What Should I Add To Help Keep Sandbed Clean?

[ReefWithCare]

Hi There,

So I'm pretty certain at this point the dinos in my tank are finally dead (yay!). I've been thinking about getting something to keep my sandbed clean as that the main thing that is browning up now. The sandbed is about 2" and primarily there for my wrasses. I have a 125G tank and it's been running since May. I have a fuge running and had to restart my pod and fauna population after the dino outbreak - which ended up killing most of the inverts I had. Right now, I have random snails, worms, and hermits that came from an IPSF order (IPSF said they were Nerite, Hawaiian Turbo, and Littorinid snails. They are pretty busy at night and do a good job on the glass and rocks, just not on the sand. I have Caribsea Special Grade Reef sand. I noticed the hermits are too small to pick up the sand and clean, which I have seen before when I had red scarlet hermits in my last reef.

The IPSF order did come with mini brittle stars and bristle worms --- but I haven't seen them since I added them. I think my wrasses may have eaten them. I know they took out several hermits and snails when I first added them.

I've thought about a diamond watchman goby, but I hear they can starve to death. My tank is very well covered and I feed like no tomorrow (otherwise my phosphates and nitrates bottom out). My phosphates are a little high at 0.09 and my nitrates stay around 10. There are currently 9 fish in the tank.

I do not plan on putting corals on my sandbed.

 

[Mr.Asbury]

My diamond watchman has done an awesome job at cleaning my sand. He has been out and visible since the moment I added him to the tank. I added a yellow watchman at the same time, however, and he went into hiding. The diamond is still front and center in my tank and made my sand go from brown to perfectly clean looking (in a 180g), but I haven't seen the yellow since I added him in 2 weeks ago (am marking him as dead now, even though I have not found a body).

 

[cromag27 Verified Sponsor]

nassarius snails and tiger tail cucumber.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Sand Sifting Sea Star, Fighting Conch, Sea Cucumber...
What kind of Wrasses do you have?
Your feeding a lot raises a red flag in spurring the unwanted algae growth in your benthic area of your tank. You may want to cut back on the feeding and increase water flow to the lower regions of your tank minimize dead spots as well.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Sand Sifting Sea Star, Fighting Conch, Sea Cucumber...
What kind of Wrasses do you have?
Your feeding a lot raises a red flag in spurring the unwanted algae growth in your benthic area of your tank. You may want to cut back on the feeding and increase water flow to the lower regions of your tank minimize dead spots as well.

I have a malanarus wrasse that will eat any invert I’ve placed in the tank including shrimp.

I primarily fed a lot because I couldnt get my levels up even dosing nitrates and phosphates was a battle. It did help when I added more fish though. I basically feed them until they look like they are going to explode.

 

[mtraylor]

More sand and a tiger goby. Get yourself some nassarius snails as well.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Gravel vac. Nothing you add is going to remove as quickly. Cuc is more about maintaining not fixing in most circumstances.

Personally Would not add a sand sifting sea star to a tank that young.

 

[Coralreefer1]

I would pass on the snails, ornamental Shrimp and hermits because of your Melanurus Wrasse as it is like offering it a buffet lunch!

 

[ReefWithCare]

I would pass on the snails and hermits because of your Melanurus Wrasse as it is like offering it a buffet lunch!

Definitely, he is slowly picking them all off [emoji28].

Oh I gravel vac - I actually stopped doing water changes after i bottom’ed out. I did a small water change a week ago and a little timid about changing water not wanting Dinos to come back. I actually wish my levels could go up (they have been slowly dropping since my last nitrate/phosphate dosing) so I didn’t have to be paranoid about gravel vacuuming and water changes. I usually only do 1/3 of a section at a time when I gravel vac.

 

[ca1ore]

Sand sleeping wrasses are good at turning over the sand bed. I’m also a fan of snails and cukes. I’d pass on the conch and sand star - much more likely to die than thrive.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Fwiw my experience with dinos is the mess they made they take with them as they leave bloom numbers.

Not sure if this was the microfauna i added, running uv, or just their microscopic nature. But i did very little in the way of clean up with them as opposed to true algae.

