What are the 3 best diatom eaters?

[fishkiller]

Well, this one kinda speaks for itself. I have had a problem w/ both diatoms and cyano trying to overtake my tank. I just started using RO and I syphoned the crap off the sand bed before adding the RO. So now I'm anticipating another crap-attack. I have about 10-15 blue and red leg hermits, and they really don't spend much time in the sand. What eats this stuff the best?

 

[michaeltx]

fighting conchs are good at eating diatoms and will eat some cyno but not sure what the minimum size tank they need.
Mike

 

[coloradodeb]

Maybe my fish are strange but, in both of my tanks, I have added a banded sleeper goby when I had a bad diatom problem.......and they cleaned both tanks up in just a matter of days. They eat any and everything I put in for feed also. The downside is, in my 120g, I have southdown, and he kept a constant sandstorm, until I bought aragonite, to help settle the dust.......still a white sand bed now. Just my 2 cents.....
debs

 

[iluvfish]

I guess the diff between FC and QC are their sizes?

 

[kreach]

Originally posted by coloradodeb
Maybe my fish are strange but, in both of my tanks, I have added a banded sleeper goby when I had a bad diatom problem.......and they cleaned both tanks up in just a matter of days. They eat any and everything I put in for feed also. The downside is, in my 120g, I have southdown, and he kept a constant sandstorm, until I bought aragonite, to help settle the dust.......still a white sand bed now. Just my 2 cents.....
debs
Another problem with gobies like that is that they also will completely wipe out the pod population in your tank. We are seriously considering removing our orange diamond goby for that reason... we have hardly seen a single pod in months.