sand stirrers/sifters

[joselastra]

what are my options for sand sifting/stirring inhabitants? ive got a ssand sifting starfish that does a great job but only where he is at that moment. is there anything else i can get to turn over the sand, i have a 55g.

 

[NYreefNoob]

cucumbers or sand sifting star fish or nas snails

 

[steve614]

got a couple of olive snails from animals and things on rt 1.they really plowed thru my sandbed in my 75,and they ate any leftover food that hit the sandbed.that is until my puffer ate them

 

[wxl14]

Get like 15 Nas snails. You should be fine. They do a great job.

 

[tosiek]

20+ for a 55 if they are the small ones. the larger ones you can get away with 10 or so.

 

[wxl14]

I think Absolute fish has 10 for 30 bucks dont know if that is a god price but be sure to tell them you want the large ones

 

[joselastra]

thanks, i had some nas. snails but they all were eaten( hermits, gotta love 'em). ill have to go out and get some more. cucumbers, tiger tail or sand sifting? is there a drifference?

 

[ZBT3091]

in a 55 you could try a diamond goby. i have one in my 75 and he is constantly chewing the sand up all day making burrows and tunnels under the live rock

 

[NYreefNoob]

i have 40 plus nas in a 50g breeder, 50+ hermits, 20 + turbo's 20+ large mexican turbo's 2 different cucumbers and a conch. i feed a little heavy so i like having a ton of clean up crew, talk to jim at hof one of our vendors he has them

 

[SIReefer]

Along w/an army of snails (mostly Nassarius), I have 2 engineer gobies and 2 yellowhead jawfish. These fish are good if you don't have corals on the sandbed.

 

[rookie07]

I am a rookie!!!!!!!!
From what ive learned...the only reason the hermits would kill snails would be for the shells...you need extra shells for the hermits as they out grow the old shells.

 

[Chris5]

becareful with the sand sifter star when the pod population decreases (hence its food supply) they pretty much starve ... :irked:

 

[joselastra]

any way to rebuild the pod population w/o a refugium??? hopefully thats not THAT dumb of a question.

 

[NYreefNoob]

you can buy pods. reef nutrient i think is the company that sells them. i usually get a bottle of artci pods every few months

 

[joselastra]

can i still add these pods w/o a refugium? is there a preference between pods? amphipods/copepods?

 

[GQ22]

ive had all of the mentioned above, and nothing beat fighting conchs. ive got like 10 of them in the sand.

 

[Iriee1]

How about horseshoe crabs. I was told to get them for my sand bed.

 

[inkblue]

tHese snaiLs are cooL... tHye come out of the sand like the moVie 'Dune' :sgrin:

 

[SIReefer]

Don't get a hoseshoe crab. They will knock everything over and they get big fast. They also get stuck everywhere.