something to clean my sand

GreenPuffers

Premium Member
I have a 20 long with 2 clowns and a jawfish. A couple hermits and 5 or 6 snails. What could I add that would clean up my sand??
 
Do NOT use sand sifting stars. They will eat all the fauna in the sand bed while slowly dying.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9863837#post9863837 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LNell
Do NOT use sand sifting stars. They will eat all the fauna in the sand bed while slowly dying.

I've had two in my tank for years...never had a problem.
 
I like sandsifting gobies myself. There are several that would get along in that tank. Twinspots are cool, watchmans are also a good edition. I'm surprised the jawfish isn't moving stuff around.

Short of fish nassarius snails are a good choice.

JME
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9863943#post9863943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cagraffwriter
I've had two in my tank for years...never had a problem.

I guess you are the exception. I remember hearing both Calfo and Shimek say that sand sifting stars are a bad idea because they require a lot of live sand to sift through to stay alive for a long period of time. I don't know what you're doing to keep them alive, but whatever works. I just wouldn't recommend them to anyone because of the majority of the cases where the star slowly starves to death.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9863837#post9863837 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LNell
Do NOT use sand sifting stars. They will eat all the fauna in the sand bed while slowly dying.

Do cucumbers do the same thing?
 
You can supplement feeding a sand sifting star with Kent zooplankton injected under the sand then place the sea star on top. It has worked for me and you only use a small amount to avoid any problems.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9868020#post9868020 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DarthFred6996
You can supplement feeding a sand sifting star with Kent zooplankton injected under the sand then place the sea star on top. It has worked for me and you only use a small amount to avoid any problems.

That's quite interesting. I've never heard that before.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9865871#post9865871 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by the cattleman
Do cucumbers do the same thing?

I've heard different things from different people. I used to have a cucumber in a 75 with no problems. There were worms all throughout the sand bed. Cucumbers get pretty big for a nano, though. I had a tigertail cucumber and it grew to well over a foot long.
 
agreed with colinadam -

Nassarius Snails (check sp). They live IN the sand and eat anything organic. Food scraps, detritus, anything dying etc. By far one of the best options in my opinion because they sift in the bed and will surface, in the search of food. The small ones work great but I lose them over time due to water changes. Get the "giant" ones, for a 20L, I'd stick to less than 2 depending on how much you feed.
 
Yeah definatly aim away from the Cucumber as if it dies the toxions released will wipe out the tank in a matter of minutes.
-pinner
 
I put a pistol shrimp/YWG pair into my tank.... 23 minutes ago.

I was hoping they would help with the sand bed.. it seems i've had a 23 minute long sand storm already.. let's hope this goes away - these two would be very hard for me to catch.
 
Rosseau you can pretty much expect this to be the norm for the first week until the two have a extensive network of tunnels beneith your rockwork... after that it'll be happening about once a week as they decide to close off or open a new tunnel.

Filter floss and carbon do wonders in clearing out the water

Oh and if you have any frags in the sand expect them to disappear altogether or be buried under a pile of sand.

To remedy the problem one can buy a plastic soap dish for a dollar and mod it into a shelf for the top of your tank.

HTH
-pinner
 
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