Good poo eaters

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User1

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I was reading that serpent stars are poo eaters, any truth to this?

Depends on the star type. Serpent star(s) means a lot of different things and let us say you get a "green brittle star" aka ophiarachina incrassate then it will also eat your fish and anything else it traps. You will want something like the red, orange, or harlequin serpents. Smooth legs, not brittle. In fact, those should curl up in your rock work and only see their arms when they smell food. Thus I don't think an ideal solution to your problem.

Micro stars from IPSF are really cool but again prefer substrate of some form or a refugium. So they are out - but super cool. You can't really do tiger tail cucumbers. You are really limiting our options here. Fish are not going to really hang out there other than neon blue and yellow gobies. They will and you could get a group of 5 or so. They are a bit territorial but it could work depending on the rock work and size.

There is another goby coming to mind but I think they are more carnivore - barnacle blenny. That is it. Cool little lads but don't think they will work. Snails, yeah. Not the favored sand swelling such as conchs or nassarius. Heck, stay away from nassarius anyway - I swear they love clams. A cowrie, nerite, and ceriths may work well.

Gyre could work. It doesn't need to be on the bottom, in fact it should be up at the surface to get the surface then crash against wall, then gently roll down and across the bottom and back up. You could alternate the blades and get forward and reverse action. Also place it on the side vertical and get movement.

If you have a controller or say MP type power heads then see if they support nutrient transport mode(s). This is what I used to do on my 40 breeder and the flow pattern is such that it does a great job of picking stuff off the bottom, suspending it, so the skimmer can pull it out. Thus the nutrient transport name. One of the major manufactures offers it - I forget which. I did this with a custom library on my Reef Angel. Amazing stuff.

Spaghetti worms won't work as someone said - they love substrate. I'm sort of out of options. There really isn't a fish that I am personally aware of that would focus on the bottom and eating things like you mentioned. Tangs do because some other tangs don't process all of the food/algae they eat but I'm blank on anything else other than maybe a smaller goby / blenny. They do tend to stay on the bottom to lower tank zone(s).

Sorry - I've got nothing for you :( Hope all is well with you.
 

Magellan

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Turkey bast everything to one corner on water change day (with the flow off) and siphon it out. You will be amazed how clean your tank will get if you do this regularly.

But hermit crabs and other small fauna (as mentioned previously) will get much of the available nutrients out of the poo, your corals will filter other available nutrients out of the water, and your fuge gets the rest. You’re just left to clean up the mess after your tank is done with it :)
 

Tamberav

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When I ran bare bottom I had tons of spaghetti worms and brittle stars and such. The spaghetti worms would live in the underside of the rock and catch the debris that way. They didn't just make it disappear but seemed to like it as they were always concentrated where the debris would settle.
 

Tuffloud1

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@Crabs McJones he said the forbidden invert.

(they are the most voracious and effective cuc for sure, maybe too much without something to consume them)

Why are amphipods forbidden? Lol

My tank has had them for years, hundreds if not thousands, no issues.
 

Stigigemla

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When I siphone detritus out of my tanks I collect it in a bucket. After a few hours when the detritus has settled i pour some water back to the tank and do it again. And if a customer comes while I am doing this it happens that I forget the bucket. I I empty it the next time it will be all black on the bottom from hydrogen sulfide and other from the bacterial breakdown
Thats not a big problem. It is just to rinse the bucket a little and fill it up with tap water again and bacteria and oygen will clean it in a day.
What I want to say with this is that there is absolutly some nutrition left in my detritus.
 

AZL

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Bristle worms and other crawlies in the rock and sand deal with poo in my tank but as already stated their population is significantly reduced with a bare bottom. You could add some and hope the multiply in the rock or spread just a little sand around the rock bases to accommodate them. Otherwise the siphon is the best poo sucker as also mentioned ;)
 

Ron83

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Here's one. Lol
29773.jpeg
I am guessing NO3 and PO4 would jump so high it might knock the screen cover off with this furball in the tank.
 

Ron83

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I work off "everything in the reef has a job" theory. In my 120 i have numerous starfish, dwarf hermits, a couple of mid size hermits, emerald crabs, 3 different types of snails, pods. I try to keep track of them and add more from time to time because my wrasse loves fresh food too. That's why you might notice that "shrimp" are often missing from my crew.......
 

Bret Brinkmann

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When I ran bare bottom I had tons of spaghetti worms and brittle stars and such. The spaghetti worms would live in the underside of the rock and catch the debris that way. They didn't just make it disappear but seemed to like it as they were always concentrated where the debris would settle.

So the spaghetti worms greatly reduced the detritus or made it all go away? I would think they would end up pooping in the rock and you could blow the rock off and still get tons of particles in the water.

I have been looking for S export means in my tank. Macros seem to be helping but I still need to pay closer attention to how much I'm putting in through feeding. Food is more than just NO3 and PO4.
 

Tamberav

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So the spaghetti worms greatly reduced the detritus or made it all go away? I would think they would end up pooping in the rock and you could blow the rock off and still get tons of particles in the water.

I have been looking for S export means in my tank. Macros seem to be helping but I still need to pay closer attention to how much I'm putting in through feeding. Food is more than just NO3 and PO4.

The worms didn't make the debris disappear. They just seemed to like it or do something with it as their numbers were higher where the debris would settle.

Once the tank was covered in coralline, you could not see the debris easily and it was no longer an eye sore at least.
 

living_tribunal

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Why are amphipods forbidden? Lol

My tank has had them for years, hundreds if not thousands, no issues.


Crabs and I were discussing this in another thread. I too have a tank with a few thousand amphipods.

