clean sandbed

[Frogmanx82]

A mild sand sifter like a hectors or rainford goby is another option. Nassarius snails are a must for a sand bed and I find them to be very hardy. I only have 5 in in 90 and they are the 5 I bought about a year ago. Plus they are one of the few snails that are fun to watch as they rise from the sand at feeding time. they go toe to toe with my hermits over algae wafers. Speaking of which, the much maligned hermit crab is another help for cleaning sand beds as they comb over the surface in search of food. I find the red legs and scarletts to be the most reef safe. They obviously have left the nassarius snails alone and I have astrea and trochus snails for about a year as well.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I just use a gravel vac during each weekly water change -- I have shallow (( around 2" )) sandbeds in each of my tanks. I tried diamond gobies in the past, did great for the first 6-9 months, and then just started to waste away -- even if eating prepared foods.

 

[scubasteve06]

I'm in a similar situation. My sand bed(in my 5 month old system) is coved in brown and purple algea. If I sift it myself it looks worse with the algae covered sand peppering the clean sand.

I read and article on sand sifting gobies and how they turn your live sand bed into a dead sand bed. Putting them in an aquarium is altogether detrimental to the system and the goby.

Do fighting counches and sand sifting stars also remove beneficial organisms? I imagine most tank inhabitants remove some beneficial organisms, but not to the extent of damaging the system.

I've heard that brittle stars, sand sifting stars and conchs, end up doing the same things as gobies. It's one of those can't live with them can't live without them situations.

 

[twelvejewelz]

I have nassarius snails, a shrimp and goby, some cerith snails, and alot of flow and my sand stays pearly white . good luck!

 

[thereeftank]

Do all diamond gobies jump? I really haven't seen mine go any higher then a few inches of the sandbed.

 

[TripleT]

Do all diamond gobies jump? I really haven't seen mine go any higher then a few inches of the sandbed.

If yours doesn't jump, it's the exception.

If your tank isn't covered, it's very likely just a matter of time before you find him on the floor.

I never saw mine jump, but I found him in my overflow several mornings. So I'm guessing nighttime is when most of these fish escape tanks.

I suspect other fish looking to hide in the same sleeping spot, or bristleworms as the culprits.

The anecdotal evidence on forums is pretty overwhelming. So if you have one of these gobies, cover your tank ASAP!

 

[mallorieGgator]

I have a semi shallow sandbed, probably 2.5-3 inches and I do have ~75# of LR in the tank which should help with filtration if I do decide to get a sandsifter. I think I'll start with a few hermits and nassarius first and if that doesn't work, go for the conch or goby. I'd prefer the conch to the goby. My sandbed just is so crappy looking all yellowish with random pieces of macro sticking out willy nilly, rocks all strewn about, and just overall looks like a hurricane blew through it. So, is a goby ok with a fine sand?

 

[ezhoops]

again, any beneficial sandbed inhabitants will be eaten. if your ok with that then go for it.

 

[Shmax]

I don't have any of the "solutions" posted or recommended here, but my sandbed looks clean as a whistle. Every couple months, I turn my lights off for 3 days. I started doing this to get rid of dinoflagellates, and a small patch of cyano. The corals responded so well to it that I have made it part of my routine. Not to mention, the sand is pearly white for weeks afterward also. My .02

 

[scubasteve06]

^ The same thing will happen with a conch or sand sifting star. They are both sand sifters. What makes you think that one won't eat what the other one does if they are both sand sifters?

 

[SushiGirl]

I had 2 Diamond Watchman gobies & neither of them carpet surfed.

 

[rivoth]

^ The same thing will happen with a conch or sand sifting star. They are both sand sifters. What makes you think that one won't eat what the other one does if they are both sand sifters?

The diets of the sand sifting critters has been pretty well studied. Gobies and sand sifting stars eat the live critters in the sand. Conches eat detris, diatoms and decaying plant matter. Sea Cucumbers eat detris and bacteria and are probaby the most beneficial and effective answer to wanting a clean sand bed since they eat Cyano. The downside is that sand sifting cucumbers tend to grow to a foot in length. There are some reports of smaller sand cucumbers, but no reliable source or identification for them has ever appeared.

 

[Stuart60611]

I have a very simple solution for a clean sandbed. Have a sandbed about 1/4 to 1/8 of inch deep and no deeper. I have an extremely heavily stocked fowlr without a single invert or sandsifting fish. I feed a massive amount of food each day and have lots of food particles result. In over two years, I have yet to once vacume my sandbed. It is extremely clean. Without any depth, nothing settles into it. I also have a great deal of flow which keeps quite a bit of crap in the water column and not settled on this very shallow sandbed. With this approach you get alll the asthetic benefits of a sandbed without any of the difficulties in keeping it clean. I would never set up a tank any other way unless I had animals that needed a deeper sandbed. The only thing to keep in mind is if you go this route you do not want to go with a real fine grade of sand because you want to have a lot of flow. I use your typical reef grade argonite sand and have no blowing around issues.

 

[Toddrtrex]

keep it clean

Very helpful. Gee, you wouldn't be going for 50 posts now would you? :wavehand:

 

[mallorieGgator]

I got a conch today. He's just sitting in the sandbed with his goofy eyes poked out. There must be some good stuff in there because he's barely moved all day.

 

[sneakerpimp]

My sand bed is covered in grey diatom skeletons since my nitrates dropped. I have come to the conclusion that a gravel siphon once in a while is the best way to have a nice white sand bed.

 

[Donnie2112]

I'm no scientist, and I am not that experienced with this whole reef thing. However, I've had two tanks now both of which had diamond head gobies in it and after observing them and observing the tanks I find it highly unlikely that they "kill" the sand bed. The reason I say this is that the sand beds of both my previous aquarium and my current aquarium contained a lot of worms and and little critters, additionally when I watch the little bugger eat there are very large grains of sand that go through his mouth and come out below his gills, it seems unlikely to me that the filter in that fishes gills is efficient enough to completely clean out the sand that he's sifting through. Maybe it's because my gobies have been small, and I most certainly could be wrong but it just seems a bit unlikely to me.

 

[allsps40]

Back when I had a deeper 3-4 inch sand bed I had a conch they do a great job, some type of sand sifting goby, several hermit crabs and snails of all sorts.

 

[reefWW96]

I used to have diatoms and red slime taking over my sand bed. I bought a SMALL sand sifting star, and a sand sifting cucumber. I would never start a tank with out either one again, they work wonders.

 

[::PixelFish::]

Sand sifting stars all end up dying from lack of food. That's why I like my Orange spotted diamond goby so much. He sand sifts and eats the food I feed my other fish. He can be a pain in the butt when he decides to build himself a castle using anything he can find to build it with like feather dusters, coral frags, small rocks.. but he is very entertaining.

My cats only love watching the diamond goby and paw at the glass when comes up to them. They don't care about the tangs or anthias swimming right in their faces begging for food. They actually move their heads to look around the tangs to spot the goby. It's really weird. My tank is covered by clear plastic netting so no fish has the chance to jump.