Do I need a sand sifter?

[dvb]

I have a 55 gal tank. See 'members tanks' for details. My sand bed is looking pretty crusty. My tank has been going since 10/01. Do I need something other than hermits to sift through the sand and keep it churned? I was thinking of a goby or some kind of starfish? Any ideas?

 

[Mike and Donna]

My experience has been as follows:

Engineer gobys are an overkill! I had a couple that did a great job of cleaning the sand, but moved it way too much and made a mess of things.

Sand sifting stars tend to be rather restricted in a 55. (I had one in my 58.)

What does do the trick are Nassarius snails. I have about 50 of them in my 58. They bury down just under the surface (so they don't disturb the DSB), keep the top layer clean, and are fun to watch as they pop out when you feed the tank.

 

[SPC]

I use, 1 sand eating cucumber (turd), 2 conchs, and about 40 nassarius snails in my 180. The animals you mentioned above hermits etc... are counter productive as they will eat all of the beneficial critters in your sand bed.
Steve

 

[dvb]

What about sea stars? Do they wreak havoc? The blue starfish are pretty cool looking. They look like they get a little big though. Any other ideas. I would like to stick to stuf from the indo-pacific region.

 

[reefworm]

I would agree w/Mike and Donna - the snails should do the trick. As far as your DSB goes, if you have a good population of benthic creatures - worms,etc., they do any amazing job of moving things around under the surface. Dr. Ron discusses that at some length in Sand Bed Secrets.

The blue linkia to which you refer is a beautiful animal, but has a spotty survival record. Apparently it has a pretty narrow range of things on which it feeds and seems to do best in large, established systems. They have a tendency to starve or disintegrate due to osmotic shock from introduction to the new tank, sometimes weeks later.

Personally, I'd go with the snails. Also, make sure you have good water flow over the surface or you may be courting a cyano outbreak.

regards,
rw