critters to stir dsb

jkeim1974

New member
I have a 5" dsb in my 75 gallon tank I will be adding 100 pounds of live rock this week. Just wanted to do some advanced research on what are the best critters to use for stirring upper layer of sand and how many I would need for this. Also what other clean up crew critters should I have and how many.
 
I'm mostly just bumping this so others with more knowledge can respond. But, I would suggest that nassirus snails and conchs stir the sand and are safe. Just make sure the nassirus are REALLY nassirus and not a whelk or some other non-reef safe look alike.

There are other more exotic critters that are more visible, such as sea cucumbers and sea apples. The draw back with these is that some varieties can produce very toxic wastes when they die or get upset.

For the most part, I have had good luck with the "natural" wildlife that came with the bag of live sand I used to seed my deep sand bed. Give it time and those critters will spread on their own. Just make sure you don't add something that will wipe them out, like some varieties of starfish or sand dollars.

Hopefully others will offer better suggestions.
 
i use nessarius snails, several different kinda of conchs, cucumber, cherry clams, cerith snails and a few other small things. but without a doubt the most benificial cleaner of my sand bed is the cucumber and the nessarius snails. the cherry clams also do a great job and are super cheap. pick them up at your local fish market or grocery store, just make sure they are alive and wet when you get them. then put them in seperate conatainers and let them acclimate for awhile and soon they will start to open up. once they have opened empty the water and replace with new tank water for about 15-30 min or so then drop them in your tank. real cheap and a great addition to any reef tank with a deep sand bed!
 
oh yea and you can get nessarius snails on ebay for super cheap!! for a 70g tank i would recomend about 40 or so. sounds like a lot but believe me it isnt and you wont see them all till feeding time.
 
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