Dirty sandbed

[InvaderJim]

My 10g has been up for almost 3 months and lately I've noticed the sand bed getting real dirty. I can see piles of detritus in some spots in the tank and it looks really bad. I was wondering what I can get to cleanup the sand bed? The only inhabitants in the tank is a true percula, 4 astrea snails, and a couple small hermits.

 

[FUA]

I have a ten gallon as well. I just added a brittle star to take care of detritus and stir the sand bed. They don't come out much during the day, but they benefit the tank. Go to www.ipsf.com and check out some of their live bed inhabitants. I am planning on buying from them.

andrew

 

[Jasonf08]

you can also pick up a bunch of nassarius snails. They will burry themselves in the sand & clear out alot of waste i have 17 in my 29 gallon & could use another 10 or so.

 

[mobert]

I've been siphoning my sand bed to clean up my 29 gallon. Nassarius snails are good and I should get some more and brittle stars are really cool looking but I've had problems with brittle stars though when they get big. (like 24" tip to tip) Brittle stars can catch and eat small fishes. I had thee in my big tank (240 gallon) and healthy small fishes would disappear in the night.

 

[Jasonf08]

I was just thinking.... Hows your flow? I had problems with a really dirty sandbed in my old 12 gallon eclipse & as soon as i added a powerhead it cleared alot of it up. Then the nassarius snails had a chance to catch up on the waste.

 

[Trip 22]

I got a small fighting conch and a bunch of nassarius snails...problem solved.

 

[SugarFox03]

Would a queen conch work also? My LFS has some for sale, and I was thinking of picking one up, they are pretty neat looking critters.

 

[chujai]

i heard some cucumbers or sand sifting stars can help too... correct me if im wrong...

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

queen conch will get massive...likely not a good long tern idea for your 24 gallon...mind you i am not sure how fast they grow...so you could be okay for a while, and just sell him when he gets too big..

my LFS has no conch or black brittle stars ( i was told to stay well enough away from the green and orange ones, notorious for catchig and eating small fish..)

i too need a detrivor in my tank aswell...12 narsarrius snails arent keeping up with the one turbo snail..man he can poop..

 

[InvaderJim]

The only flow I have is from a Aqua clear 300.

I was thinking about adding some nassarius snails but I would have to order them online. Where can I get some of those tiny brittle stars? That wont get huge?

 

[Illuminati]

Dude your in FL, check out www.sealifeflorida.com, also in FL, cheap shipping, select ground and it should be there next day. Look under the Nano Livestock.

 

[InvaderJim]

Oh man I completely forgot about that site. I'm going to order some of those Spiny Brittle Stars and some Ricordia.

 

[Illuminati]

Shoot, bad link, here's a link that works

http://www.sealifeinc.net/catalog/index.php

I got some of the best looking Ricordia from Ken. Also got some nice orange gorgs from him, easy to keep.

 

[Purple Penguins]

Cerith snails and Sandsifting sea star would really help, i have both and have had no problems with detritus

 

[InvaderJim]

Sand sifiting starts get huge though don't they? My friend has some he collected from the beach and they are getting huge.

 

[FLricordia]

All I have in mine is a pistol shrimp and goby for sand maintainance. The pistol keeps it churned up and any detritus is blended into the sand bed and taken care of by the bacteria load. Sand has stayed clean since set-up last Aug.

 

[schnell76]

Yeah, order from Ken @ Sealifeflorida, especially if you live in FL as you do. My most recent order from him he shipped fedex ground and it was at my doorstep withing 48 hours and it only cost 10 bucks to ship. Everything survived A-Okay. All you have to do is email Ken and ask him for a shipping discount and he will credit you the difference back after your order is placed.

 

[InvaderJim]

I was thinking about getting a goby, but I want to add another clown...and three fish in a 10g is asking for trouble.

I may be ordering from Sealifeflorida...still debating options.