 

[alex.mccann99]

Sand Sifting starfish will eat all the beneficial microfauna in your sandbed and eventually starve. I have a Diamond Goby, he also eats Mysis and Pellet food like a pig. Spends all day long sifting through the sand and building new caves around the tank. You can try fighting conchs, they are great little workers, although slower and I've had them only stick to certain areas in my tank they easily can get to. Nassarriss snails are carnivores, sure they will mix up your sand, but ultimately they want to eat meat foods. If you're getting algae on your sand bed, looking at cutting down your lighting schedule. Not sure what kind of lighting you have, but you can look at cutting down the ON period by a half hour at a time and look for reduction. Algae is a result of several different things. Too much feeding, too much lighting, not enough flow. If you cut back in some of these area, you'll get rid of the algae. Remember, your "Live" sand is also a filtration source. If you get rid of the beneficial microfauna and various things living in it, you'll get rid of a very important part of your reef ecosystem.

 

[alex.mccann99]

Sand Sifting starfish will eat all the beneficial microfauna in your sandbed and eventually starve. I have a Diamond Goby, he also eats Mysis and Pellet food like a pig. Spends all day long sifting through the sand and building new caves around the tank. You can try fighting conchs, they are great little workers, although slower and I've had them only stick to certain areas in my tank they easily can get to. Nassarriss snails are carnivores, sure they will mix up your sand, but ultimately they want to eat meat foods. If you're getting algae on your sand bed, looking at cutting down your lighting schedule. Not sure what kind of lighting you have, but you can look at cutting down the ON period by a half hour at a time and look for reduction. Algae is a result of several different things. Too much feeding, too much lighting, not enough flow. If you cut back in some of these area, you'll get rid of the algae. Remember, your "Live" sand is also a filtration source. If you get rid of the beneficial microfauna and various things living in it, you'll get rid of a very important part of your reef ecosystem.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Siphoning and sand sifting starfish.. . . and why not a diamond back goby

 

[tony'stank]

My flame hawk ate all the crustaceans in my CUC. I have three fighting conchs that do a great job on the sand in my RSR450

 

[Idoc]

My diamond watchman goby is one of the favorite fish of anyone looking at the tank. Great personality and constantly keeping my sand looking great. He'll eat whatever is in the sand and finally goes into the water column to eat frozen mysis shrimp when i feed nightly. I don't think you will have a problem with it starving. But they are jumpers...screen is the only thing that will keep one in the tank.

 

[DarkSky]

I have 6 fighting conchs in my 220g, they're doing a good job at cleaning it up. I just started feeding more heavily so my sand is starting to grow alage. Between them and the sand vac it works well.

 

[User1]

Clean is a interesting choice of words to use. Some of the creatures listed will deplete, in short order, any life in the bed. Predators will mow through the microfauna. If you go this route be it fish or snail you add only one or x number based on tank size so it doesn't deplete at a faster rate of their reproduction. It is a balancing act for sure. There are things you can do to keep it cleaner or additions if you will that move through it turning it over. Or you can add clams that do similar - I've used IPSF for these previously that work and live a long time.

In my case with a 210 gallon running a deep bed I go the more cautious route of being selective and limit what I add so I don't wreck this layer filtration. My stock list has a single goby/pistol shrimp paring and one source of fish that eats pods or worms. This way I don't have a lot of fish competing for the same food or eating faster which it can reproduce. May not work in the end but at least it sounds good in theory.

Which is interesting because I'd like to add a several wrasses but may only end up with one.

 

[PDR]

Sand sleeping wrasses are good at turning over the sand bed. I’m also a fan of snails and cukes. I’d pass on the conch and sand star - much more likely to die than thrive.

Do conchs have a reputation of not making it very long?

 

[azbigjohn]

Do conchs have a reputation of not making it very long?

I had a Fighting Conch in my 150, and it lived for 2+ years until I gave it away because I was breaking down the tank.

I was told a rule of thumb is one per 75 gallons in an established tank, but I only kept one. I did have a huge brittle star,some nassarius snails and Yellow Watchman goby as well.