Crushed Coral Substrate
- Thread starter beadebaserrrr
- Start date
saltfan
Active Member
Originally Posted by ophiura
I definitely DO NOT recommend a sand sifting star. They tend to starve in most but the largest systems in around a year. They EAT the GOOD creatures in the sand bed, and in general can not be spot fed. A poor choice, IMO.
I would also strongly encourage you to slow down on stocking. That tank is pretty fully stocked at 1 month, and that is pretty dangerous with fish that do somewhat better in mature tanks (tank, b'fly). This is not meant to flame you, this comes from seeing bad things happen to the most excited and well intentioned people.
If you have your tank professionally serviced...that may concern me as well. Don't let them talk you into to much. I would encourage you to learn to care for your investment yourself. It will likely save you a lot of time and money in the future.
When you say eats the good things, what exactly are you talking about? Like pods and that sort?
I definitely DO NOT recommend a sand sifting star. They tend to starve in most but the largest systems in around a year. They EAT the GOOD creatures in the sand bed, and in general can not be spot fed. A poor choice, IMO.
I would also strongly encourage you to slow down on stocking. That tank is pretty fully stocked at 1 month, and that is pretty dangerous with fish that do somewhat better in mature tanks (tank, b'fly). This is not meant to flame you, this comes from seeing bad things happen to the most excited and well intentioned people.
If you have your tank professionally serviced...that may concern me as well. Don't let them talk you into to much. I would encourage you to learn to care for your investment yourself. It will likely save you a lot of time and money in the future.
When you say eats the good things, what exactly are you talking about? Like pods and that sort?
ophiura
Active Member
Small crustaceans, worms, etc that do work to eat detritus. Sand sifter stars typically do not eat detritus...they eat the beneficial animals that do.
And when these run out, they typically starve. This takes 12 -18 months during which time they do not appear to be in trouble. Then they start losing arms, or people think they are being attacked (esp by hermits and such), but this is basically how they will die. And make no mistake, most will die in fairly short order (again in all but quite large tanks for the most part).
Success with them is usually related to the surface area of substrate available, as opposed to the surface area of LR (which is important for other stars). Tanks over 150g without tons of LR are more likely to sustain them than tanks under 100g.
And when these run out, they typically starve. This takes 12 -18 months during which time they do not appear to be in trouble. Then they start losing arms, or people think they are being attacked (esp by hermits and such), but this is basically how they will die. And make no mistake, most will die in fairly short order (again in all but quite large tanks for the most part).
Success with them is usually related to the surface area of substrate available, as opposed to the surface area of LR (which is important for other stars). Tanks over 150g without tons of LR are more likely to sustain them than tanks under 100g.
saltfan
Active Member
So why on earth would they be sold then. This to me sounds like they should be left alone and are not part of the normal home tank...This kinda sucks now that I have to read it....Thinkin about takin mine back to the store. I was told that they would eat the surface algea that grows on my cc. I was gettin tired of cleaning it up myself. So your telling me he is a carnivore, and not an algea eater?? Now this really smokes me.
ophiura
Active Member
1) People like starfish.
2) They are fairly common to collect (they are also commonly dried out for the craft/souvenir trade
3) So what, they live a year...that's good enough (and this is typed "tongue in cheek")
4) So what, they probably only live a year in the wild (ditto above)
5) LFS folks simply don't know any better. May not have misrepresented the animal - just didn't know.
They definitely are not algae eaters. They will move substrate around which helps...but are not algae eaters.
2) They are fairly common to collect (they are also commonly dried out for the craft/souvenir trade
3) So what, they live a year...that's good enough (and this is typed "tongue in cheek")
4) So what, they probably only live a year in the wild (ditto above)
5) LFS folks simply don't know any better. May not have misrepresented the animal - just didn't know.
They definitely are not algae eaters. They will move substrate around which helps...but are not algae eaters.
anthropo
Member
Originally Posted by beadebaserrrr
So I've had my tank for about a month now... maybe more. I have the following in it:
1) Yellow Tang
2) Striped Damsel
3) Blue Devil Damsel
4) ET Puffer
5) Maroon Clownfish
6) Butterfly
7) 6 Snails
I have a 72 gallon tank and crushed coral substrate. I was wondering what else would be suitable to put in there? I wanted a Blenny or something for the bottom... but people have told me different things about how they are with Crushed Coral... Let me know what you think.
Oh, and should I have way more snails? I need a good "cleaner" group... but I have gotten mixed reviews on what I should use, so I thought I'd get some opinions from tank owners here...
Thanks![/SIZE]
i didn't bother to read what everybody else has posted so hopefully this will backup or give you a different view. imo cc is a pain because it is pretty much like having gravel in a freshwater tank. you have to gravel vac it when you do water changes cause waste builds up easy in the crevices of the cc which in turn raises your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. also whatever decor you have in your tank for instance live rock, the waste builds up even faster under that when you have cc. live sand will have animals and bacteria that breakdown waste and when you do water changes, just stir it up a bit to make sure some parts don't sufficate. not saying that you can't have success with cc but you'd make it easier on yourself to get live sand. also there are certain fish that require sand over cc. such as certain wrasses, flounders etc. all fish can live on sand but not all fish can live on cc. cc can be abrasive to them. on a second note, you should slow down on the fish buying. you said you've had the tank a month and you already have 6 fish. 3 of which are big fish and butterflies are sensitive as well. i hope your nitrate spike or your unmature tank doesn't kill them. you should wait at least 6 months before deciding on whether or not to buy new fish imo if they all survive. you can bulk up on your cleanup crew such as snails and hermits though. as far as algae goes, you're not goin to find an animal that will make it so you never have to look at algae. you will always have to clean algae from time to time. hermits and snails go a long way trust me. good luck
So I've had my tank for about a month now... maybe more. I have the following in it:
1) Yellow Tang
2) Striped Damsel
3) Blue Devil Damsel
4) ET Puffer
5) Maroon Clownfish
6) Butterfly
7) 6 Snails
I have a 72 gallon tank and crushed coral substrate. I was wondering what else would be suitable to put in there? I wanted a Blenny or something for the bottom... but people have told me different things about how they are with Crushed Coral... Let me know what you think.
Oh, and should I have way more snails? I need a good "cleaner" group... but I have gotten mixed reviews on what I should use, so I thought I'd get some opinions from tank owners here...
Thanks![/SIZE]
i didn't bother to read what everybody else has posted so hopefully this will backup or give you a different view. imo cc is a pain because it is pretty much like having gravel in a freshwater tank. you have to gravel vac it when you do water changes cause waste builds up easy in the crevices of the cc which in turn raises your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. also whatever decor you have in your tank for instance live rock, the waste builds up even faster under that when you have cc. live sand will have animals and bacteria that breakdown waste and when you do water changes, just stir it up a bit to make sure some parts don't sufficate. not saying that you can't have success with cc but you'd make it easier on yourself to get live sand. also there are certain fish that require sand over cc. such as certain wrasses, flounders etc. all fish can live on sand but not all fish can live on cc. cc can be abrasive to them. on a second note, you should slow down on the fish buying. you said you've had the tank a month and you already have 6 fish. 3 of which are big fish and butterflies are sensitive as well. i hope your nitrate spike or your unmature tank doesn't kill them. you should wait at least 6 months before deciding on whether or not to buy new fish imo if they all survive. you can bulk up on your cleanup crew such as snails and hermits though. as far as algae goes, you're not goin to find an animal that will make it so you never have to look at algae. you will always have to clean algae from time to time. hermits and snails go a long way trust me. good luck