Thoughts on Sand in a 29g

earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
I would like to have something to keep my sand in check. However, I'm unsure if a sand sifting fish would be my best bet as they eat a lot of beneficial stuff. Would nassarius snails, something I plan on having, be all that I would need? What would you recommend for keeping my sand in check?
 
lazuruskfp

lazuruskfp

Member
I am no expert but I have a 29gallon tank that I keep a reef in currently (will upgrade in 3 months) and the use of a combination of blue leg hermits (careful expect snail losses), scarlet, nassarius snails, & astrea snails I have a perfectly white/tan top level on my sand bed (live sand).
When I first started however the inevitable diatom bloom covered it, and the bottom layers continue to gather vibrant purples and greens over time (which i hear is good)... however that top layer is pretty sweet

for your info I use HOWEVER this dosn't mean that a algae eating fish wouldn't work just as well:
5 blue legs
10 astrea (for glass)
9-12 nassarius (lost a few due to crab related assassination)
5 scarlet
I have never had a loss due to starvation that I have seen but this is in a year old tank with 50 lbs of LR and 20 lbs of LS for algae growth. So ajust based on how much surface area you have in your tank.
I hope my modest opinion helps a little.
 
cj7eagle

cj7eagle

Member
My favorite are the nassarius snails by far. they do a good job, and from time to time i see my emerald crab and other hermits picking through the sand. knowing what i know now, i wouldnt get any blue legs, they are pretty vicious little buggers. I have two. I really like my scarlets though.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by LazurusKfP
I hope my modest opinion helps a little.
Absolutly, in fact it is perfect. No two tanks are alike but yours will be closer to mine as it is the same size. I have a few questions for ya if you don't mind. I think I'm allowed to hijack my own thread. :thinking:
What is your stock list? I'd like to keep smaller fish in here and want 2 clowns. I'd like to keep my bioload down but want 4 fish. I was thinking about these others but can't decide on next two fish: fire fish, yellow watchman goby, citron goby, royal gramma, pajama cardinal.
You have a lot of lr in your tank. I was worried about reducing my volume due to rock displacement. Does it look like you have a lot of rock? I don't even know what 30lbs of lr look likes.
What is your flow? How many powerheads? I'd like to have an idea on what I can get away with. I'm going to have a turnover rate of about 25 times an hour. I calculate that with my mag7 return pump, and two mj 400s.
Pictures?
Thanks
 
lazuruskfp

lazuruskfp

Member
Okay to answer my list is:
1 clarkii clown
1 sixline wrasse
1 blue/green chromis
1 purple firefish
so 4 is usually considered overload in a tank my size but if you make the right decisions it can be fine. The big decision you have already made to limit yourself to SMALL fish. Firefish are a great choice for space reasons they are small and don't get very agressive with tank mates. Yellow watchman and citron are good choices small and passive fish but get one or the other their body shapes are similar and that leads to fighting like my wrasse and firefish sometimes do. the cardinal is a mixed bag I'd find out more info before committing... and grammas are great as well but get a goby or firefish with it rather than a gramma + cardinal (both mediumish size).
On LR I have alot in my tank because I was not going to go the refugium/sump route with my first tank due to budget constraints (my second one is going to be a cadallac aquarium though). The volume is an issue especially if you go with swimmers tangs, angels, rabbits ect... but if your going with percs (they wobble around rocks all day and will settle near corals for hours at a time), and smaller fish like firefish they don't move very often when they get in good flow, so its less of an issue. The rocks add a level of filtration that is worth the offset. but anywhere from 20-50 lbs of LR will work out fine as long as you wait for dieoff on them and cycle your tank appropriately. If you build everything well you will never have a problem... I have never seen a reading of nitrates in my tank since its cycle 9 months ago thanks to some clever pruning of beneficial algae and a 5-10% water change every 2 weeks.
I currently am running a HOB skimmer+2 MJ 900's for circulation... my turnover is ummm well its alot somewhere in the 30-50 range. You can never really have TOO much as I have found as long as you angle them well. To give you an example:
I started out with just the rocks and inverts so I had heavy focused flow to eliminate algae and help push away dieoff so the PH were on opposite sides of the tank focused on the rock. As I got fish the powerheads were mounted on the back to maximize the amount of swimming room and they were focused at an angle toward the center of the tank in a V shape. Now with the low flow corals I have added and my new tall rock structure I bank the powerheads off the glass to provide turbulence in the center.
And as far as pictures... I have some old ones that I'll try to dig up and post later.
If you run into any more trouble this site has proven time and time again to help with almost any aquarist question.
 
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