Sand Maintenance In Reef Tank
 

Im not new to the hobby, but I have started a new 29 gallon reef tank. The sand is not looking too hot. Ive added 6 sand sifting snails and was wondering about getting a goby or something that might clean up the joint better and faster. A fish store told me that the tank might be too small for a goby — any suggestions???

no sand = no sand maintenance :)

hey- WELCOME TO RC!

Siphon it clean. ;)

My sand stays fairly clean because of 2 things... First, I have a snail (nassarius, I think) snail that crawls around through the top 1/2" of the sand. The second piece of the puzzle is that I have fairly high flow, so things stay suspended in the water rather than settle on the sand. I don't have sand blowing around, though, so that's good.

I'm not sure of the requirements for a sand-sifting goby... I'm actually thinking about getting one myself because I absoultely love a clean white sand bed.

By the way, WELCOME to Reef Central!

-Scott

If you're not planning on building a DSB full of bacteria, then this is a great idea. My sand bed is about 5" deep, but when I had a shallower sand bed (about 2") in an old tank, I regularly vaccumed the sand to keep it clean.

-Scott

Thanks guys... I love the orange goby, I used to have a 55 gallon reef and he was amazing how he kept the sand super clean... they're pretty cheap, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try... just wanted to see if there was any other ideas. I think sand is a must for me...

My diamond sand sifting goby did an amazing job. He cleaned my nasty sand ben over night.

Here's a pic of what they look like. They can get pretty big 5-6" so I would try to find a smaller one.


http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/ca...amond-goby.jpg

DSB still need siphoned IME. Regular cleaning helps rather than hurts a DSBs ability to denitrify. I think the old "do not disturb" mentality of DSB keeping is completely false, but to each his own.

The other thing is that it seems like I might have something living in my sand... like a worm of some sorts.... looks to have little trails going around. Please don't tell me Im ****ed

That's the guy I want!!!

Ill post some photos of my tank soon. I got to make dinner and get caught up, but hopefully by tomorrow. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Worms are natural part of having sand, most likely nothing to worry about.

Agreed, but not all at once. With my deeper sand bed, I still vaccume about 1/8 of it about once every month or two.

-Scott

I always clean the top 1/8 to 1/4 inch of the sand when I do my water changes. This keeps the sand looking good.

However, IMO....I wouldn't disturb the sand any deeper then that. There are lots of toxins deep in the bed that you dont want to release into the tank

If you siphon it every couple of weeks there aren't ;)

I know what I do is different than the traditional DSB, but think about it :D

http://www.thrashermagazine.com/imag...9/11/photo.jpg
Here's a shot of my tank...

I agree with scbauer. I think your better off doing a deep vacuum of a small portion of the sand bed than just skimming the surface of a larger area. If you have a really deep sand bed, more than 5 inches, you'd have to be careful.

I dont think mine is five inches, maybe three tops. How do I do a vaccuum without the sand going into the bucket?

Also, any suggestions besides the rose anenome I want to get, im looking for fish/coral to get that I can have with normal light situation. The Ricordia mushrooms seem to be a hot item...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/toddrtrex/WC.jpg

Use one of these. The other end is a "normal" sized hose, you can control how much sand it sucks up by putting your finger over the end of it. Takes a little practice, but after a while it is very easy to use, and very little sand will get removed from the tank.

Use one of what?

I forgot to paste the pic -- I just edited my post.

Ok, thanks!

They make them a lot bigger than that. The taller they are the easier it is to control the sand from getting sucked through.

I use high flow, keeps my sand sparkly white. The best part is I dont have to do anything.

+1 on SCBAUER's post (#4), Nassarius snails and water flow. The biggest improvement I have seen in my 90 was the addition of a Vortec MP40. The under tow created by the Vortec has my sand looking cleaner than ever before.

I agree with the monkey guy. Regular vacuuming and stirring of the sand is the key. I can't believe the tanks you see with a beautiful reef and a putrid looking sand bed. :hmm4: It completely defeats the purpose of a marine tank because a marine tank should look spectacular, not disgusting! You must stay on top of the vacuuming. Every week i vac it.

Vortec mp 40 - I have one of those already...

I used to have little patches of cyano all over my sandbed until I did two things. First off I got mini-ceriths. Once I got these little guys my sandbed looked much better. Second when I upgraded to a mp40w it kept everything suspended and now I havent seen a patch of cyano since i got the vortech. Try getting some ceriths, they are tiny but man did they do a job on my sandbed!

I have a few ceriths already... they do ok. The goby kills it though. However, Im hesitant to buy anymore coral pieces now, since everything has semi suffered since the addition of Goby One Kanobi

If you don't mind spending time vacuuming the sandbed, it's not going to hurt much unless you're trying to keep a live DSB. Personally, I just let my cleanup crew keep the sand clean.

are diamond back gobies hard to keep? what do you feed it?