NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 So I've lost 2 sand sifting goby's over the past 4 months and I think I'm done with these guys until my sand bed gets a little more under control. I already have some nassarius snails but should I just get some more to help sift the sand? What would everyone suggest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 Oh yeah one more thing. I'm out of town all week next week so I don't want something that is going to take a lot of focus. I will have someone over here to watch the tank and my dogs on and off all day but I don't want them to worry about any new additions to the tank. I'm guessing the snails is the probable choice but would like to hear from others on here as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 More nassarius! I got a fever, and the only prescription...is more nassarius! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 On my other thread ReeFit was suggesting possibly getting a cucumber or a sandsifting star. I've heard bad things about cucumbers but they do look pretty cool. Should I risk my tank with one quite yet? Or should I stick to the normal things like stars and snails? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I would stay away from the sand sifting stars, no matter what the LFS's tell you. They will kill your sandbed of any and all nutritional value and then slowly starve themselves, so they're a bad choice. Your best bet is to go with a couple of Tonga Fighting Conchs, stay away from the Queen Conchs, they'll kill your inverts an fish if given a chance, and the nassarius snails as Alex recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Re: Clean Up Crew for Sand bed? If your sand bed isn't like 6 inches I would dismiss the sand sifting star I like my cucumber but beware if it dies Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 not even close to 6 inches deep. maybe more on the lines of 2 maybe 3 in some spots deep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 my opinion on the stars is that if you have a large sand bed, they are beneficial in removing lots of waste and detrius and stirring the sand bed to keep it from going anaerobic. IMO the positives far exceed the negatives. I also like lots of nassarius snails, but to many and they will get aggressive when they search for food and go after living things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gradth Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I have had the same sand sifting star in my tanks for almost 2 years, my sand bed is far from depleted. Between him, my diamond goby and my mass of nassarius snails my sand is about spotless. Ironically I just moved my star fish over to my other tank since Im lacking a sand cleaning crew in there at the moment. Ill let you know if it gets depleted or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 not even close to 6 inches deep. maybe more on the lines of 2 maybe 3 in some spots deep. thats a perfect depth. I recommend not going much deeper than 3, preferably 2" some people don't even run a sand bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 The problem that I guess I will have with a star is that if my goby didn't find enough food in the sand will that be the same with the star fish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 Very much so, go with the conchs and the snails, leave the star's along for now lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackaninny Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I have 3 Nassarius for about 20 lbs of sand in a Biocube 29 and they couldn't keep the sugar sand stirred up enough to keep it clean. I got a yellow head and while I like him a lot he tends to drift upward while sifting and the MP10 just puts that sand everywhere. I've slowly been changing out the sugar with 1-2mm aggregate and it helps the goby problem a little. I've also had zero problem with clean sand since the goby but it was also shortly after that I started the sand change so it's hard to pinpoint the exact solution in my case. How many nassarius do you have in there now? It's a 75 gal correct? How many would people suggest for that size tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 I have about 5-8 of them right now. I've lost count since they are always in the sandbed...lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gradth Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 The problem that I guess I will have with a star is that if my goby didn't find enough food in the sand will that be the same with the star fish? The stars completly bury themselves in the sand, they go deep like a nassarius. What kind of gobies are you trying? Some are very hard to keep. I have had dragon, diamond and neon sleepers. Had good and bad luck with all. Right now I can seem to keep one alive in my FOWLR tank. I have had the same diamond goby in my 180 for about year or so and hes fat and happy. Problem is they like to jump. Dragons are really good, but if you get ich or something in the tank, they go fast. The sleepers I could not get to eat at all. A bad impulse buy at the time with out doing research. They slowly starved to death. I have had 2 diamonds jump, one die of ich and the other was torn to shreads by a hawkfish. Then I have my big fat one that is perfectly happy in my reef. Even lets my shrimp clean his gills daily. Dont be scared of sand sifting star fish. If your nassarius are not cutting it, find a small one and see how it goes. Make sure you drip them slowly though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 What kind of gobies are you trying? The first one was a diamond goby and the one that died today was a dragon goby. The diamond goby wasn't healthy when i got the tank and died within a week of me having it setup (it came with the tank). The dragon goby I had for over 2 months but has been looking pretty slim for awhile now. A couple of weeks ago I went to SWF and got some Reef Nutrition food for him and he seemed to like it but maybe it was too little too late. I also just added some copepods last week to help him too. Since I'm going out of town next week I'm not crazy about adding a new fish to the tank, plus I'm pretty fish heavy already so loosing one might not be a bad deal (poor