Something to stir up sand a little

[jtro]

I need some sand sifters to stir up my sand a little in my 240 reef tank.Any suggestions?

Thanks

Jim

[NemesisElite]

Golden sleeper head goby. Awesome personality and does a great job keeping the sandbed clean

[extreme_tooth_decay]

Golden sleeper head goby. Awesome personality and does a great job keeping the sandbed clean

 

 

My favorite is the diamond goby. Same habits as gold head. Both pretty much always available at Roozen's.

[jason the filter freak]

sleeper gobies, diamond gobies, sand sifting gobies all pretty much the same thing really neat but will BURY and sand bed dwelling corals. i love sand sifting star you can also choose cerith and or naurssis (sp?) snails the later doing a better job to stir your bed. you could also consider a cucumber as long as you dont have anything to harras them they're awesome

[steveoutlaw]

I saw what a sleeper goby can do first hand.......if you like clear water, I would stay away. Nessarius snails, conchs and even horseshoe crabs will do a good job and not turn your water into a sand storm.

[Amuze]

I have nessarius snails, a sand sifting star, a conch, a horseshoe crab (hitchhiker) and a yellow headed sleep goby. I want to kill the goby though.

Edited November 5, 2009 by audible

[epleeds]

I have a very large maroon clown that stirs my sand constantly. really ticks me off, since she is always covering my corals in sand.

[zygote2k]

engineer goby

[jason the filter freak]

engineer goby

 

I forgot about the conchs I have one in each of my tanks and they're awesome

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I had diamond gobies for years and I never had a problem with them burying corals or clouding my water.

 

Don't know if it is because

of the particular fish?

the fact that I didn't have corals in the sand?

I had less "junk" in my sand to cloud the water?

I had less flow so the sand didn't disperse as much?

 

Dunno....but I had no problems and thought they were very interesting and useful fish. I never had noticeable diatoms, red slime or anything else on my sand, it was always shiny white.

[khalid]

Wrasses do a good job.

[lanman]

I have nessarius snails, a sand sifting star, a conch, a horseshoe crab (hitchhiker) and a yellow headed sleep goby. I want to kill the goby though.

 

What's that? You say you want to buy my yellow-headed sleeper goby???

 

If he wasn't so cute - I would have made a little spear-gun by now. Nobody told me, when he was 1" long... that when he was 6" long, he would be able to dig a massive hole with a flip or two of his tail.

 

bob

[Amuze]

What's that? You say you want to buy my yellow-headed sleeper goby???

 

If he wasn't so cute - I would have made a little spear-gun by now. Nobody told me, when he was 1" long... that when he was 6" long, he would be able to dig a massive hole with a flip or two of his tail.

 

bob

 

LOL. You should see my yellow coris wrasse when he gets mad at me. He's as long as my middle finger, only fatter. I know this because I flip him off often.

[steveoutlaw]

I know this because I flip him off often.

 

Nice!

[flowerseller]

LOL. You should see my yellow coris wrasse when he gets mad at me. He's as long as my middle finger, only fatter. I know this because I flip him off often.

I was wondering where this was going when I read it being described "as long as my middle finger".

[davelin315]

Ha ha, Bob, I'll buy it! I love those guys and I lost one of my pair during the Great Flush!

 

In my experience these guys will make a mess out of your tank as far as the sand is concerned until the bed is fully matured. I have the sugar sized fine oolitic sand in my tank and when I first added these guys they caused my tank to be cloudy all the time. After the sand had fully colonized with bacteria and after they had turned over the entire bed multiple times, the cloudiness faded away. I also don't put anything on my sand bed so they didn't bury anything that didn't unbury itself, but they typically would go to the bottom, pick up a mouthful of sand, raise up about 2-3", then sift it out and start over.

 

That said, the conchs are good, as are cerith and nassarius snails, brittle stars are good, and cucumbers are awesome. My tangs also used to scan the sandbed and pick up food off the bottom, basically cleaning off the top layer of sand. I think I lost my big cucumber lately, though, as my sandbed has started to get a little brown on top.