sand sifters

[raulruiz912]

will a sand sifting starfish help keep the sand clean or are they overrated?

[DC_40gallon]

way overrated! I asked the same thing about a month ago and was told that you truly cannot have a tank big enough for a sand sifting starfish to have enough food source to survive and they will virtually kill all the "live" in your live sand.

Have you seen nassarious snails before? youtube them and you will laugh yourself into amazement. They are also called by reefers as "night of the living dead" snails because they live under the sand bed and you never see them but all they do is slide around in your sand bed going unnoticed keeping it sifted up. They are so small that getting the right amount of them (1 every 1.5-2 gallons of tank) then they will never be able to eat all the life out of your sand bed.

Whats funny about them is that when you put in some food, as soon as it hits the floor bed, somehow the nassarious snails know and they pop up out of nowhere to get the food.

[singold]

It would starve quickly, as mentioned above. A brittlestar would be a good sand scavenger to get if you are looking for something similar to a starfish that would be beneficial to help scavenge sand.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Small and large nassarius snails and cerith snails will keep your sand bed sifted and clean. Just steer clear of the so-called "nassarius" that are sold in bulk for dirt cheap on e-bay. Those aren't nassarius, but rather ilyanassa obsoleta - http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/mg/index.php

[pb4ugoout]

I have read lots about sand sifting stars dying in small reef tanks. I won't discredit any of it but I will say that I have had one in my 46g for almost a year and it's still doing fine. That isn't to say that it won't die next week but that's anyones guess. I have 5 nassarius that do a good job moving sand around as well. Only time will tell but my star has been doing well for a while now. Or as well as anyone can tell just by observing a starfish

[mtisc323]

Also can I suggest a Goby ... they do a great job of sand sifting and mine (a diamond goby) has tons of personality and really adds a lot of life to the bottom of the tank

[DC_40gallon]

true about the Goby, I love mine! He and my peppermint shrimp are inseparable. They even sleep near each other at night.

[lordofthereef]

Gobies are cool. Others might get the job done better (I don't know this, just saying they might) gives you much more of a visual reinforcement that he is doing his job ;)

[MarkD40]

Engineer gobies move a ton of sand every day. Literally.

[DC_40gallon]

If you go a Goby just be careful with feeding it. I feed mine a few bits of mysis shrimp and find that he gets finicky and doesn't want to sift the sand for the day that I feed him haha.

My tank has the most unique personality, it's as if they know that I spent money on them and I will take care of them therefore they won't do what I bought them for :)

[raulruiz912]

thanks for all the great info

[coralreefer80]

Goby and pistol shrimp! Pistols do a great job of moving sand around. I also agree with nassarius snails. Not only do they do a good job of moving though the sand, they are cool. Mine are nowhere to be found until I feed the fish, then they all slowly emerge from under the DSB at the same time to clean up....