Until now, they never had any predator to control their populations and their numbers skyrocketed. They ate everything in the tank and eventually began eating a few of my completely healthy fleshier lps. They were taking off a quarter inch a day on the polyps. I would just watch them feasting all day, dozens of them on one section of the coral taking out chunks.

I added a canary wrasse and pipefish which have decreased the population and they are no longer consuming lps as I guess there is less competition for food. Was bizarre and really depressing to watch. They almost ate a new dragon soul favia entirely.

And yes, I'm sure it was them. I was just as shocked as everyone else.

Happy that problem is gone. They are definitely an amazing CUC that is insanely effective but as with everything in reefing, in moderation.
 

Tuffloud1

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Crabs and I were discussing this in another thread. I too have a tank with a few thousand amphipods.

Until now, they never had any predator to control their populations and their numbers skyrocketed. They ate everything in the tank and eventually began eating a few of my completely healthy fleshier lps. They were taking off a quarter inch a day on the polyps. I would just watch them feasting all day, dozens of them on one section of the coral taking out chunks.

I added a canary wrasse and pipefish which have decreased the population and they are no longer consuming lps as I guess there is less competition for food. Was bizarre and really depressing to watch. They almost ate a new dragon soul favia entirely.

And yes, I'm sure it was them. I was just as shocked as everyone else.

Happy that problem is gone. They are definitely an amazing CUC that is insanely effective but as with everything in reefing, in moderation.

That is crazy! Sounds like you have an invasive species of them. I’m sure there are a ton of species.

I’m positive mine are nothing like that as they have been in my tank for 4 years or more.

I have an elegance that is 5 years old as well Duncans and Blastos and they have never done any damage. I mostly see them come out at night in the tank and crawling all over the place in my sump, overflow and pull 20 or so out each time I clean my filter sock.
 

living_tribunal

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That is crazy! Sounds like you have an invasive species of them. I’m sure there are a ton of species.

I’m positive mine are nothing like that as they have been in my tank for 4 years or more.

I have an elegance that is 5 years old as well Duncans and Blastos and they have never done any damage. I mostly see them come out at night in the tank and crawling all over the place in my sump, overflow and pull 20 or so out each time I clean my filter sock.

I hear you about the filter sock! There are crazy amounts in there whenever I change socks.

There are about 2,000 different species of amphipods, some carnivorous. Mine came from ipsf. I don't believe it's a species thing, I believe it's more so a hunger/survival thing. The second any spec of food hit the sand bed, a dozen would rush out, grab it, and the others would be left foraging.

It got so bad that I would see 1,000+ just chilling during the day. Dozens of them everywhere you looked. They are now confined to night time hunting which is the sweet spot.

I feed my corals heavily which I believe led to their growth. I would see a single amphipod go into a my lobos polyp and steal a whole 1mm pellet by himself! I cut back a little bit which is when they started eating the outer coral polyp tissue. For some odd reason, they only ate on favias and my wilsoni. I believe anything with fleshy tissue that they could hide under. They left my duncans, blastos, gonis, euphyllias alone as well. They then began nesting in their hollowed skeleton which just made it worse.

On the bright side, they have absolutely destroyed any algae from starting in my tank. Never seen a spec of any kind of algae.

I think I just needed to balance their population out. I want them in my tank, just not a couple thousand of them feeding on corals to survive.
 
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BloopFish

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I hear you about the filter sock! There are crazy amounts in there whenever I change socks.

There are about 2,000 different species of amphipods, some carnivorous. Mine came from ipsf. I don't believe it's a species thing, I believe it's more so a hunger/survival thing. The second any spec of food hit the sand bed, a dozen would rush out, grab it, and the others would be left foraging.

It got so bad that I would see 1,000+ just chilling during the day. Dozens of them everywhere you looked. They are now confined to night time hunting which is the sweet spot.

I feed my corals heavily which I believe led to their growth. I would see a single amphipod go into a my lobos polyp and steal a whole 1mm pellet by himself! I cut back a little bit which is when they started eating the outer coral polyp tissue. For some odd reason, they only ate on favias and my wilsoni. I believe anything with fleshy tissue that they could hide under. They left my duncans, blastos, gonis, euphyllias alone as well. They then began nesting in their hollowed skeleton which just made it worse.

On the bright side, they have absolutely destroyed any algae from starting in my tank. Never seen a spec of any kind of algae.

I think I just needed to balance their population out. I want them in my tank, just not a couple thousand of them feeding on corals to survive.
Do you have anything that would hunt the amphipods actively like wrasses?
 

living_tribunal

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Do you have anything that would hunt the amphipods actively like wrasses?

Yes, I added a canary wrasse and pipefish to the tank about a week ago which has made a huge improvement. This canary wrasse is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
 

BloopFish

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Yes, I added a canary wrasse and pipefish to the tank about a week ago which has made a huge improvement. This canary wrasse is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Honestly would prefer to only have copepods and other tiny critters rather than also having the chunky amphipods that snatch food all the time. Too bad that anything that eats amphipods will surely eat copepods too.
 

living_tribunal

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Honestly would prefer to only have copepods and other tiny critters rather than also having the chunky amphipods that snatch food all the time. Too bad that anything that eats amphipods will surely eat copepods too.

I mean amphipods are less for fish food and more for cleaning. They are by far the best detritus, sandbed, algae, rock cleaners that you can put in your tanks. With that comes their voracious appetite and breeding habits though.

They also will definitely wipe your copepod population. I was adding a few thousand copepods a month which would disappear in two weeks. Now that the canary wrasse is doing it's thing, I'm finally seeing copepods again.
 

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