Best reef safe sand cleaners?

[shred5]

Uhh, duh? Nassarius snails do not eat any type of algae, they eat meaty food only.


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That is correct. they sence any kind of dead food.

 

[jedimasterben]

That is correct. they sence any kind of dead food.

Or dying. I've seen fish on their last leg get overwhelmed by an army of nassarius.:boink:

 

[SteezySPS]

Uhh, duh? Nassarius snails do not eat any type of algae, they eat meaty food only.


I'd highly recommend several hawkwing conchs for a 400g. They have prettier shells than fighting conchs, get the same size (about 4" or so), stir the top inch of sand very well, and devour algae like mad.

if you read my post carefully, i never stated they were herbivores. ummmm, i guess you're making that assumption since I stated the conches will clean the glass and rock? Its not only algae that grows on glass and rock but detritus can accumulate on them too. I had nassarius snail climb at night scavenging for food on the glass and rock.

 

[SteezySPS]

Conches just eat algae off the sand so if algae is the problem, they do not eat detritus. They do not keep the sand stired up either, yea they bury themselves in the sand but do very little to stirr up the sand.

fighting conches are listed as omnivores. they eat detritus and algae

 

[lsingh]

Tagging along ...sorry not trying the hijack the thread i am also curious about sea cucumbers for my 6x3 system lrg volume system...
can somone please explain the different sea cucumbers types and also which one is gud detrius and algae eater off the SB

 

[jedimasterben]

if you read my post carefully, i never stated they were herbivores. ummmm, i guess you're making that assumption since I stated the conches will clean the glass and rock? Its not only algae that grows on glass and rock but detritus can accumulate on them too. I had nassarius snail climb at night scavenging for food on the glass and rock.

Gotcha. You had said:

IME fighting conch worked better than the tonga nassarius snails. they are way more active and will clean the glass and rock more often

which leads me to think that you meant that the nassarius would sometimes clean the glass and rocks, which they won't. I just see a lot of people that think that since they're recommended for a cleanup crew that they eat algae. ;)




And as for conchs not stirring sand, my hawkwing does a pretty marvelous job. When it drags its shell around, it stirs it then, and it buries itself constantly and stirs more.

 

[shred5]

fighting conches are listed as omnivores. they eat detritus and algae

I dont care what they are listed as. There diet mainly consists of diatoms and cyano bacteria and other algae. They spend time cleaning sea grasses. They do very little for detritus unless there are no other foods.

 

[Kbra]

So what are you looking for? algae, detritus, stirrer, top layer all layers?
You may need one thing or a combo.

Currently top layers. But a good mix is necessary for long term too

 

[Mike&Terry]

Great colors and huge cucumber. The water volume of our tanks should be safe to handle a new one dieing right?

We have had one detritus eating sea cucumber expel it's intestines in our tank - it was a new arrival that had been shipped w/a couple of others. We removed it of course and there were no obvious negative effects. Our fish ignore them and our overflow has an acrylic cover to keep the sea cucumbers out. They spend most of their time in the sand bed. Once in a while, they venture up on the glass for a bit (eating algae) and it is VERY rare for them to ever venture up on our liverock.

Here's a good article from Advanced Aquarist: Aquarium Invertebrates: Sea Cucumbers - Part II — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

[mnat]

How deep is your sandbed?

I agree with avoiding stars.

Cucumbers are ugly but they are very efficient at their job, though some will still talk about cuc nuke.

Nassarius are my absolute favorite, do the job very well and won't kill your sand bed.

Conches are a good option too IF your sand bed is deep enough for them.

 

[Hyprviperx]

i love my 2 tiger conchs they are awesome, they eat it all. my pistol shrimp is by far the largest most active sand mover/cleaner

 

[Kbra]

Picked up 3 conchs today. Placing a order for some more nasarus snails next week too.

 

[robby2782]

I've heard the negative about the stars too, but has anyone personally kept them? I've still got all the organisms living in my sand in both of my tanks. Just curious...

 

[shred5]

I've heard the negative about the stars too, but has anyone personally kept them? I've still got all the organisms living in my sand in both of my tanks. Just curious...

Depends on what you are trying to do. Most people do not keep deep sand beds anymore so they dont care if everything in their sand is eaten or stirred up. A star will eat pretty much everything in your sand bed. There is nothing better at keeping a shallow sand bed clean and stirred up. They do require a large tank though or they will slowly starve.

If you keep a deep sand bad and dont want the bottom layer disturbed these are not for you. If you still believe in the old way Ron Shimek used to teach where the more critters in your sand bed the better they are not for you.

 

[Wesley42079]

I'll be following along. I want to see what others recommend.

 

[Trex]

I've heard the negative about the stars too, but has anyone personally kept them? I've still got all the organisms living in my sand in both of my tanks. Just curious...

Kept both the SS star and the diamond goby in the past -- about 10-12 years ago. The outcome was the same (( tried more than once )) the star would stripe the sandbed clean of all life and than slowly starve to death. The same with the goby, even if it was eating prepared foods. After the last ones died I decided that it isn't worth trying to keep them.