to stir the sand or to not stir up the sand

elitephoto

elitephoto

Member
my tank has been building up hermit crab pooh and a little bit of brown algae. my clean up crew doesnt seem to get that all to go away so is it bad for the fish if i stir up the sand so the stuff will flaot to the overflow and into my sump?
 
E

essop3

Guest
How old is your tank?
How deep is your sand?
Did you seed it with wild sand or sand from an established tank?
What kind of sand cleaners do you have? (conch, snails, Cuke,etc)
A basic answer is no, don't stir it. You can release nasty stuff into the tank. Little tiny critters in the sand should stir it for you.
 
elitephoto

elitephoto

Member
I have another 12 various types of snails, a large sand sifter star, a few really large electric blue hermits, a large fire shimp. 70 gallon tank, 80lbs live sand (from a bag) 70lbs live CURED rock, tank is now 8 weeks old. put dt plankton in since day one...went threw 4 bottles now. so the tank fro being young is in really good shape. I just hate seeing crap on the bottom of my otherwise beautiful tank
 
jcarroll

jcarroll

Member
Listen to alyssia, do not stir your sand bed! You will cause an ammonia spike and your livestock will be at risk. Just buy some snails that bury in the sand. I'm trying to remember what they're called, but do a search on keeping a sandbed clean and I'm sure you'll get some great ideas
 
blue00si

blue00si

Member
I stired my sand bed once, will never do it again. Killed most my livestock!!! Get a counch, I got 2 queen conch it helped a great deal.
 
fishmamma

fishmamma

Active Member
If you can get your hands on some worms (bristle or spaghetti) they should help keep the bed free of detritus too. I have 3 tanks and the one full of worms has the cleanest sand bed even with a smaller amount of snails and hermits.
 
E

essop3

Guest
Stop using DT's. You don't need it yet. The snails you need are nassarius and cerith. A fighting conch will go a long way in keeping it clean too. Most of your problem right now is its just a new tank. It will look better as it matures.
Also find somewhere to get a cup of established sand. While you are probably gonna get all the worms, pods, and bacteria you need from the live rock, adding established sand will speed up the maturing of the sand bed.
Lose the star. They are bad for a sand bed in the long run. They feed off all the good stuff you want in it. Do a few searches on them.
Good luck with your new tank!!
 
symon

symon

Member
Nassuras snails are great sand sifters, also a diamond goby works well!
Do NOT stir your sand!
Increase your clean up crew possibly add some flow to the tank, New power head, change the direction of existing flow to hit the dead spots. that will keep the diteris from settling
 
elitephoto

elitephoto

Member
the flow in the tank is great. as for the DTs I use it because I so alrady have live coral in the tank and I was told to use DTs and use Cycle to help it along. ill check into these Conch thingys and prolly get a few more snails.
 
moby

moby

Member
I have 3 fighting conches and 2 queen conches.
They do a great job of patrolling and cleaning the sand bed.
Something I did, not intentionally, was mix these guys in one tank and it seems to work out well. The fighters stay out most during the day and the queens seem to be more nocturnal which works out well. I've got 24 hour coverage on sand duty!

Moby
 
wilsonreef

wilsonreef

Member
I don't have to worry about stirring my sand bed, I have the most effective sand sifter of all....a 20" long SFE. Boy this guy gives me a fit.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by Saltwater8
What about just having 2 brittle stars in your 75 gallon to keep the sand clean?
Will this work?


I don't think so.
 
moby

moby

Member
What about just having 2 brittle stars in your 75 gallon to keep the sand clean?
Well they do help keep the ditritous (Oh I know I butchered that spelling!) cleaned up behind and under the LR.
Moby
 
moby

moby

Member
Well, during the day they hide it caves, liverock, etc.
But at night they come out to scavenge the tank...
Good point, but I'm not how sure they really stir up the sand.
I love my conches. They do a great job, don't bother anybody, never even think about predation and I like watching their little eyes peeking out of the sand.
They are very small, only about 2 inches long now. When I bought them about 18 months ago they were about 1/2 inch smaller. They are in my 180 so I think it will be a long time before they outgrow it.
Moby
 
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