are emerald crabs safe with a deep sand bed?

[Txboi]

ok i was woundering if emerald crabs are safe with a deep sand bed the reason i ask is i bought on on Saturday as the start of my clean up crew due to the fact i have hair algae everywhere and i have a deep sand activator kit from www.ipsf.com coming on friday and woundering if i should keep or get rid of it o my tank is a 75 gal tank and i feed him a small piece of shrimp every day

[Sk8r]

I have never heard of a deep sand activator kit, but I find it rather alarming. Don't mess with a DSB. Just let it alone, in the care of a few nassarius snails and (over 50 gallons) a fighting conch. Emerald crabs have no relationship with the sandbed. Don't feed him shrimp if you want him to eat the algae. And really, hair algae doesn't relate to anything but a high phosphate level. Anything you get to eat the algae, poos the phosphate waste back into the tank, so it all goes round again. The benefit of a cleanup crew is not to eat the algae either: it's to poo into the sandbed and encourage the bacteria. NOTHING ever eats your algae. You have to set up a refugium with cheato to take up the phosphate. Either that or run a GFO reactor, which is not that expensive, compared with the measures people take trying to get rid of hair algae.

[Txboi]

I know that my phosphate levels are so low that they shouldn't be a issue and I have a little hair algae but not enough to be a real issue I wanted him to eat what little there is and I read about the kit in coral magazine so it has to be good it comes with Brisle worms pods mam Mia worms snails micro hermits and other things from the research I've done everyone says its one of the best you can get

[cro117]

a lot of people freak out because deep sand beds when matured contain anaerobic areas with deadly gases, but these gasses have to pass through aerobic areas at the top of the sand bed to escape into the tank, and in so doing, are diffused. so the first 2-3" are a safe oxygen rich environment give or take, and as a critter burrows, like a pistol shrimp, the oxygen will preceded its advances aerating the sand rather then disturbing it.

the danger with a deep sand bed often comes from the aquarist, such as moving a large piece of rock exposing an anaerobic area before it can "breath."

[Sk8r]

Ah, you mean a cleanup crew package, worms and such. That will be a good thing. For a dsb, nassarius and a conch are a good idea. But don't overload your tank with cleaners until there's something for them to eat.

[Txboi]

Thanks I'll do that