How do you seahorse keepers keep your sand beds so clean???

[Brock Fluharty]

I was just browsing through the pictures on here, and I see a lot of tanks, that have perfectly white, clean sand beds...it makes me jealous lol. Mine in my seahorse tank is covered in cyano, even though I feed lightly, do 10% water changes weekly, have a power filter with decent flow, ect. And in my reef, there is a lot of stuff that looks like dirt or something. It is detritus like stuff, and it blows all around when the current hits the sand. How do I stop this? Add more powerful skimmers? If I up the flow any more, it'll just blow all around, with my sand, because it is very fine grain sand. Alsmost like sugar. Any suggestions? My reef has a Skilter...and I hate it, it really sucks. Lol, thanks!

Brock

 

[whatnot45]

I had a skilter. They do suck A LOT! get rid of it its useless. I dumped mine and got an Aqua C remora. HUGE DIFFERENCE! as for your sand bed.... Beats me mine is like that too.

 

[whatnot45]

as for the cyano, it usually means that your tank dosnt have a good enough bio filter. Just siphon it up and it will eventually pass.

 

[RichConley]

more water movement, better skimmer.

While seahorses dont like a ton of flow, you can't let the water sit stagnant.

Also, the more macro in the tank, the better.

 

[hydroid]

The reason others' pics look so pristine is because the took the pic right after setting up the tank. You don't see many "year later" follow up pics with clean sand.

As far as the cyano (short term) ... turn the lights off for a few days. Long term: less light and better skimming, as already stated.

 

[CeaHorseMaShell]

there is an art to keeping your sand bed clean. First, if you have cyano, that is an indicator that something is off the the tank, usually the phosphates. Check your phosphates and see. If they are elevated that is probably the reason. You can use a kent phosphate sponge to pull it out of the water and add lots of macro to help eat the phosphates. Some tap water is strong with phosphate, check that too. If this is the case, water changes are feeding the problem, and you may want to deionize your water. Also incorrect lighting can host a welcome environment for cyano. I have never once siphoned either of my tanks. Instead I have about 150 nassarius snails in my 125 as well as 3 sand sifting stars. They keep the sand bed turned up nicely. If I ever see a spot of cyano in my tank it is usually right after a water change and I run a phosphate sponge imediatly. For those of you that have a serious cyano problem, use freshwater maracyn. It is completly reef safe. Just turn off the skimmer for 24 hours so it dosn't pull the meds out. This will kill the cyano and not affect your corals or inverts. In an ideal setting cyano is not an issue.

I would recommend also upgrading your skimmer. and if you have regular flourescent lights, try power compact. Good Luck

 

[Brock Fluharty]

I can'r put any type of snails, or hermits in my tank...

My seahorse tank isn't the usual kind. I keep H. capensis, which is a coldwater species. I have to keep the tank below 69*F (preferably). Every snail or hermit crab I have introduced has died. This tank is packed full with macros. I have red gracilaria, caulerpa prolifera, chaeto, suction cup caulerpa, ect. Should I get a skimmer for my seahorse tank? I saw that Drs. Foster and Smith have that new Fission Nano Skimmer. Doesn't give specifics, like what size tank it is for though.

The only thing that has stopped me from getting a better skimmer o my reef tank is the fact that it is a zoa/shroom tank, and they like "dirtier" water. Will an upgraded skimmer cause growth inhibitions?

Thanks!!!
Brock

 

[Qcks]

I have done a bit of reading on snails and such.... i think there is a way to get around the temperature issue.


Snails1
Snails2
Snails3

The above articles are very indepth about the various species of snails that are available within the aquarium business.

I serious suggest looking into finding some cold water species out of california; This area happens ot be where i hear the most about cold water snails being sold to tropical aquariums.

Not willing to comment on the zooantid question, but that's a good way to start a rather long and indepth arguement round here.

i think (notice i said think) the snail in question is commonly sold as the margarita snail, but i am not 100% on that. the answer will be in those one of those three articles.

...

plus it's good reading.

enjoy.

 

[Brock Fluharty]

Sorry, but your links aren't working.

 

[Fishfreak218]

margarita snails should work..

 

[pledosophy]

Aw Brock, my internet love seeking friend !

I use sand sifting gobies and naussarius snails to continually stir my sandbeds.

I have a feeling knowing your system that the prolifera might have grown so thick that it prohibits flow through much of the algae patches creating dead spots and leading to some of the problems you are having.

Trim you algae slacker.

As for the Margarita snails, if it were me I'd give it a go and see how things go. Margarita snails are often harvested off the coast of Mexico but from the depths of the ocean where the water is much cooler. It is possible that the temp you are keeping you tank at is still to high for them, but . . . I think I would try one and take the gamble. It is kinda sad that these snails that can live in accsess of 100 years have such a short life span in our home aquariums, but a snail is a snail to me.

If you nitrates, PH, and phosphates are all in check (your phosphates still may read 0 with that much macro even if you are continually introducing phosphates as the macro can eat up the detectable phosphate) I would try keeping the lights off for a full three days. IME the macro will be fine and you don't have any corals in that system I remember.

Any surviving cyano will be quite ready and happy to reproduce rapidly in your system. Cyano is a very efficent bacteria and can reproduce very quickly.

Hit me up if you got an ?'s Mr. Lesnar

 

[Qcks]

Huh.... i hope this fixes it. the above links were posted using the fast reply button. i went back and and posted these correctly... hopefully. If it didn't, Reefkeeping magazine can be accessed by clicking here, or the image on the main homepage of reefcentral. Then go to the top click past issues. The articles are under the topic invertibrates, and is about 2 years old.

The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin

The Grazing Snails, Part II - Abalones, Limpets and Nerites

The Grazing Snails, Part III: Conchs, Ceriths, Cowries, and Columbellids

anyway. hope that helped.

 

[pledosophy]

Those are some great articles. Worth the read IMO.

 

[Brock Fluharty]

Thanks guys! I think my LFS sells what they call Margaritas, but I don't trust them, so i'll go online.

I don't have a pwoerhead or anything in the tank, because it's a 20 gallon high, and I can't find any small powerheads around me, so i'll go to DrsF&S.

 

[TamiW]

Look for Ilyanassa obsoleta. There was some controversy a while back because they are being sold for reef tanks when they are in fact temperate. However, it sounds like they'd be perfect for your tank! There are tons of them available on ebay.

 

[km133688]

I think the trick to a white sand bed is mostly like everything else, a combination of factors. My sand bed is white, and no cyano, but I keep a dirty tank too. I over feed and have some hair algae on the walls. I only trim the glass I want to look through in order to give my pod population something to feed on. Here is what I do if it helps:

1) I use a phosan reactor all the time. I think it helps a lot. Just make sure you read a lot about the different media you can run in it because they are not all the same.

2) I run carbon all the time too. I think it works hand in hand with the phosan reactor.

3) I use ro/di water.

Now for the other side of the story:

1) I am lax on water changes. So much so that my ph is too low (7.7) I plan to do more water changes to get it back up.

2) I way over feed, 16 cubes of hikari mysis per day for 4 seahoreses, 2 clownfish, and 2 other small fish.

3) I have lots of worms. Small ones, big ones, and really big ones. They take care of any leftovers. Plus I have starfish and other stuff as a cleanup crew.

4) I have lots of live rock. I think this helps a lot. I may even be way overboard on the LR than most.

5) I have no skimmer. Never have, though I am thinking of putting one on now, along with a UV filter, we will see.

So, I think it is the LR, worms, and phosban reactor and carbon that make the difference for me. They say flow is a big factor and I can't argue about that.

Good luck, Kevin