Zepplin
Premium Member
Thanks! It was a lot of planning to get all that equipment stuffed in there.
You don't want any animals that are going to really dig up your sand bed with a DSB, so no digging gobies or an eel for example. You want nassarius and cerith snails, little starfish, tube worms, critters like that are good. Basically the goal is to have enough critters running around in the sand that they naturally process a lot of the nutrient that ends up in it, plus they slowly sift the sand. Think BBQ not grilling - You don't want massive fast changes, just slow and small - Low and slow, not hot and fast. I should trademark that... DSBs - The BBQ of Reef Aquariums.
My guess is once we have further established the tank and have fish eating/pooping, we'll probably end up with 100+ snails just in the sand bed. Then every year or so we'll probably buy another 10-20 to help keep it stocked up.
If you've done it right, when you put food in the tank, not only should your fish get all excited, but your sand bed should come alive with snails and critters running around trying to get in on the action.
