a bunch of detritus

[eagleONE]

I need some help. I need something to clean the detritus in my sand bed. I have tons of tonga nassarius snails as well as the smaller ones and they can't keep up with it.

I don't want to add any hermits... In my experience, they ended up eating up all the snails.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[demonsp]

Hermits do nothing for algea.
Tanks age?
Water source?
Whats used for flow?
All stock?

 

[sk8ergolie31]

diamond goby.. get a screen top to put above your tank so it doesn't jump out. previously i've had 2 jump out through egg crate in my tank but are notorious sand bed cleaners.
try at it!

 

[black_majik]

Same here I have a foxface who unloads turd tumbleweeds that seem to never make it in my filter and also my foxface enjoys parking 1" on the sand when he is doing "buisiness" so it is an odd situation.

 

[styndall]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12286847#post12286847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by demonsp
Hermits do nothing for algea.
Tanks age?
Water source?
Whats used for flow?
All stock?

Do you even read the posts you reply to? This isn't a question about algae.

OP: if you don't want to add any hermits, consider altering your flow patterns. If you hit the sand bad a little more strongly, you may blow most of the detritus into your water column to be skimmed out.

 

[sk8ergolie31]

ive seen my diamond goby eat "turd tumbleweeds" before!
like i said, get a screen to put on top of your tank and you'll be set.

 

[Froggy]

Bristle tooth tangs like Koles and Chevrons feed on detritus a lot. My Kole does a good job of this. As a bonus he is a poop eater also (including his own).

black_majik, it is funny you mention that about your Foxface. Mine does the same. Luckily, my Kole follows the Foxface and gobbles up his business as soon as he does it.

 

[eagleONE]

Thanks for the input. Currently I have two modded 6025 on the back wall pointing towards the the front. The sand bed does get tossed around quite a bit but there are just a few dead spots.

I thought about getting a serpent star but I'm a little disturbed by them.


Any more inputs would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[black_majik]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12287380#post12287380 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Froggy


black_majik, it is funny you mention that about your Foxface. Mine does the same. Luckily, my Kole follows the Foxface and gobbles up his business as soon as he does it.

Yeah, unfortunately my foxface doesn't have a turd burglar who cleans up. No, I have the curious clown who gets enthusiastic about a strange array of green, brown and the little sand and attempts to eat it until he figures out that it is poop. So then my 1,0079327593,2394 sand bristleworms go ahead and break it down over a century time period. Thanks to his pooping though, my sand bed is extremely "live" I mean every 4 sq inches is a whole hitchhiker I.D. site worth.

 

[eagleONE]

^

 

[boxfishpooalot]

what about a sea cucumber? I dont know much about them but they do eat sand then poo it out clean.

 

[black_majik]

It could be risky with them.

 

[eagleONE]

I hear cucumbers are real good but I dont want to take that chance where they all of sudden POOF and spill all their stuff into the tank


I wish I could add a tang but my tank is too small.

Perhaps I need a smaller fish that eats poo?

 

[tpenn187]

i have a black sea cucumber in my tank, 24 hrs and no poo anywhere. i love it

 

[black_majik]

Yes and what if it dies.

 

[mikesommers]

Im using a Blue Star and a Sand Star. They seem to be doing a great job. The Blue Star dosnt clean the sand very well but is doing great with the rock, very gental creature. The Sand Star does great with the sand. He is a little tiller!

Dont know if this helps or not but I figured I would try!

Good Luck!

 

[Mappelbaum37]

I second mikesommers. I had a diamond goby and it was awesome. Ate the sand but I can only assume he starved due to him being MIA for the past 2 months. I covered up his cave with sand bec. he has 4 diff. escape routes and nothing has changed. Poor guy.

But back to what mikesommers said, my sandsifting sea star does a 2x better job then my goby did. My star is awesome. He's constantly moving around and always keep his share of the sand clean and detritus/algae free. I want another for my tank but none of the LFS' can seem to get them in.

 

[black_majik]

Sand star huh? I'll give one a try

 

[Froggy]

Most cucumbers will not nuke the tank if they die. Tiger tail cucumbers are good at sand maintenance and will not poison the tank upon death. The filter feeding cucumbers and sea apples are the ones to avoid.

 

[TCU Reefer]

Tube, mouth, trash can. What's wrong with manual removal?