What cleans YOUR sand the best?

kwaters · #1 05/20/2007, 12:48 PM

I have a couple of mexican turbo snails that have done wonders on the glass (acrylic) and about 6 margarite snails (that are doing fine so far despite their desire for colder temps) and just three little blue legged hermits.

I want to add some more animules to help with the sand cleaning chores and wonder what some of you fine folks at RC use successfully, plus what to stay away from.

Stars?
Sand sifting Goby?
????

Imput is always appreciated.

By the way, tank is 45 days old and all of the params are intact.

SFMMcoasters · #2 05/20/2007, 01:12 PM

My Diamond goby does a fantastic job at keeping the sand clean. None of the snials seem too interested in it.

kwaters · #3 05/20/2007, 01:13 PM

Thanks SFMM.

danielmanlee · #4 05/20/2007, 01:17 PM

I have a goldenhead sleeper goby and it also is doing a good job with the cleaning....

BigDaddy · #5 05/20/2007, 01:22 PM

Without a doubt, my queen conchs do the best job on the sand. When they get big they tear it up!

cweder · #6 05/20/2007, 01:26 PM

Pair of diamond gobies have worked wonders for me. They stirred it up too good, but after a month things settled down. Have not tried the conches, with the gobies I dont have to.

kwaters · #7 05/21/2007, 12:35 AM

Thanks again for the imput. Anyone else want to chime in?

corals b 4 bills · #8 05/21/2007, 12:37 AM

10,000 gallons per hour of tunze power!

oli5 · #9 05/21/2007, 12:42 AM

My Nassarius Snails keep my sand bed pearl white. Try to avoid sand sifting stars as they will eat everything in the sand and then starve to death.

kwaters · #10 05/21/2007, 12:42 AM

Nice, but looking for something a little less mechanical LOL.

kwaters · #11 05/21/2007, 12:43 AM

I like snails...funny when I had them in my FW tank, I tried to rid them.

antonsemrad · #12 05/21/2007, 12:44 AM

My orange shoulder tang eats sand all day long, and then poo's it out on top of my corals.

Stays clean

Sarcophyton874 · #13 05/21/2007, 12:48 AM

Diamond goby and sea cucumber.

jab502 · #14 05/21/2007, 12:48 AM

I have over 100 Nassarius snails in my 180 and there is no way they can keep the sand clean. By far and away a diamond goby or a dragon goby is the way to go in my opinion. In my experience snails, stars, or conchs just don't move enough sand to keep it consisently or thoroughly clean.

jdieck · #15 05/21/2007, 12:59 AM

Diamond gobbies and sand sifting stars keep the sand clean but they will eat everyting else in it and if you are trying a deep sand bed for nitrification that will be disastrous, besides the tank (45 gal) is too small to support neither, they might survive a couple of months then starve to death. Some gobbies could be trained to take some food but not many do.

Cucummbers also do a good job unfortunately if they get scared or die most will poison the water column.

I would recommend scarlet hermits (IMO the only reef safe ones), nassarius snalis and cerith snails. For nassarius try the larger type (Super tongan) that might be available from the doctors Foster and Smith or petsolutions.

kwaters · #16 05/21/2007, 01:09 AM

Thanks jdieck. It's a 55 gallon with a 22 gallon sump. I have a SSB...less than 1/2 inch.

I will continue to gather information and research...as always, before making any decision.

Melody · #17 05/21/2007, 01:44 AM

Fighting conch, nassarius feed on dead and decaying organic material, algae, tiny plankton and a tiger tail sea cucumber they re not recommended unless you have a well established tank... or at least lots of organic detritus.... with sugar-sized or finer sand.

Eklikewhoa · #18 05/21/2007, 02:43 AM

I have 2 Nassarius Snails and they do a decent job in my NC12g.

bohlke · #19 05/21/2007, 07:39 AM

I have had a sand sifting sea star in my 65G for 4 years, it does a great job of keeping the sand clean. I also have nassarius snails. When I had an underpowered (IMHO) skimmer I had a queen conch in the tank as well. They all kept the sand nice and white.

starmanres · #20 05/21/2007, 07:49 AM

I had a Sand Sifting Starfish for about 2 years until it began a snail hunt and ate about $100 worth of them. He then got a trip back to the LFS.

Currently I use a Tiger Tail in my 120g and he does a good job and nothing seems to bother him.

I like my Ninja's but you hardly ever see them except for the vacuum tube feelin' around on top of the sand.

HTH

Scuba Josh · #21 05/21/2007, 08:33 AM

You have a "small" tank like me compared to everyone giving advice on gobies and cucumbers. So I have to agree with jdieck.

Had a small diamond gobie...DEAD
Had a banana yellow cucumber (tiger tail)...Dead

Have a queen conch and 3 nassarius snails...they suck at cleaning.

I guess I will try Scarlet hermits...but I hear they kill the little blue hermits. Oh well, only the strong shall survive.

ChrisB · #22 05/21/2007, 08:36 AM

Do the tiger tails eat the microfauna?

bgiles11 · #23 05/21/2007, 08:54 AM

Yellow head goby, blue jaw goby, watchman gobies will all work. Serpeant stars will help. Stay away from green brisstles as they are predatary. Counch do work. Nasuris (spelling) do work, as they burrow, and eat detris (spelling) once you feed they emerge and turn over the sand. I have 4 in my 90 and the side they reside on is pretty clean. I need 4 more.

starmanres · #24 05/21/2007, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ChrisB
Do the tiger tails eat the microfauna?

Not to my knowledge. They stay on top of the sand and attach themselves to the rockwork while feeding. I never see them digging at all.

Scuba Josh · #25 05/21/2007, 09:07 AM

No they dont- They eat poop. Really, they eat poop. POOP...POOP.POOP.POOP Did I mention that they eat poop.lol