Sand dwellers

[Glenn]

This is a cross-post from another thread but it got me wondering

 

>>The addition of organisms (cucumbers, etc) seems to delay or stop the process as they keep it mixed up and perhaps break tiny links between grains before they become too established. <<

 

What other organisms should we have in our REEF tanks to keep the sand clean? I know that I've heard some of the clean-up crews work in the sand but I think I only have blue-legged crabs and some type of snails (glass cleaners) in the tanks.

 

And are there small cucumbers that would be appropriate for nano tanks?

[epleeds]

a small sand sifting starfish and some nasarrius snails are good for keeping the sand stirred up in a tank.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I am partial to sand sifting gobies.

[Larry Grenier]

+1 on the nasarrius snails. These guys burro into the sand and once there is the slightest hint of food entering the tank they pop-up.

[encideought]

everything I've read about sandsifting stars says they will eat everything in the sand bed and die eventually unless you have a gigundo (large) tank...

[George]

Agreed. Stay away from sand sifting starfish. It's a quick way to have a sterilized sand bed followed by a rotting starfish if you don't have a huge (probably 200+ gallon) tank. Also, cool as they are, horseshoe crabs fall into the same category, except they grow way too big.

 

Cucumbers are good. Cerith snails are excellent, plus they do a neat Night of the Living Dead impression when they come out of the sand at feeding times. I like gobies as well, but bear in mind that anything on your sand bed will get coated in sand, including corals and clams. They're probably the one thing that'll keep the top layer of your sand white all over, unless you have a really bad algae problem.

[steveoutlaw]

Let's not leave out conchs and small horseshoe crabs.