Sand sifters

[jaxteller007]

Any advice on sand sifters? We've had 2 diamon gobies who did great, unfortunately both jumped, the last one through a gap I thought two small for any fish to get through. While I am gonig to finish making the screen top today and that *should* eliminate any gaps, I'm open to other options.

We've got a few of those snails that bury themselves (can't remember the name), a couple emerald crabs and some hermits. I hesitate to get more hermits because despited putting like 15 empty shells in the tank, they still like to go after our glass cleaning snails.

I saw that the conch's are good but with our rock not being glued together (thanks aquarium movers :/ ) wouldn't we have to be concerned about the conch's knocking the rock over due to their large size?

 

[Bayareareefer18]

Any advice on sand sifters? We've had 2 diamon gobies who did great, unfortunately both jumped, the last one through a gap I thought two small for any fish to get through. While I am gonig to finish making the screen top today and that *should* eliminate any gaps, I'm open to other options.

We've got a few of those snails that bury themselves (can't remember the name), a couple emerald crabs and some hermits. I hesitate to get more hermits because despited putting like 15 empty shells in the tank, they still like to go after our glass cleaning snails.

I saw that the conch's are good but with our rock not being glued together (thanks aquarium movers :/ ) wouldn't we have to be concerned about the conch's knocking the rock over due to their large size?

Is your rock on top of the sand bed or sitting on the glass. I have a single fighting conch and am considering adding more. Even though they are slow he seems to be out working quite a bit when not buried in the sand. They are pretty cool to watch too

 

[jd371]

I have two Conches and a Rainford's Goby that keep my sand clean. The Conches are workhorses constantly working the sand. My rocks are loose and the Conches never shift or budge them, can't say the same for loose frags on the sand though. The Goby was an impulse buy that turned out to be a blessing. He sifts the sand all day but doesn't make a mess, no mounds and covered corals, the worst it gets is a light sprinkling over some corals that gets blown off eventually. When he's not sifting the sand he's eating algae off the rocks.

 

[Jesterrace]

I had 2 Diamond Watchman Gobies die on me in the last year, so I switched to Conch Snails. Nassarius (the ones the OP mentioned) are nice but it takes a lot of them in a big tank to get the job done. Only a few conch snails are needed to keep a large tank's sand bed clean. The other thing nice about the Conch snails is that they also eat detritus (something most snails and a Goby won't do). I got a couple of conch snails for my 90 gallon tank with 60lbs of sand and they do okay keeping the sand clean (but I will be getting another 1 or 2 to really keep it cleaned up).

 

[jaxteller007]

Is your rock on top of the sand bed or sitting on the glass. I have a single fighting conch and am considering adding more. Even though they are slow he seems to be out working quite a bit when not buried in the sand. They are pretty cool to watch too

It's on the sand but pushed down a little. It was all epoxyed together, at least the big pieces. But the people that moved it knocked it all lose and I haven't tried putting it back together like that.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I had 2 Diamond Watchman Gobies die on me in the last year, so I switched to Conch Snails. Nassarius (the ones the OP mentioned) are nice but it takes a lot of them in a big tank to get the job done. Only a few conch snails are needed to keep a large tank's sand bed clean. The other thing nice about the Conch snails is that they also eat detritus (something most snails and a Goby won't do). I got a couple of conch snails for my 90 gallon tank with 60lbs of sand and they do okay keeping the sand clean (but I will be getting another 1 or 2 to really keep it cleaned up).

I have some nassarius as well. They seem to stay put, buried, most of the time but come out of the woodworks when food goes into the tank.

I have one of the large tongan ones. That guy is a speed demon and see him all over