24 gal. Aquapod sand sifter

[LaFishLover]

What would be the best sand sifter for my 24 gallon Aquapod. I have about 18 lbs of live rock so as you see most of my sand is covered except for the two sides, my front and the two caves I made with my live rock.

 

[hgbarwick]

A dimond goby is a really godd sifter. I had one in my 90 gallon once.

 

[midknight]

Depends on if you want to see them or not. There are all kinds that burrow and only surface every so often like the sandshifting Starfish, and then the type that just shift the top like the goldenheaded goby. The burrowers make less of a mess IMO. I had a goby that would grab a mouth full of sand, swim up and spit it over everything around him. :frog:

 

[hgbarwick]

good i mean sorry

 

[hgbarwick]

I have a golden head goby in my 90 gallon. They are good sifters but they get to big for a 24 gallon.

 

[LaFishLover]

Would my tank be big enough for a sand sifting starfish?

 

[neverwouldof]

I have the diamond goby in my 24 aquapod... He takes my hermit crabs in his mouth and trys to build a house with them... he gets frustrated when they start moving away after he had them set just where he needed them. He does spit sand and once covered an entire mushroom rock i had. I'd stay away if you like your tank just as you aquascaped it. Or at least try and find a very small one.

 

[ncf3]

nassarius snails

 

[saltyESQ]

sand sifting stars will not only starve in a 24g tank, but they also kill your sand by eating all the stuff in your sand that makes it live!

 

[fijiblue]

I agree with bergamer. Best to do is Nassarius snails. They are meat eaters that burrow in the sand. A sandsifting goby will kill the levels in your sandbed which IMHO defeats the purpose of a sand bed in the first place.

 

[bowfront26]

For a tank this small and sand bed is not really necessary. I personally like my sand looking white and fresh. In my 12 g. nano cube i vaccum 75% of the sand out every other month or so. In this small of a tank the sand bed isn't going to help water quality like it would in a 100 + gallon tank. Instead it just allows the gunk to get trapped in the sand bed. give it a try

 

[LaFishLover]

Hey thanks for the info. I am new at this. How do you vaccume and do I vaccum just the sand I see with my eyes or do I remove all my live rock out of the tank?

 

[groovemcfly]

How many Nass snails in a 24g?

 

[fijiblue]

bowfront26 - How can you say the sand is not beneficial? It doesn't matter what size tank because it is all to scale. The bigger the tank, obviously the more sand. It doesn't mean a small tank shouldn't have a sandbed. You wouldn't pack a small tank with a big tanks bio load? Siphoning crap out of sand doesn't kill the biological on it. Sand is very much so an important part of a tank along with the liverock.

groovemcfly - in a 24 I would put 3-5 of the large Tonga Nassarius to start out.

 

[Amphiprion]

Unless you plan on feeding plenty of meaty foods, I would forego the Nassarius sp. snails. A much better sand sifter (and detritus eater, which Nassarius sp. do not eat) are the various Cerithid snails. They will also consume algae. The other good sifters include the many various worms.

 

[bowfront26]

im not saying "no sand bed" I just mean that you can go ahead and remove a majority of the sand and replace it with new sand, in an attempt to keep it looking prestine. In a larger reef you wouldn't want to do this because the new sand you add doesn't have all the beneficial bacteria and organisms in it. I'm just saying that in a "nano" size tank the sand is more for asthetics.

 

[kenny77]

in a small tank of 24g i will just put sand around the rock and siphon all the detritus as necessary and replace the sand siphoned. I know a guay that has a 800g tank and this is his method.