What to buy to clean sand bed?

Jazzii9j

Jazzii9j

New member
We have 3 emerald crabs that eat off the rocks and that's it. We had turbo snails that all died because they were clumsy and would flip over and by the time I'd get to them they'd be dead. We have a little bit of algae growth on the sand. What should I get to clean it up that won't won't be like those turbo snails?
 
Jazzii9j said:
We have 3 emerald crabs that eat off the rocks and that's it. We had turbo snails that all died because they were clumsy and would flip over and by the time I'd get to them they'd be dead. We have a little bit of algae growth on the sand. What should I get to clean it up that won't won't be like those turbo snails?
Click to expand...

ok, first, find out what is causing the algae. you probably have some phosphates. do you use RO/DI water? how old is the tank?

to clean up the algae on the sandbed, i would go with nassarius snails or a conch.

what does the algae look like?
 
d5512d247a5817d9bbf3c6b0c918734c.jpg


Was told it is probably from the water flow bc it's only that side of the tank.
 
just noticed there was a spotted mandarin in your picture. do you have a fairly sufficient amount of pods in your tank?
 
Yes and I actually bought a bottle from LFS. Interesting they tell you to store it in the fridge with the cap open.
 
They're called Tiger pods. Funny thing is he photo bombed me. I didn't even notice he was there lol.
 
so first off chemiclean isnt as innocent as he makes it sound. it kills bacteria which is what cyano is but it does not discriminate the bad bacteria from the good bacteria and it will also kill good beneficial bacteria.
when i had a cyano outbreak in my tank i just bought a more powerful power head because the cyano cannot settle unless there is insufficient flow.

and to go off topic with yall on the mandarin thing. one bottle of tiger pods would only last a few hours of food for a mandarin. they can eat thousands in a single day so if you only bought one bottle and you didnt supply your tank with copepods many many months in advance than you might have some trouble approaching soon. just keep in mind it takes around a month or sometimes two for a mandarin to completely starve to death. the math states that a mandarin eats 1 copepod per 5 seconds only when lights are on so in a 12 hour day it will eat 8640 copepods FAR MORE than one bottle of copepods. which is why you buy them MONTHS in advance.
 
when i tried chemiclean, it was fine with everything else. honestly, all my cyano lived in really high flow areas. even when i pointed the powerhead directly at it, it still grew. i would definitely recommend chemiclean.

with the mandarin, a bottle will last it about an hour. for a mandarin, you need a large cycled tank with a refugium with copeopds. the mandarin just wont survive off of one bottle. they will waste away slowly over the period of a few months. i say, bring it right back to the LFS and do your research next time. from the pictures, your tank doesnt look that old.
 
jraker said:
when i tried chemiclean, it was fine with everything else. honestly, all my cyano lived in really high flow areas. even when i pointed the powerhead directly at it, it still grew. i would definitely recommend chemiclean.

with the mandarin, a bottle will last it about an hour. for a mandarin, you need a large cycled tank with a refugium with copeopds. the mandarin just wont survive off of one bottle. they will waste away slowly over the period of a few months. i say, bring it right back to the LFS and do your research next time. from the pictures, your tank doesnt look that old.
Click to expand...
The tanks is a year and a half old. I've had a goby in the past and it lived the whole time I had it until we sold our old set up.
 
okay i see you are not interested in taking advice on the mandarin. as far as the cyano goes another option is to run lights on a shorter cycle for a few days. they are light dependant so less light = less cyano
 
LFS will try to sell you crap. by telling you to feed them with the bottle, you would have to buy hundreds of bottles to feed them for a year. that equates to a few thousand bottles. research more before you buy a fish next time.

try catching the mandarin and return him to the LFS. if you dont, he will probably die unless you can get him to eat prepared foods somehow.
 
Cyano is gone after cleaning the sand and rock. Changed direction of water flow. The goby is actually doing good. We have had pods for a while due to the fuge.
 
Interesting how heated people get over certain fish and assume the worst, sometimes even to the point of attacking the OP for having the fish.

To the OP, Pod populations can be brought up fairly quickly if you can dedicate the time and money to do so. Dump a bunch in your fuge with your chaeto and you should start to see an increase of pods. Probably good to buy some for the DT for it to feed on directly, as well.
Try these sites:
http://www.algagen.com/?page_id=907
http://www.algaebarn.com/shop/
http://reefnutrition.com/index.php
http://getyourpods.com/

It may also be a benefit to you if you read Paul Bs posts about his brine shrimp feeder.

Good luck with your Mandarin, they are beautiful fish, although a bit trickier than most to keep successfully.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Need sanity check on Deep Sand Bed Cleaning
Replies
3
Views
397
wvned
wvned
R
clean up crew for sand bed
Replies
2
Views
415
ReefTankAllTheWay
R
S
New with anemone (eaten by emerald crab?)
Replies
5
Views
457
griss
griss
ClownBubbaJoe
Large Crab For Special Tank And Few Fish & Plants ?
Replies
3
Views
631
griss
griss
D
New to reefing
Replies
3
Views
566
OrdinaryGirl
OrdinaryGirl
Back
Top