Suggest a sand sifter/cleaner

[carriej]

Hi Folks,

Looking for a reef safe fish or invert that will keep my 6 feet of sand turned over and clean; without making a huge mess and spitting sand all over my LPS on the sand.

I was told that a pink and blue spotted goby (Cryptocentrus leptocephalus) would be a good sifter by an LFS... I was skeptical; but trusted the LFS as they haven't steered me wrong in the past. Well; needless to say other than digging himself little hidey-holes; Mr. Goby (who has been a resident since about Christmas) has done diddly squat.

I have been suggested Ladder Gliders (alenciennea sexguttata) but now I am of course not trusting.

What are your guys favorite sifters that don't spit sand everywhere?

 

[Rea17]

Gobies tend to get sand all over everything IME. If you don't really care about your pod population in your sand I'd say sand sifting starfish are the way to go. They eat beneficial life in the sand (which makes them a bit controversial) but they keep it nice and clean-looking without sandstorms and constant build up over bottom dwelling corals.

 

[orangegoby]

how about the CLASSIC nassarius snail. they should do a good job without consuming the benefitial pod or critters lives in the sand bed.

 

[Rea17]

Nassarius snails are great for stirring and aerating the sand, but they don't clean the surface thoroughly. Maybe I misunderstood what the OP was asking.

 

[benjc]

Don't know the size of your tank, but a diamond goby could fit the bill. Other than some mounding at the base of select rocks, they won't move too much sand, plus they chew in place; they don't grab a mouthful of sand and then swim up into the water column to chew it like some gobies.

 

[Breadman03]

Fighting conch.

 

[Georgephoenix]

I agree with Rea17, the sand sifting starfish is a good option and worked well in my tank, I had to get 6 of them though.

 

[Shia]

+1 fighting conch

 

[Dmorty217]

+1 to everyone who said fighting conch. I have 6" of sand in my 220g (6ft) and I have 4 of them that do a great job with the sand

 

[Rea17]

I personally have the fighting conch and babylonia snails. The snails are much more active than the conch and surface every time I feed, zoom around for a bit, then re-submerge. They are nassarius snails x100.

 

[carriej]

I have nassarius snails; and this is a 6 foot tank, 130 gallon tank I have; sorry should have mentioned.

The nassarius might move stuff around; but they don't clean the sand very well. I have really fine sand and it looks awesome when it's clean - and not so awesome when it's dirty like right now lol.

I would like to get a mandarin, so I am a little concerned about the starfish completely wiping out pods. I do have a sump; so I guess I could cultivate some in there but I have been waiting so long for a mandarin, lol.

I will look into the conch, and the diamond gobies, and maybe some other snails. I do get a bit of algae on my sandbed once and awhile and my current snails don't really go on the sand ever...

 

[Rea17]

Keep in mind gobies sift the sand in search of tasty treats as well, so they would be competition for a mandarin. IME long term success with mandarins comes when you get them to recognize food you offer as... food. Check out that pellet eating mandarin thread.

My tangs actually do a really good job of keeping the sand clean. I have a couple that like to pick at the top layer for any algae, lieutenant tang in particular. For your issue I'd go back to getting a crew of starfish.

 

[rssjsb]

How much open sand do you have (i.e., not covered with rock)?

I've had good luck with fighting conchs, but the best results I've gotten were after I added a hawkwing conch. It's bigger, so I wouldn't add one unless you've got room for him to maneuver around your rocks, but if you do, they're great.

I don't know if the starfish would wipe out the kind of pods that mandarins eat, but they will deplete your sandbed.

 

[Dmorty217]

I have the ooilite size sand I'm my tank as well, I should mention I have extreme flow in the tank provided by a reeflo hammerhead with penductors on a closed loop. Needless to say my sand does get moved around some by the flow

 

[namxas]

I personally have the fighting conch and babylonia snails. The snails are much more active than the conch and surface every time I feed, zoom around for a bit, then re-submerge. They are nassarius snails x100.

Babylon snails are predatory, so if they get hungry, they may attack your other mollusks, particularly bivalves. Just a heads-up...

 

[Iowafisher]

Orange spot/ diamond goby don't make a better sand sifter. In my nano I had green/ brown sand then 24 hours after adding it boom clean sand

 

[rssjsb]

I have the ooilite size sand I'm my tank as well, I should mention I have extreme flow in the tank provided by a reeflo hammerhead with penductors on a closed loop. Needless to say my sand does get moved around some by the flow

Cant tell if you were responding to me here, but what I was really asking is how much floorspace in your tank is open, that is, without rock or coral on it. The hawkwing conch I was talking about before is bigger than fighting conchs and needs room to move around the tank.

 

[dared.turtle]

For a second I thought you said 6foot deep sand. I was like "***? What size tank does this guy have?" LOL good luck on your sand bed.

 

[accordsirh22]

diamond goby

 

[small alien]

Can we see a picture of your dirty sand bed? What is it dirty with? Often, this whole sand cleaner thing is misguided IMO.