ggNoRe
Well-Known Member
Found this while vacationing in Sarasota Florida. Can anyone please help me ID and let me know if it safe to put in my reef tank? Also plan on putting some of the live sand in my refugium as well. Opinions?
Reef Safe?
- Thread starter ggNoRe
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RedFrog211
Valuable Member
You have found a deceased Sand Dollar- an echinoderm, related to sea stars and urchins. Depending on the state’s law, it can be illegal to remove from the beach, so I would be very careful! (Especially if alive, which would be purple and would have tube feet on the underside). Adding sand into an aquarium always has risk. You may introduce something beneficial, though you may also introduce a parasite or pest. I would use caution, as I find the risk is not worth the reward. Best of luck!
WheatToast
2500 Club Member
I know OP’s sand dollar is deceased, but I’ll share some care information regardless:
From what I have read, live sand dollars will starve in most systems as they will deplete sand biodiversity. I have heard one success story where someone fed their sand dollar sinking pellets and gave it access to a detritus-saturated bed of crushed coral. I have also heard that sand dollars can be provided live brine shrimp as food, must be given a sand bed deep enough to orient themselves sideways, and require very specific sand grain sizes for different species.
From what I have read, live sand dollars will starve in most systems as they will deplete sand biodiversity. I have heard one success story where someone fed their sand dollar sinking pellets and gave it access to a detritus-saturated bed of crushed coral. I have also heard that sand dollars can be provided live brine shrimp as food, must be given a sand bed deep enough to orient themselves sideways, and require very specific sand grain sizes for different species.
