best sand sifting creature

[AJSTITAN14]

respected scientists who participate in the hobby recommend between 200-500g tank for a Sand Sifting Star. These animals basically eat everything in the sand wholesale. Any time you see a sand sifting star on the walls or rocks it is looking for food. It can take them about 18 months to starve to death. These 2 facts in combination lead the ignorant to make statements like:

"...loved our sand sifting star, he was so active and interesting to watch until he died after a year and a half."

I don't think your statements about the tank compensating for the loss of organisms is correct. The comments I have read by respected names are characterized by an amazement at how thoroughly sand sifting stars eat the life in sand beds. Providing safe areas that the star cannot access is a good idea in theory but in small tanks it's not going to compensate for the voracious appetite of a SS Star leaving you with the worst of two worlds:
A star slowly starving to death and a poorly functioning sand bed.

 

[Jewells]

Here is an interesting link I found on starfish. (Found a new hitchhiker) little mini star.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/ac/feature/index.php

 

[ClamsOnDemand]

Nassuras snails, sand sifting stars, gobies are all great but I would say the best creature to keep your sand turning is a Horseshoe Crab. They are great and they buldoze the sand more than any other Invertibrate.

 

[Danley]

Can't horeshoe crabs become a problem due to them being able to grow to such a large size, I think this is another creature for anlarger tank, but maybe keeping him I'm your sand until he becomes larger would be a good idea, just make sure he has a place to go once he outgrows your tank, because once they reach a certain size thell start yopplig things

 

[Grant W]

Nassarius snails and sea cucumber work well in my 125g

 

[EasyEd77]

Would a combination of conch, cerith, and nausaurius snails live in harmony with each other? I am about to place an order with Reefs2go.com

 

[Jewells]

Would a combination of conch, cerith, and nausaurius snails live in harmony with each other? I am about to place an order with Reefs2go.com

You may want to read up on the conch, I was under the impression they were aggressive snails.

 

[Dave71]

First - there have been a lot of posts providing sand stirrers vs sand sifters.

So I am not sure which you want.

For Sand Stirring - I love my Tiger Sand Conch and to some extent my nassarius snails.

Personally I would never get a sand sifting star or a horshoe crab. Crab as already stated can get huge, and star can destroy a healthy sand bed.

I know plenty of people who like cucumbers as sand sifters, but species will matter here. There are always rumors about the dreaded "cuc nuke", but not many that I know have actually experienced it. (species specific)

gobies can throw a lot of sand around the tank, so other inhabitants can become irritated e.g. corals

 

[240z]

these all sound like great feedbacks!

 

[ClamsOnDemand]

I agree that cucumbers are good sifters but the thing I dont like about them is they leave behind sand poop! haha. Looks like little pellets of sand.