Sand Sifting Starfish

[reefman]

I was told Sand Sifting Starfish while good at sifting sand may hunt down a lot of life forms (worms,pods,etc..) in the sand, thus making it not suitable unless there is a lot of live sand to sustain it. else it can "kill off" the sand.

 

[LeslieS]

All sources that I have found (that are not selling them) say that sand sifting star fish are voracious eaters and will strip your sand bed and then slowly starve.

 

[sporty]

You might be better off with a sand sifting Goby.They really stir up the bottom.

 

[reefman]

You might be better off with a sand sifting Goby.They really stir up the bottom.

i believe they yeild the same results as the sand sifting stars.

 

[Chris5]

I was told Sand Sifting Starfish while good at sifting sand may hunt down a lot of life forms (worms,pods,etc..) in the sand, thus making it not suitable unless there is a lot of live sand to sustain it. else it can "kill off" the sand.

This is true, im my old 65g i had at least 3 of the in the 2yrs i had my tank...While good at stirring the sand, they do eat every last pod etc...in the tank which i dont know is good or bad (well bad for anyone who wants a mandarin who live off of pods) ....I used to watch pods scurry with a flashlight one awhile at nite but after awhile with the stars nothing....as far as killing off the sand beats me, but yes they do starve if no more pods etc ....(stars as well as inverts are also a good indication if your water levels are intacted, if something is off ph, alk etc...usually they are the first to go..)

 

[SuRFeR BoY]

so what is safe and really sturs up the sand... i have 3 conches and about 8 nassaurius snails and they suck lol

 

[reefman]

i find nass snails(big ones) n some cucumbers r good stirrers that doesn't do much damage to my pod/worm population. brittlestars n algea blennies n sucker mouth tangs r good at cleaning top layers of sand. i dont really want or need any deep sand stirrers. i think sea pens r good too but i've heard their survival rates r low.

 

[SuRFeR BoY]

i hate cucumbers. i think they are the ugliest things in the world lol.. my sand bed doesnt get moved much i suppose this is a bad thing.. i have big nass snails but they only come out sometimes.. maybe i should buy more. how many do you recommend for a 55 gallon? my tang and algae blenny doesnt touch the sand bed and my conches try to crawl up the rocks.

 

[reefman]

my nass doesnt do much stirring unless i'm feeding. else its only active at nite. i only have about 12 on a 92 gal. it really depends on what the condition of your sand is to determine how many u need. some have very clean sand with hardly any algea n no clumping that dont even need any.