Dirty Dirty sand

[up-n-comer]

The sand in my tank is starting to get a little tint of brown to it. I do not have a cuc yet as I just now have put a few fish in. The fish by the way don't seem to eat much food and let most of it fall straight to the bottom and they end up not eating it. I am pretty sure this is were the mess on my sand is coming from. Can anyone give me advice on what type of food I should be using, and what sort of criters I should be gettting for this cuc? Also is there anything that I can get that will kinda sift the sand around? Thanks for the info.
Chris
30gal fish
20lbs LR
20lbs LS mixed w/ 40lbs play sand
2 Percula Clowns
2 damsles
3 hermit crabs
1 horseshoe crab that never stays above the sand

 

[slick]

This site sells great clean up crew packages. Look through there and find one that fits your tank.

 

[clarkiiboi]

is the tank new (ish)? and what are feeding the clowns and damsels now? What isnt eating?

 

[fishkid1000]

Watchman gobies do an excelent job of cleaning/sifting the sand. I would no add one unless the tank has been up for at least 6 months.

 

[up-n-comer]

I am curently feeding them with Formula One Marine Pellet. The fish act lick they are hungry but they don't eat it all before it falls to the sand, and then they wont eat it off the sand. I am hoping they will continue to do ok. My tank has only been up for about 3 months. Thanks for the help I appreciate it.
Chris

 

[newreefers]

You may want to try flake food for the clowns if they aren't eating the pellets. don't put too much in, just what they will eat.

 

[clarkiiboi]

I agree, they may not like what you are feeding---I use frozen brine, some greens, flakes, and (sorry I forget the name), but its a cube of mixed foods. Try some variety and see what happens, you dont want them to go too long without eating. And yes, only feed as much as they will eat in a quick period of time, so that it doesnt fall to the bottom uneaten. Also adding garlic helps entice them to eat if all else fails.
Tint of brown on the sand your getting---possibly a diatom bloom-thats happens at the end of the cycle, is your cycle completed? what are your readings?
By cuc do you mean cucumbers? They only thing I know about that is that some are poisonous and I believe they just feed off the crud in the sand.
Lastly, I am still trying to figure out what a good sand sifter would be without depleting the sand bed. But I have read that the horseshoe crabs deplete the sand bed---just what I heard, not from experience at all. Sorry so long HTH

 

[wrassecal]

Are you running a skimmer? If you are overfeeding or the food is just sitting there you are going to have water quality problems soon. Feed frozen brine or a little flake for your clowns. I also think the brown on the sand is probably a diatom bloom, normal and not uncommon for various reasons. I have two conchs to clean my sand, they don't mess with the sand bed. I also have about 2 dozen cerith and nassarius snails to help keep the sand bed in good shape without causing any damage. You probably need some turbo snails too, like maybe three. Don't go with too much of a cleanup crew at first. Add as you see need. You don't say how old your tank is but I'm assuming it's less than 4 months?HTH