Best Sand Sifter????

[njdiver]

Pretty new to Salt Water and I am in the process of setting up a smaller tank, only 30 gallons as we live in an apartment, and home buying is on the distant horizon.
Anyhow... what is the best or favorite sand sifter out there? Do hermits and snails do the trick, or should I go with a starfish of some sort, what about cucumbers????
Thanks in advance for the help.
_Scott

 

[fallen04]

both cucumbers and sand sifter star fish will do the job. you will get differing opinions about these creatures. some will say they are good and others will say they distroy your dsb by eating all the little critters. i dont worry because i have enough covered area with my lr to give plenty of living areas for any dsb critters.

 

[carrie1429]

Usually hermits and snails don't shift much of anything. Cucumbers do but I don't like getting cucumbers becuase if they die they release a toxin into the water that can wipe out your whole tank, also they leave behind their messes which IMO doesn't look too good. I like stars the best, although IMO don't shift very much except for the sand sifting star, never had experience with it though.

 

[krusk]

use your hand
it's friday :0
seriously
I have hermits, snails, and starfish in my tank.
I do not know who did the greatest job. But my sand are clean and white.
I don't like cucumber just because of it's shape.
Fighting counch will also keep your sand clean.

 

[ckkihei]

I have 2 sand stars in my 55, they don't do much sifting. I have an engineer goby and a diamond goby who are both incredible sifters!!

 

[beth]

Don't leave out the worms! The most important sifter in the DSB. All other creatures will only hit the top inch or so of the DSB. Worms will get down under!

 

[muckworm]

Beth, could you give us any suggestions on the best (and cheapest) place to purchase worms... it seems that all of the LFS around me don't carry any sort of worms....

 

[njdiver]

Thanks for all the responses. I have read that the sand sifting stars can really do a number on the good critters in the sand, so that was a concern. Also, as Muckworm asked do most people supliment the worms, or just go with what came in the live sand? I used live sand from SWF.COM but have not yet noticed / seen worms. (but maybe like Ragu its in there.)
-Scott