Good Sand Bed Stirrers

[jawwad2004]

Hey wassup ya'll,
My sand bed is looking a lil weird (always has, always gotta clean it up manually). I have 4 sand shifting stars in there, but would like to know what others animals can I keep in there to keep the bed stirred constantly? Thanks.

-Jawwad

 

[GQ22]

should get a cuke (sea cumcumbers). i bought a 4 inch cuke from a reefer about 4 months ago, and now the thing is about 10 inches long and eats sand all day long.

 

[jawwad2004]

Do you mean, literally eats the sand or does he just filter it for detritus?

 

[House of Laughter]

The Cuke eats it and sh**s it out

If your cuke grw tat fast, that means it is eating alot - and that means you had alot in the sand bed to start with. Keep an eye on him in case he runs out of food and dies.

House

 

[jawwad2004]

I havent seen any cukes in the LFS's around here. you know where i can get them?

 

[alrha]

a pistol shrimp and many gobies will work at turning the sand a little. some sand-dwelling wrasses may also help. nassarius snails live in the sand and will turn it and clean it a bit as well.

 

[Missy Johnson]

Yeah, nassarius snails are AWESOME - they live in the sandbed and when you drop in food it is like the night of the living dead, they all start surfacing.

 

[Dmitry]

How many nassarius snails should one have?

I've read some very mixed things about keeping cucumbers. It seems like it's not without risks.. And I'm not sure I want a 10 inch nasty looking worm in my tank! LOL.

 

[alrha]

I dont have cucumbers for that reason, dont like risk.

I would say about 1snail/20sq"

ex. tank is 60"x24"=1440sq" x 1snail/20sq" = 72 snails

 

[Doc]

if anyone is buying these snails could you PM me? I'd love to get a couple dozen.

 

[House of Laughter]

Doc,

When you have time, check out the group buy section, I am ordering and plan to get a ton.

House

 

[jawwad2004]

House, put me down, Alrha made it very simple with tat equation, lol. I would need about 32, so when you ordering, let me know and ill forward you the funds.

 

[DEEPWATER]

i bought sand sifting snails off ebay for about 4 bux for 100 of them ,i dont how much they are now ,but dont think much more than that .shipping wasnt take much either

 

[alrha]

note that my equation isnt based on anything, i just made it up myself to what i think would make sense as a starting amount. as the tank matures, you'll be able to tell how much more you would need (if any).

 

[jawwad2004]

According to Pet Solutions, you should have 1 nassarius per 1.5 gallons of water, hmm. . .?

 

[alrha]

i think it should be based on the size of the sand bed, not the gallons in the tank.

(keep in mind, the more they sell you the more they profit)