Which stars for a DSB/LS

[waterbury guy]

Was curious as to which stars would be beneficial to my tank as a cleaner. I have a 6" DSB that I seeded with a kit from IPSF.com. I know sand sifting stars are bad, but are there any safe stars that won't decimate my LS?

 

[demodan]

Why is a sand sifting star bad? Just curious, because mine is doing fine, really fun to watch, buries and surfaces without moving much.

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

with a 6" DSB a sand sifting star is your answer. They will move the substrate of the top 2" and keep your lower levels alone creating a good dead zone.

 

[waterbury guy]

Thanks for the info Bruce! I don't mean to second guess you as you probably have 100 times more experience in this hobby as me, but everything I've read on DSB says any sort of sand sifting animal will decimate you bed. Can anyone else out there lend a third opinion?

 

[jim672]

Anthem,
I have a one inch ls bed....just replaced cc. I have three sand sifting stars that I really enjoy. Should I add more sand or am I okay?

 

[jim672]

Thanks for responding, Ed. You are correct, I added the ls because it looks alot nicer than the cc I had. (I have about 45 pounds of lr, a Prizm skimmer and a canister filter to handle filteration in my 45 gal tank.)
Thanks again.

 

[fshhub]

the main reason you should not add a sand sifting star to a sand bed is the fact that they eat the critters as well, so one thing i would worry about is more the pods and other critters(if this is your concern) in the sand than disturbing the sand bed, they are carnivores, not detrivores or algae eaters, but they do move the sand well
maybe a linkia or cucumber, if you are looking for something to just stir up the upper layer of the bed