Best things to sift sand?

[drobes]

It will eat creatures that live in the sand such as amphipods, copepods, tube worms and spaghetti worms. Although most stuff I've read on them suggests that they have the capacity to clean out even a large tank sandbed in a matter of weeks and then they will bury themselves in the sand and slowly starve to death and decay while remaining hidden.

Make sure you have enough micro fuana to sustain one of these.

 

[Germanman]

I would use an army of about 6 queen conchins to perform their duties within your 90 gallon tank. I apply the same method in my 100 gal tank. I would like to clear up this yellow tang argument. Fish grow to the size of the tank they are in, so they are never going to grow to their full biological size when there in a small tank, so thats okay. Unless you get your hands on a 8 or 12 incher straight away!

thats a load right there.....not true they will grow slower and fall shot an inch or two but the small fish small bowl thing is an utmost lie.

 

[Germanman]

I have had my queen conch now for 1 year and its still the same size... Its shell is about 1.5 inches long and cruses arround..

Is it true that sand sifting stars kill a live sand bed? Like if i get a snad sifting starfish will it make my live sand dead? will it eat all the little things that make it live?

they can severely dicipate the sand fauna and usually do so in smaller systems and die and cause a spike.

 

[gomrjoe]

There are some pretty funny comments on this thread!

Seriously, Gobies are probably a safe bet, and do a good enough job, a sand sifting star will work too, if you have a decent bio load to keep it busy. I agree with the other posts for the most part.

I have had a sand sifting star in my 100 gal. for a year now, and I have noticed that when my bio-load is higher (when I had about 14 fish in my tank) he seemed healthier, ie. more active, more visible, etc. A couple of low points in my tanks life, like when I was down to about 7 fish for a while, and he was hard to find sometimes.

That is my two cents worth.

 

[Mr.Firemouth]

I would go for an industrial sized tractor plough.

Personally I thought it was funny.=)

Gobies, stars, conchs, nassarius snails, and yes...a stick!!!

Do not dig too deeply when stirring the sand yourself. Agitate the surface only.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AdamBoro
I would use an army of about 6 queen conchins to perform their duties within your 90 gallon tank. I apply the same method in my 100 gal tank. I would like to clear up this yellow tang argument. Fish grow to the size of the tank they are in, so they are never going to grow to their full biological size when there in a small tank, so that's okay. Unless you get your hands on a 8 or 12 incher straight away!

that's a load right there.....not true they will grow slower and fall shot an inch or two but the small fish small bowl thing is an utmost lie.

Perhaps not a deliberate lie, but the continuance of bad misinformation. The biggest problem with bulletin boards and older published literature is anecdotal information instead of facts. The fact is fish will thrive if provided the proper care, appropriate foods, water quality, and environment. Fish can out grow their containers if provided the proper diet and water quality.

As far as the queen conchs are concerned...most are sold small at 1"-2" and it would take several years and a healthy system for a queen conch to outgrow its tank. These animals do not add shell that quickly. I have and still keep several. They are slow growers. They do move and knock corals around so pinning the coral with acrylic doll rods is one way to prevent this and epoxying the coral to the rock is another.

Without knowing the intentions or age of AdamBoro I would have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is trying to be helpful. Time will tell. It is best to have personal experience or link a published work when offering advise or else it winds up here-say anecdotal and could be wrong. I personally have kept FW and SW aquaria for over 25 years both as a hobbyist and a professional. I maintain over 1,000g in my fishroom at home and another 2,000g of SW in a fishroom in Chicago with my friend John(Fishman).

Here is the link for the snail...
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/super_nassarius.html

 

[esseginz-2]

I have [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Nassarius Snails in my tanks(55g and 25g)They do pretty good job.I also placed low flow powerheads 3 inches above the sandbad.
[/FONT]

 

[Germanman]

nassa snails arnt really sand shifters! they eat mainly carrion, also know as dead flesh, they arnt the best sand shifters and the only real shifting they do is when they bury themselves. they can be a treat to your fish if there are to many just be careful.

 

[esseginz-2]

Thanks for the tip Germanman.

 

[Germanman]

np...and it was saposed to say threat not treat...lol

 

[Suzzie]

i've got a scooter blenny that stirs everything up really well. Fun to watch, too, most dog-like fish I've owned yet.