Nano sand sifter recommendation

kartrsu · Jan 3, 2020

Hi all and happy new year!

I have a bit of a dilemma. My 20g reef has been getting patches of cyano on the sand and some no hairy type of green algae. The sand begins to clump after a while. I’ve been vacuuming it out through water changes but it keeps returning.

I’m hoping to get something to help stir the sand for me. My tank has a shallow sand bed (<1 inch). I’ve looked at the diamond goby but I think my tank is too small and sand too shallow. Same goes for shifting starfish and fighting conch. I’ve had a Nassarius before but it seems to sit and not move very much. Hermits are no good either. Was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions I may have overlooked (other gobies, etc).

Ron Reefman · Jan 3, 2020

Rather than looking for an animal to fight your cyano issue by going after the results cyano, consider other solutions to address why you have cyano in the first place. Feed the tank less, monitor nitrate and phosphate, and the biggest solution as far as I'm concerned is, more water movement in the tank. Cyano almost always starts where the water is still or calm. It never develops where water is moving a lot.

I hope this helps some and that others will offer more advise.

kartrsu · Jan 4, 2020

Thanks for the advice. Checked my phosphates today and they were at 0.42 ppm, much higher than I remembered. Will do a bunch of water changes to lower the level.