Reef Sand Bed and Sand Sifters?

[rcaston]

I was reading this site, http://www.rshimek.com/reef/sediment.htm

and I noticed it said to NEVER add sand sifting animals to a deep sand bed. I would like everyone's opinion on this matter.

right now, I have a 150g reef with a 3 1/4" sand bed, almost deep, but not quite. and I have 2 sand sifting starfish keep it clean for me without any issues...

the question is, should I remove the starfish?

[arcab4]

sand sifters will deplete your sandbed of the critters necessary for a DSB. i would remove it immediately.

get a conch instead to clean the sandbed. :)

[Emerald]

I agree, the sand sifting star will sterilize your DSB. BTW add another inch if you can. I have about 25 Nassarius snails and they do a great job.

[Rockfish]

IMO, I don't think two will make much of a difference to the sand bed. The more sand surface area the better. I run 5 Goby's and 4 cukes, not to mention a host of snails, crabs etc to go through the top 1/2" of sand to keep clean. When I turn off the lights and look with the flashlight, there are thousands of little pods, worms, etc all over the sand scurrying around. So far, so good. If I notice a marked reduction I would think about pulling out some things If I can catch them. Right now they seem to be increasing and all the water parameters are doing great. Hopefully that means everything is working together as it should. Did I mention my opinion only.

[dgin]

As others have said, remove the sand sifting starfish. I would recommend the following for keeping your DSB healthy and clean:

Spaghetti worms
Bristle Worms
Fighting Conchs
Pods
Nassarius Snails
Cerith Snails

You want creatures that will stir (not sift) the top layer of sand but not eat any of the fauna in it.

[MrClean]

How many fighting conchs? Do they actually fight?

Let my ignorance be lifted.

[dgin]

My conchs have never fought. Not sure why they call them that actually. The recommendations for how many is 1 per 2 sq ft of open sand. They can get about 4-5" or so.

[Preds]

They don't fight. The name fighting comes from their tendency to 'jump' backwards, apparently.