Ideas for sand bed cleaners?

[aquatic26]

Hi everyone. I have a 20 gallon AIO cube that's about a month old. I have two juvenile clowns, 1 candy cane pistol (we sadly lost his Yasha goby pair the other day), and 1 nassarius. I have been working hard on not over feeding, but regardless I still have some excess food on my sand bed. What else would be a good member of a clean up crew that goes after leftover fish food on the sand and rock, specifically? I'm not opposed to a hermit, but are they that good at consuming excess? The pistol and nassarius co-exist just fine, but they mainly sleep during the day so I can't be sure how much they really consume. Would 20 gallons be too small for a tiger conch?

TIA!

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

A good mix of Multiple Grades, from Sugar Sand to Pea Gravel Size, with lots of Shells, and Shell Rumble is what I use. Then add a Generous Supply of Copepods and Amphipods. BTW my Red Leg Hermits ate all my Nassarius Snails, and the Blue Legs. Blue Legs didn’t touch the Nassarius.

 

[JohnNYC8]

4-5 more Nassarius Snails would help the sand.

Bumblebee snails are great for cleaning detritus off of rockwork. 5-10 in a 20 gallon would suffice.

Have you added any copepods? One jar of mixed pods will seed a 20 gallon and they work pretty hard on the detritus in the sand bed.

 

[kevgib67]

Dwarf red and blue hermits are great and have never caused any problems. Since nassarius snails are carnivores, they would be great. Conches are herbivores but are great at turning your sand over but won’t be much help with your meaty foods. Bumblebees are carnivores as well and areas mentioned would be another good addition and an added benefit they chow down on vermatid snails.

 

[aquatic26]

4-5 more Nassarius Snails would help the sand.

Bumblebee snails are great for cleaning detritus off of rockwork. 5-10 in a 20 gallon would suffice.

Have you added any copepods? One jar of mixed pods will seed a 20 gallon and they work pretty hard on the detritus in the sand bed.

Yes! I should have mentioned that. Added 16oz the other day

 

[fishface NJ]

Just remember that anything that eats.....poops

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

That’s too many Nassarius Snails for that size Aquarium, about One per Ten Gallons. Also the Bumblebee Snails will eventually eat the other snails, also they will eat all the Micro Tube Worms and Damage Soft Corals. Been there, done that. Two to Four Astrea Snails will Clean your Rock, but you’ll have to stay on them, to upright them till they get some Size on them. Marsh Periwinkle’s will keep the Glass above the water line clean, but you need a good, secure top to keep them in the Tank. Be aware many Pet Shops sell Mexican Turbo Snails, they are a Cold Water Snail, and will slowly cook in our Reef Tanks. There is an African Turbo, that looks identical, and it is a Warm Water Snail.