What marine animal will keep the glass and crushed coral substrate clean in my 55 gallon saltwater tank?
There’s a reason stores that sell saltwater offer *Cleaner Crews*. There are a lot of things that will help clean the tank, but not everything will clean totally. Algae and diatoms are your biggest eyesore, but there’s no 1 animal that will eat all kinds, so you get a variety so more types of algae are covered. Some starters are a variety of snails [see the articles in the box at the bottom for which are best and which not to get], red leg hermit crabs, blue leg hermit crabs, peppermint shrimp [really good if you have Aiptasia anemones too], and a brittle starfish. But everybody has their own ideas of what works best, and a lot is dictated by what else you’re keeping in the tank. If your live rock is large pieces that can’t be upset easily, and you don’t mind the white streaks they leave as they eat the purple coraline algae, a small urchin can be added, but you don’t want 1 that will get over 2 inches.
