Please share your secrets to beautiful sandbeds!!!

[WallyB]

I have not run into that problem. but I do feed mine 2 times day. I will drop large sinking shrimp pellets maybe 2 at a time to make sure he is well fed. I put empty snail shells and some small rocks he likes to play with and rearrange. I will nock down his rocks so he stays occupied with rearranging them every so often like maybe once a month.

You may be lucky, or he simply hasn't grown up, or gotten bored or territorial.
I fed mine too, and he was great for about a year and a bit, before the trouble started.

 

[King Turkey]

You may be lucky, or he simply hasn't grown up, or gotten bored or territorial.
I fed mine too, and he was great for about a year and a bit, before the trouble started.

o dang sorry to hear that. I will keep an eye out for him doing that. mine is adult size but i have only owned him for a few months.garth the goby

 

[krash7172]

When my tank was young, I made a tool that turned the sand bed quickly so the tank looked good for guests (ok spouse). I have an algae scrubber now and tank is 2yrs mature. I have a diamond goby and sand sifting starfish. I cant remember the last time I didn't have white sand. IMO the only way to have a photo quality tank takes much human intervention and there is no magic pill.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I used to really struggle to keep my sand clean, I had about 6 nassarius snails but 4 of them died when I got dinos. Now after having to dose phosphates as I bottomed mine out my sand over the last 4 months has gotten cleaner and stayed clean without much intervention from me. It's a 24 gallon tank with only 2 clowns (they dont do anything to help the clean the sand), 1 yellow watchman goby and pistol shrimp (in the areas they go move it around) and 1 nassarius snail.
This is a pic before I cleaned the tank and glass, had to move some corals to make room for others growing, hadn't done a water change on it or cleaned the sand for 1 month
Before

after

to me the pics dont show much difference but there is a slight brown in the first pic, not like I used to have it with cyano then dino all over it.
(Taken in june)

 

[MombasaLionfish]

Here is my sand bed:

And this is who cleans it:

I just wish my giant hermit would also clean my rocks.

 

[Gaspipe]

I have not run into that problem. but I do feed mine 2 times day. I will drop large sinking shrimp pellets maybe 2 at a time to make sure he is well fed. I put empty snail shells and some small rocks he likes to play with and rearrange. I will knock down his rocks so he stays occupied with rearranging them every so often like maybe once a month.

Gotta keep this lil guy's curiosity going like a cat lol

I've also seen a few of you have "sand sifting stars" in their tanks. I read that these guys will 100% sift your sand (and do it well) but will deplete that bed of any and all live matter which is bad for your ecosystem. Am I correct?

 

[MPS]

Thanks, I did use vibrant to get rid of some gha and it worked amazingly well. I could keep it going but more was just interested in what others do. Like how do people have no bits of live rock or invert shells or coral pieces in the sand?! Lol. Photoshop/editing may be a factor.

I’ve had to strain some of the sand bed through a net to get the garbage out in the past. After I moved the tank to a new apartment, there was a lot of broken rock bits in the sand. My current issue is all the calcified tubes from the snails living in the bed. It may be time to do another straining.

 

[SuncrestReef]

Yes, diamond gobies can be a pain when they build piles or cover corals, but I’m retired and home all day, so I’ll see it and blow the sand off corals a couple times per day if needed. But my sand has never been cleaner!

 

[King Turkey]

Wait it's a bad thing for them to totally shift out the sand did not realize I been going about this the wrong way.. face palm ug

 

[Mark Gray]

For me it's easy a diamond goby

 

[Butuz]

Yep, diamond goby for me. Clean sand. New sand aquascape every day!

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Engineer goby and vacuum, vacuum, vacuum! Gobies are wonderful little saltwater Roombas!

 

[Bbfishb81]

Sand sifting sea star, nassaruis snails, and conch snails. I dont vacuum my sandbed but it nice and clean.

 

[brandon429]

my secret is highly complex series of maneuvers:
1. drain tank set corals and rocks on the counter.
2. deploy spiking hot tap for a while.
3. deploy mighty cold tap for a while until snowglobe clean. then ro.
4. refill, and enjoy clean sandbed and 3x tank feeding without having to wipe glass for five months. rinse and repeat as needed tank to tank.
5. I am resolved to using totally unnatural means to attain an infinite lifespan system that never invades, never misbehaves, and never does anything unpredictable. Thank you tap water/free.
6. doesnt it just feel fun in some way to break long standing reef rules? You get to make new ones soon after if your stuff doesnt die.

 

[Bruce60]

I've done a lot of snorkeling and scuba over the years. The "sand beds" near reefs are not pristine either. Lots of rubble and different appearances to the sand.

Personally, I prefer as little work as possible (okay, I have a lazy streak). Why spend your time cleaning sand? Isn't there enough other stuff to clean. Get some critters (many options mentioned above) that will keep the sand "stirred" and enjoy the tank more.

 

[Aqua Man]

I have a 20 long, how many nasarius would be recommended?
only 2 clown fish for bioload. They are kinda dumb and let food get by sometimes.
Or would hermits be better to eat the leftovers?
How dumb you’re wondering? Bought black/blood worms and they ran scared!! Never seen a fish turn down a live squiggly worm!