Re-aquascape my establish tank

I had a diamond watchman goby that was one of the best workers in the tank he would keep the sand spotless and stirred up ...the rest of the fish just eat and poop..I'm thinking about getting another now ....
 
Maybe just more cleanup crew? There's always room for more snails and hermits right? ;) I have a couple fighting conchs and they're like little IRobot Rhoombas on the sand bed, I swear. Lol
 
I've always been a fan of the sand sifting sea cucumbers. Also, my orange shoulder tang constantly eats sand. Even if there is food in the tank.... Used to be concerned but he's been doing it for over a year.



Between the two of them my sand never gets dirty, just have to level it out every now and then.
 
love the idea of a sand sifter, yes I lost mine to jumping, when I was feeding, he would zoom to the top, keeps the sand clean and very cool to watch
 
I did this and I recommend it. The only thing that I didn't do, which I highly recommend you do, as it will help greatly is at the time of performing this massive cleanup, also implement the nutrient removal system of choice.

  • I got a few Rubbermaid containers from Walmart(High enough for your rocks to fit)
  • Removed about half the water on my tank into the containers
  • Moved the rocks from the tank to the containers
  • Removed a bit more water into a cleaning container(For scrubbing the rocks)
  • Removed all the livestock into another container with the rest of the tank water, leaving about 2 inches of water in the tank.
  • Stirred the sand intensively, siphoned all that stuff out and discarded it
  • Cleaned glass, pumps, power heads, scrubbed rocks, etc.
  • Prepared a bunch of fresh salt water in buckets.
  • Started putting rocks back into the tank in a way that was easier to clean the sand bed.
  • Added all the new salt water into the tank and filled the rest with the water in the clean Rubbermaid containers.
  • Add a sump to the tank (This is something I didn't do at the time and should have earlier)
  • Add a bio-pellet or GFO reactor(This is something I didn't do at the time and should have earlier)
 
No experience, but everything I've read about sand sifting stars is they'll starve and die. Brittle or Serpent Stars would likely help. A Bright Red Serpent from the Keys would be great if you can find one. :/ No luck for me, yet. Locally overpriced, but I have requests in for some collectors down there.
 
CuzzA said:
No experience, but everything I've read about sand sifting stars is they'll starve and die. Brittle or Serpent Stars would likely help. A Bright Red Serpent from the Keys would be great if you can find one. :/ No luck for me, yet. Locally overpriced, but I have requests in for some collectors down there.
Click to expand...

I've heatd that the starfish would die off and I don't like the way sepent star looks , they looks kinda creepy.
 
Nassarius and I think tiger nassarius (whatever the bigger ones are...) is all I used and I had a bad detritus problem also. Try a couple of those before you move stuff maybe
 
Its true about the sand sifters they are alive for about a year for me then just never show up again and die in your sand so not a good choice for me anymore
 
purpletang123 said:
I think the goby is a carnivore not a detritivore plus I've never seen any rimless tank with screen top .
Click to expand...

I keep wrasse and few other known jumpers in my rimless. Here's how I did my top so it's minimally invasive on the rimless look/feel. As far as your issue with the detritus build up, I would keep playing with your power heads. You may be able to simply adjust the angles and depths of the streams or you might try different size and/or quantities of power heads. I don't have any sand sifters in my tank but I do have an 85x turnover rate and (3) tiger sand conchs. They do a pretty good job but for my size tank, 90 gallons, I probably need at least two more to solely rely on them to keep the sand bed clean.





purpletang123 said:
Thanks for the advise. I've heard of tonga nassarius not tiger . I've heard tiger conch
Click to expand...

I have two of these tiger nassarius as well. Mine are about the size of golf balls. Google them. IMO, way prettier than the tonga nassarius.
 
Last edited:
nitr8 said:
I keep wrasse and few other known jumpers in my rimless. Here's how I did my top so it's minimally invasive on the rimless look/feel. As far as your issue with the detritus build up, I would keep playing with your power heads. You may be able to simply adjust the angles and depths of the streams or you might try different size and/or quantities of power heads. I don't have any sand sifters in my tank but I do have an 85x turnover rate and (3) tiger sand conchs. They do a pretty good job but for my size tank, 90 gallons, I probably need at least two more to solely rely on them to keep the sand bed clean.





Wow nice setup. Btw what are those 4 blocks on the rim of the tank ise for?

I have two of these tiger nassarius as well. Mine are about the size of golf balls. Google them. IMO, way prettier than the tonga nassarius.
Click to expand...
 
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