Stirring sand/cc

[merredeth]

Originally Posted by sw65galma
Man I leave this site for a bit and come back and i see tons of bad info lol..
First off Sand sifting stars die because of 1 reason...lack of food.
Unless you have over 100gal tank, chances are you don't have enough food to support a sand sifting star.
Even if you did...a sand sifter would decimate all living things in your sand bed..basically turing it to Dead sand... (besides the bacteria of course)
The way to get rid of alage on sand is not with sand sifting..but to increase flow in the tank. and reduce Phosphates..
You forgot to mention the horseshoe crab. It will outgrow the tank if it manages to live as odds are they will starve in a 55 gallon tank.
Denise M.

 

[sw65galma]

Originally Posted by Merredeth
You forgot to mention the horseshoe crab. It will outgrow the tank if it manages to live as odds are they will starve in a 55 gallon tank.
Denise M.

Nope i said that...but definaltely good to bring back up.
Originally Posted by sw65galma
Make no mistake, they do destroy benfeical creatures in your sand bed..Along with the goby and horse shoe crabs.

 

[cjml]

:notsure: OK OK

[hr]
geesh-- so please offer some other good advice for a clean up crew for a 55 gallon that would help with his sand problem......

 

[merredeth]

Originally Posted by cjml
:notsure: OK OK

[hr]
geesh-- so please offer some other good advice for a clean up crew for a 55 gallon that would help with his sand problem......
Snails, hermit crabs, engineer goby.
How much water turnover do you have in your tank? Five times the amount of water per hour would be a good start. About 275 gallons per hour would be the minimum if my book. I like to shoot a little higher than five times.
Denise M.

 

[saltfreak4]

I didn't see a horseshoe crab on the original post. I would hang on to the starfish, if you can return him when the work is done.

 

[sw65galma]

Originally Posted by Merredeth
Snails, hermit crabs, engineer goby.
How much water turnover do you have in your tank? Five times the amount of water per hour would be a good start. About 275 gallons per hour would be the minimum if my book. I like to shoot a little higher than five times.
Denise M.

Engineer gobys get very large, some over 12"
They can also cause rock falls, they don't eat alge, they just end up strirring the sand.
The best way to get rid of algae is higher water flow and lower phosphates.
If it's a FOWLR tank, you can cut back the lighting as well.

 

[merredeth]

Originally Posted by sw65galma
Engineer gobys get very large, some over 12"
They can also cause rock falls, they don't eat alge, they just end up strirring the sand.
The best way to get rid of algae is higher water flow and lower phosphates.
If it's a FOWLR tank, you can cut back the lighting as well.
You are correct about a goby getting that large. However, I feel like letting nature stir up the sandbed or crushed coral was an alternative to him doing the actual mixing - as he asked about in the first post.
Perhaps I should have clarified that since he was looking for a solution all the way around. However, if his rocks are secure (I use a 'three point system') and were laid on the actual glass when he started his tank (or eggcrate for that matter) the toppling over issue wouldn't really be as big of a concern as if he didn't.
Sorry for the confusion and lack of clarification.
Denise M.

 

[bobwire]

Well now that everyone is done arguing.
I'm not too concerned about the sand sifter running out of food. There is plenty of sand to sift and a great deal of algea. I feel that he is small enough that he will not clean all the sand before more algea appears. Also one of the foods that I use contains a good bit of dried algea. I imagine that it will be possible that he will get some scrapes off of that.
Let's say for instance that he does run out of algea. Is there not any food on the market that I could hand feed him? Any thoughts?

 

[sw65galma]

First off sand sifting stars do not eat Algae...
They eat pods, worms, diatoms and other critters in the sand bed. Some will take spot feeding...but much like a mandarin they generally don't.
They will slowly starve over the course of a few months and one day you will notice that you haven't seen it surface in a long time...stars "melt" when they die as they have no bone structure to speak of.
You can try feeding small pieces of shrimp..

 

[merredeth]

Originally Posted by BobWire
Let's say for instance that he does run out of algea. Is there not any food on the market that I could hand feed him? Any thoughts?
Frozen krill (defrosted of course) placed under a star will be good for him.
I think sw65galma will probably agree with me on that one.
It has been the experience of many that tells us that you'll need a bigger tank to keep him happy.
By the way, welcome to the boards. I see you haven't posted too many times - so here is my overdue welcome.

Denise M.

 

[sw65galma]

Originally Posted by Merredeth
Frozen krill (defrosted of course) placed under a star will be good for him.
I think sw65galma will probably agree with me on that one.
It has been the experience of many that tells us that you'll need a bigger tank to keep him happy.
By the way, welcome to the boards. I see you haven't posted too many times - so here is my overdue welcome.

Denise M.

Yes you get My stamp of approval

 

[merredeth]

Originally Posted by sw65galma

Yes you get My stamp of approval

And you get mine!

Denise M.