guy). I like the idea of a cucumber but since I'm going to be gone from the tank I wouldn't be able to jump on the tank right away if there were issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I'm a HUGE believer in the fighting conchs, I've got one in my tank currently, and while he hasnt totally cleaned my sandbed up, its a night and day difference for sure, 1 more plus some snails and I should be golden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 I've had a Diamond Goby for a few years, It eats fish food as well as sifting the sand. I bought a Sand Star earlier this year and its fine. it stays at the front of the tank where the sand is deep, they bury themselves just under the sand surface so they really dont bother the sand bed. I wouldnt give up on a fish just because one died, I've had a few over the years, sometimes fish die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 So I'm all about buying local if I can like most on here but I've found a few sites that have some amazing prices on Clean up crews. Should I be concerned about them being shipped to me? It sounds like most of the companies over ship because they know that some will be DOA. I'd have a hard time believing that local shops could compete with these prices including the shipping even. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 My contribution is to stay away from the starfish. I had one and it slowly starved to death after eating all my nassarius snails. It was pitiful watching it slowly loose an arm or so every now and then... :( I think you would need a larger tank than a 75g to keep a sand sifting star happy. Why not wait until you get back to add anything new? That is an option, and then you would not need your sitter to worry about a new addition. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 Why not wait until you get back to add anything new? That is an option, and then you would not need your sitter to worry about a new addition. dsoz Your probably right....lol I'm just looking forward to adding more and more to the tank I guess...(laugh) I'm leaning more towards getting some more snails. I might even get some brittle stars but that's not for the sand bed. Just because they are a good price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeFit Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 i agree on the waiting part. its never a good thing to rush anything in reefing. I also agree on the try more fish as well. I would try another diamond goby. Golden sleepers are hard to keep alive, i've been through 3 of them. I've also been through 3 dragon goby's. The diamonds seem to be the hardiest. All of them will jump, especially if they are stressed. My dragon goby right now sleeps at the top of the tank in the frag rack. I would say do 1 nasarius snail per 10 gallons. you get more than that and they start fighting over stuff. For my cleanup crew i have probably 25 snails of various kinds, 30 hermit crabs, 4 lettuce slugs, abalone, 2 emerald crabs, 1 sally lightfoot, 1 sifting star, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 pencil urchins and 1 spiny urchin in my 55 gallon tank alone. been running that way for about a year, i feed once every other day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 If you don't have a wife/girlfriend asking for sand, just go barebottom The most successful and beautiful display tanks I had the pleasure to admire were barebottom. This is very common in european tanks, which are still my first source of inspiration. Much more effective ways to add the benefits of sand are remote sand beds, either in a refugium style setup or just with a remote sand reactor for anaerobic denitrification. Sulfur reactors can do the same job. Big names.... easy concepts at the end and not complicated to implement. This way you don't have to add critters that can move too much sand and detritus and go after food meant to be for corals, as somebody else already pointed out. Anyway, if you can't live without sand, stirring it once a week before the water change and try to syphon a few inches above it will do the trick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted June 1, 2010 Share Posted June 1, 2010 If you don't have a wife/girlfriend asking for sand, just go barebottom The most successful and beautiful display tanks I had the pleasure to admire were barebottom. This is very common in european tanks, which are still my first source of inspiration. Much more effective ways to add the benefits of sand are remote sand beds, either in a refugium style setup or just with a remote sand reactor for anaerobic denitrification. Sulfur reactors can do the same job. Big names.... easy concepts at the end and not complicated to implement. This way you don't have to add critters that can move too much sand and detritus and go after food meant to be for corals, as somebody else already pointed out. Anyway, if you can't live without sand, stirring it once a week before the water change and try to syphon a few inches above it will do the trick I totally agree with you on that one Alex. I would love to have a barebottom tank. I can't stand all the algae and crap (literally) that ends up in the sand bed. The sand also irritates the corals. My acans always do better when I take them off of the sand. I have seen a few and for me I didn't notice for a while because I was too busy staring at the corals. The new frag tank is barebottom. Beth can't stand it but it doesn't make sense adding sand to the frag tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted June 1, 2010 Author Share Posted June 1, 2010 The sand also irritates the corals. My acans always do better when I take them off of the sand. I never thought about that. My acans seem to be doing ok so far on the sand bed but I will keep a closer eye on them. I kind of like the sand bed myself and so does my wife so it's going to be sticking around. When I get back from my vacation I might try to get another goby. I think I'm going to order 2 emeralds, 20 nassaruis snails, 25 hermits crabs, and 2 brittle stars. I know the brittle stars are not for the sand bed but all I have in the tank are the small brittles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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