Keeping the sand clean?

[dime079]

I have a 3-4 sandbed in my 10g thats been set up for a month now (i know its a nano but im still pretty new to this) anyways, i have about 12lbs live rock 2 turbos, 2 nas snails and about 4 hermits and all parameters are in check. i know the nassarious(SP?) are sand sifting, but how do you keep the top of the sand clean from waste, or whatever the crabs keep picking off the rocks. as of now i just use a tube and siphon whats on the top of the sand when doing my weekly water changes. is this bad to do water changes from the bottom? should i take the water change from the top of the tank? and are there any other ideas/creatures that will help my dirty looking sand?

 

[Avi]

I'm not sure I understand about your sandbed...you say it's 3 to 4-inches deep but you don't sound like you're intention is to have it serve as a deep sand bed. If that's correct, I'd remove a good inch and a half of it. You can consider a Diamond Goby for keeping the sand clean. They move around the bottom of the tank, taking in mouthfuls of the sand and then filtering it to be released from the gill area. They can get big but if you get one at an inch and a half or so, it should be fine.

 

[itz frank]

Hermits should be about 1/g and snails, if small sized, should be about 1 for every two gallons. I get a bit a debris but it's usually kept nice by the crabs. I have a starfish, but everyone seems to agree that they're bad because they eat the good things in the sand as well as bad. However, if my reading is correct, small tanks don't rely on the sand and rock as much to do fitration. So it shouldn't be a problem. Hasn't been in my 20g as the rock and sand are still teaming with life.

 

[reefcapnnick]

Any compat. problems with a diamond goby and lawnmower blenny?

 

[Avi]

It shouldn't be a problem. I've never had both at the same time but they do inhabit different areas of the reef so I think it'd be safe to have one of each.