have gotten much more at Etropicals.

I have ordered inverts from them before with no problems.

CW

"Greg E." > wrote in message
...
> I'm looking for a cleaner crew for my new tank (I got it used, and there's
> a
> lot of hair algae, some cyano, and a little green slime, but not TOO bad.)
>
> I'm concerned about cost, reliability of delivery, and quality of the
> merchandise. Any suggestions? Anecdotes? Experience?
>
> I've been focussing on Garf, reeftopia, sal****erfish.com and marinedepot,
> but I'm open to other suggestions.
>
> -Greg
>
>