Detritus removal

[jgb23]

I have come to the conclusion that I have the ugliest sand bed in the world!! Its covered in what I believe is detritus. I used sand sifting stars at first, but I took them back once I heard that such starfish can wipe out a DSB(which I have). I have tried snails and crabs with no luck. What are my options? I do have a DSB in my refugium. With that said, can I put a sand sifter in my tank without it wiping out all of the good fauna in the tank? also, I noticed buildup in the rocks as well, what is good for that?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Ironman]

What helps my sand bed are the strawberry conches and my black cucumber.

Cheers

 

[RichConley]

Flow.

 

[jgb23]

RichConley: By flow do you mean from tank to sump and sump to tank or flow of circulation in the tank via powerheads? Or is it both?

Ironman: Cant cucumbers expell their guts and poison a tank? What is the odds of that happening?

Thanks,

 

[Ironman]

I can't speak for others but I've never had a problem with my black cucumber. I think that sea apples can do what you mentioned.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8267598#post8267598 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jgb23
RichConley: By flow do you mean from tank to sump and sump to tank or flow of circulation in the tank via powerheads? Or is it both?

Ironman: Cant cucumbers expell their guts and poison a tank? What is the odds of that happening?

Thanks,

Mostly in tank circulation. You're having lots of crap settle in your sand because you dont have enough water movement.

Do you have a skimmer?

 

[mthedude]

Mine has looked the best when I have some fighting conchs, nassarious snails, and cerith snails. I have heard good things about cukes and they won't nuke your tank if you have enough volume and keep some carbon on hand just in case. Besides that, blast your rocks w/a turkey baster every other day or so and skim like crazy. My sand is too fine to point a powerhead at it so you kind of have to find a happy medium w/flow and blasting your crap out of your sand. I like the animals to keep the sand clean, that's thier job and you shouldn't have to do too much in the form of human interruption to get your sand clean.

 

[jgb23]

My tank is 75g. I do run a skimmer and a sump with a refugium. will sand sifting stars doing anything? my lfs keeps raving about them and that they will do the job. I am just worried that they will wipe out my DSB. As far as tank circulation, I have a rio800 for circulation right to left and my sump return from left to right. I am more than willing to try different things with circulation. any thoughts on this? More powerheads, stronger, different circ patterns, etc?

 

[xbambamx]

I have a 75g tank also, and i have one sandsifting star, one horse shoe crab and 30 nassarius snails, and abot 20 blue leg hermits, my tank does great as for the sandbed. Good luck man!

 

[mthedude]

The sand sifting star does work great but the reason it does great is because it turns over the sand in your tank to look for pods and other critters to eat. In doing this is depletes your DSB's capacity to "clean iteself" of fish waste, leftover food, etc. You need those inhabitants alive for your DSB to last a long time and stay healthy.

I would say you need more flow in your tank. Try 3 powerheads all pointing to the center. Place them about 1/2 way down or farther down the tank wall so it pulls water from the bottom and shoots it toward your overflow. Get a good cleanup crew w/this and your DSB should be fine long term.

 

[Ironman]

The sand sifting star could destroy your DSB.

I believe flow is everything in a tank. I have 50X flow and I find that the detritus just get's kicked up from the flow. As mentioned, the only critters I have to clean the sand bed are the two strawberry conches and one black cucumber. My sand bed is very clean.

 

[DrBegalke]

Nass. snails and a sand sifter goby. I would recommend a fuge if you go with the goby approach.

 

[jgb23]

I have a 15 gallon fuge with a dsb in it as well. I dont know if that would give me enough fauna to fight off the Nitrates and such in the big tank.
I had a sand sifting goby (diamond goby?) and he disappeared. Not sure if he jumped out of the tank, burried himself under a rock, or died and became crab food. He was like 5 inches long and was doing really good. Go figure.
So maybe a combined approach of a good cleanup crew and flow. How strong of powerheads should I get? I assume that if you a current to strong it would be like the ocean during a hurricane and the animals may or may not like that long term.

 

[mthedude]

just get a MJ1200 and mod it, 2000gph in a conical patern flow should do very well to help w/your problems.

 

[mike89t]

I have a bunch of Spaghetti Worms all throughout my Sand bed that help.

Nassarius snails eat any meaty foods that make it to the sand bed.

Cerith Snails eat detritus on the Sand bed.

I've got a Tiger Tail Cucumber that eats vegetable matter that ends up on the sand bed.

 

[Dirtbikerider98]

Flow! I had the exact same problem with stuff building up on the rocks and sand and I just added a 1200 gph power head to my 55 gal and now my rocks and sand stay a lot cleaner!

 

[ellio]

I third the Diamond Goby. He'll spend his entire time sifting the top layer of your sand and your sand will look like new.

 

[jgb23]

I had a 5-6 inch diamond goby and he dissappeared in 10 hours! Not sure if he jumped out of the tank and my dog ate him or if he is decomposing under a rock. Amonnia has not spiked. Who knows. 20 bucks down the drain, or dogs stomach!

 

[frederickk]

I had the same adventure with them. Mine did dissappeared after a few minutes. One day I was coming close to the tank to notice a shadow in the corner of my eyes. It was the diamond goby. That was 7 weeks after I've put him in there. Never saw him since and it's been at least a month now.

 

[chocolates mom]

I think I had the ugliest substrate going, - conchs worked wonders