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Thoughts on sand sifters


bues0022

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I want something to stir up my sand to keep it looking all nice and clean. There are many who recommend Just doing it manually, but I don’t want to. First, I won’t be able to get to about 1/2 of my sand, and I also don’t have that kind of diligence. So, what to get?

 

I have a 30 gallon cube, which means I have the footprint of two 10 gallon tanks side-by-side (not a huge amount of sandbed). I have a pretty good CUC with nassarius and cerinth snails, but they don’t “really” sift the sand fantastic - just a little as they come in/out of the sand to feed when I feed the fish.

 

I’m thinking some of the “standard” sifting fish like diamond watchman are not great for my tank. Not enough sand (I.e. critters in the sand) to keep them longterm. Thoughts on that topic? So, I’d need a fish that likes to sift sand but doesn’t actually need to in order to eat (and hopefully not make a sandstorm).

 

Inverts: cucumber, sand sifting star, sand dollar etc I don’t think sill survive longterm in the tank either. Again, not enough for them to eat, although the cucumber is likely a better detrivore than the other two which are looking for critters. What about a small Florida conch though? Keep it for a while, trade it in when it gets too big? There are some of the Florida ones that stay much smaller (only a couple inches max) so I’d aim at that rather than the huge ones.

 

Any other ideas that I should consider?

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I have bot the diamond goby and the sand sifting starfish. I personally do not think the starfish does much to "sift" the sand. The diamond goby is probably the best thing ever. You just can't put any corals on the sand since they tend to make mounds of sand at certain spot. He does keep the sand really clean. My diamond goby eats frozen and pellets so I don't think they absolutely need "critters" in the sand. I made sure he ate frozen at the store before I brought him home. There is literally no area in the tank that he does not go through and clean.

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I've had a common atlantic sea cucumber (Holothuria impatiens) in my 24g for 3 years now.  Does a great job keeping the surface of the sand clean but does not sift down into the sand. So, if you're looking to something that will stir the sand up beneath the surface, a cucumber is not what you want.

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Diamond gobys are amazing for keeping the sand turned over and doing so under the rocks as well; I think it would be a suitable choice if purchased small (they can grow fairly large though not likely in captivity). Do you have a lid on the tank? Ours jumped to its death a couple months back after being in the tank for at least a year. It readily accepted LRS Reef Frenzy and the replacement does as well (hopefully it doesn't jump before I get everything transfered to the 150g). With that said, I have read reports that some people's diamond gobys stop sifting after a while and just eat what is introduced to the tank (ours remained a workhorse thankfully). We also have a tiger sand conch in the tank along with a few other critters but they do little compared to the goby. 

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If you want to keep the sand turned and don't mind a bit of an avant garde look, you could always go with a pistol shrimp. They're constantly moving the sand to create their burrows and don't actually rely on turning over the sandbed to eat (though they'll happily eat any food in the sand). I currently have a pair in my nano and have had them in larger tanks and they've always kept the sand clean.

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