Dirty sand

[DaleHauze]

I am looking for suggestions on what livestock to place in my 110g tank to keep my sand bed clean.

 

[alco1]

really depends on what is on the sand to make it dirty... if its just algae, little bit of uneaten food and fish poo. .... then a CU would do it.

Like a sand sifting goby, hermit crabs, snails or even a shrimp or 2

 

[Clownfish25]

A strong clean up crew. Nassarius snails are a great addition to any clean up crew. They dig into the sand and are always turning it up and eating. Blue leg hermits. Various other snails and crabs.

Sand sifting starfish and goby can be helpful.



Good water flow helps as well ( keep things from settling)

 

[DaleHauze]

I have a detritus issue. Flow is good 2 vortech mp40s tank is almost a year old only 5 fish 2 clowns a pigmy angle a damsel and a lemon goby. What gobies are the better sifters. My wife wants a pink watchman.

 

[Clownfish25]

Orange diamond spotted goby

 

[alco1]

diamond goby does look the best for sand sifting goby.... sleeper goby will work just as well but diamond looks better

 

[DaleHauze]

I will look into them. Any suggestions on star fish? I have looked into them but im lost

 

[mr_X]

There is nothing that will clean your sand bed the way you want it to. you need to increase flow in order to keep detritus suspended in the water column long enough for your filtration to remove it.

 

[DaleHauze]

Ok. I have a corner overflow tank. When i placed my Vortechs in the tank i centered them in the glass would they work better if they were pointed at each other instead of offset. I haven't found any info on that topic.

 

[mr_X]

All you can do is try it. Whatever creature you buy will need food to sustain it. Just make sure if you purchase something, it actually eats what you have an abundance of. many people recommend things like sand sifting stars and nassarius snails for detritus, when neither eat it.
Increasing the bio load to remove excess nutrients is never good advice IMO.

 

[DaleHauze]

It may have just dawned on me that before i sent in this thread I may have replaced my bulbs because i didnt notice my actinic bulbs burned out so i replaced all of them. Just last night i realized that my bulbs must have been too weak because now my tank is going into the green algae stage of its life