need a good sand bed cleaner

[notsofishy]

My sandbed seems to accummulate a ton of fish detrius and I wanted to know what will do a good job of eating this. I was hoping to avoid something that feeds off of the fauna in the sand bed as I would like to keep these for further decomposition. So pretty much something that really enjoys fish poo would be nice any ideas?

 

[Stuart60611]

naruisus (sp?) snails are great for this task. They will not destroy your sandbed fauna. They eat detris and uneaten food from the substrate and turn the sand also. They do a very good job.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

I have never once seen my super tonga nassarius snails eat detritus. They are very much willing to eat food that my fish didn't get to. I am curious about this too...would a sand sifting cucumber do the job?

 

[notsofishy]

great thanks for the advice I also was wondering about the sea cucumbers?

 

[Tennyson]

I think sea cucumbers and nassarius snails just flip the sand over and hide the detritus. I don't think they eat detritus, but more like leftover foods from fish and meaty foods.

A wathcman goby or sand sifting goby does the trick, and other members of the clean up crew will eat some of it occasionally.

 

[plateboy3293]

Try the atlantic sea cucumber I have one and he sifts threw the sand eating the detrius. but I haven't seen him eat the leftover fish food. So maybe the nassarius and cucumber.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

My lfs has a Valenciennea strigata (yellowheaded sleeper goby) but I thought they were searching for worms and what ever live thing they can find in the sand, not detritus. Where can I get an alantic sea cucumber?..What is its scientific name?

 

[plateboy3293]

Liveaquria under build your own reef cleaner package Here's the link
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=420+1805+1344&pcatid=1344

 

[petoonia]

Most watchman gobies wont effectively clean the sand bed, they tend to hang around in one area. Mine only leaves his cave to eat.

 

[urville]

I use one plain grey sand star in my tank. I believe they eat other things, BUT if your husbandry is good you might find your overwhelmed with those critters anyway. It's never been an issue for me.

 

[edandsandy]

why would you want to put something in your tank that is Poisonous?
Sea Cucumber - Atlantic (Build Your Own)
(Holothuria floridana)
QUICK STATS
Care Level: Easy
Temperament: Peaceful
Water Conditions: 72-78° F, sg 1.023-1.025, pH 8.1-8.4, dKH 8-12
Max. Size: 1'
Color Form: Black, Green, Red
Venomous: Poisonous When Stressed or Dies
Diet: Omnivore
Origin: Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean
Family: Holothuriidae

 

[urville]

well, I can say I really wish cukes werent poisonious, but they are. So i dont keep them. I was hoping to find non venomous kinds, but alas no.

But I can tell you once when i took a nudi that was very toxic, before I started researching things, the LFS was like I have three in my tanks hes harmless. i said he could nuke the tank. And he just shook his head like I was the idiot, so...

 

[Dizzle63]

I think that cucumber toxicity is overrated in the more common sandsifting species. I have had three in my tank, two atlantic and one tigertail. The two atlantics died, one from being picked on by peppermint shrimp and one simply disappeared. Both times they were left in the tank and I had no noticeable issues. The only thing I would fear is the large amount of waste that an organism this large dying. The current cucumber I have is a year old (in my tank) and is the tigertail. It has been caught in a Maxi-jet and was ripped up pretty bad. It has survived however and again, nothing happened to the tank. My sand is extremely white and looks very good. In addition to the cucumber, I also have an atlantic fighting conch and 5 tongan nassarius snails. The conch is great at cleaning diatoms and the nassarius keep the sand bed stirred, but the majority of the cleaning seems to come from the cucumber.

 

[Guygettnby]

i use nassarius snails, 4 different kind of conchs, 1 cucumber, 2 brittles stars, 4 clams and a lot of different kinds of hermits.

my sand bed stay very clean and i never have a problem with left over food or anthing building up. conchs are a very good addition to any tank with substrate problems. also all this talk about cucumbers being toxic and not wanting one because it could kill off your tank.....i will have a cucumber in every tank i own beacuse of how good of a job they do cleaning your substrate. i have had a few die off in the past and they never killed off anything in my tank.

 

[plateboy3293]

I have had my coke walked over by my long spined sea urchin and the cuke did not do anything. I'll try to get a pic later today if he's on the cuke normally he is but he might not be there.

 

[Guygettnby]

alot of people are scared to keep cucumbers in there reef tanks and i know a few of my friends are the same way. i think the rule of thumb is only 1 cucumber per 50g of water. i wouldnt attempt having a cucumber in your tank if your water parameters are way off either.....

 

[uglyryder]

i read that cerith snails eat fish wast, i dont have any yet but im gonna order some from blue zoo aquatics real soon

 

[reefsaint]

Just dont get the jumbo ceriths they are like the supreme mowers!

 

[Guygettnby]

i just bought a few larger cerith snails yesterday and man they really move the substrate around. allitle too much for me.

 

[Amoore311]

Atlantics and Tiger Tails won't harm anything in your tank if they die. Well the "toxins" won't anyways, ammonia might spike a little if you leave it in there.

My Atlantic Cuc never leaves the sand bed either, so very small risk of it getting chopped up by a power-head. The Atlantics aren't exactly the prettiest things available in the hobby though lol. They kind of look like a giant moving turd.