Sand cleaning.

[b_dawg_2121]

What should I use to clean to stir my sand? A fish or snails?
I have a 14 Gal Bio Cube.

Thanks.

[bcrum51]

nassarius snails work well at aerating the sand and possible a diamond goby

[Neuticle]

A little Florida sea cucumber will do the trick, as soon as he get's above 3" long you can trade him back in for another little one, or sell him locally.

[Salty O'Shen]

i have like 16 nassarius snails in my 55g and they do a decent job of stirring the sand, not great, but it helps. i still stir my san manually every 2 weeks or so with every other water change...i also clean my sand bed at same time. i haven't had a cucumber before but have heard they do a great job. a sand sifting goby of some type would also help. i went with the snails because of their detritus eating properties...i'm not sure if the cucumber does the same.

HTH

[Jnicho]

Standard old ugly type Tiger Tails are best in the cuke department...nassarius snails are pretty good too, I prefer the larger size ones.

I have a DIY device I call a "pick-on-a-stick"...if you're old enough to remember the 80's when people carried "pick" style combs in their back pocket, I took one of those and cut it down to the size I wanted...then I cut a slot in the end of a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe...the comb goes in the slot in the pipe and I can easily stir my sand.

I also deep siphon my sand every few weeks during a larger water change...I know this goes against the traditional advice to "not disturb the lower regions of a sand bed", but I find removing the detritus and other junk from the depths keep my system much healthier in the long run.

My .02 cents!

[Loverotties]

Nassarius snail and Dart goby!

[Neuticle]

Originally Posted by Jnicho

Standard old ugly type Tiger Tails are best in the cuke department

It's a 14g cube, so a TT cucumber could outgrow it in about a month

[cutietwo]

I had tried nassarius snails once....they were very mobile in the sand except for one problem. they seemed to leave some sort of trial behind them that was mucus-eish (is that a word?!) and it blew in the current. it drove me crazy seeing all of these gross looking trails so I got rid of them.

[quick_murdoc]

A small Vacuum

[Salty O'Shen]

i agree with the vacuum regardless of any animals you use to keep the sandbed stirred...

as for the slimy trail, i only see mine when they come up out of the sand for feeding time, but the slime trail only appears to stick around in the areas where the sand is the finest grain...the small grain stuff is basically easier to bond to the slime trail but i don't see it very often in my tank, it's pretty cool seeing their little 'snorkels' sticking up out of the sand everywhere and then watching them surface like a herd of subamrines the minute i add a meaty food to the water for feeding...by the way, they eliminate any dead critters virtually instantly, they took about an hour to consume a small goby that died in my tank

[Elegance Coral]

Originally Posted by quick_murdoc

A small Vacuum

Originally Posted by Salty O'Shen

i agree with the vacuum regardless of any animals you use to keep the sandbed stirred...

I agree too.

[fihsboy]

It all depends on your type of sand bed. I like to keep mine alive and full of critters. I only use snails to stir it..I NEVER touch my sandbed unless my clowns burrow in it. I get some hard spots but they will filter just as well as the soft. I have never had a problem with nitrates or phosphates. It just depends on what your trying to achieve. The owner of my lfs keeps his tanks the same way, and he doesnt have any problems. I think theres several ways you can do it, it just depends on what you are willing to do with the sand bed, and how you want to maintain it.

[Elegance Coral]

Originally Posted by fihsboy

It all depends on your type of sand bed. I like to keep mine alive and full of critters. I only use snails to stir it..I NEVER touch my sandbed unless my clowns burrow in it. I get some hard spots but they will filter just as well as the soft. I have never had a problem with nitrates or phosphates. It just depends on what your trying to achieve. The owner of my lfs keeps his tanks the same way, and he doesnt have any problems. I think theres several ways you can do it, it just depends on what you are willing to do with the sand bed, and how you want to maintain it.

You do bring up a valid point. I believe it depends on the type of animals you're trying to keep. If you want soft corals or critters that do well in lagoons, grass flats, or mangrove swamps then a sand bed as you describe would be fine. At least for a period of time. If you want to keep stony corals, a sand bed like that would be a very bad idea.

[Neuticle]

A bad idea? I have a 3" sand bed full of critters and I've never had detectable nitrates.

[bcrum51]

I think its more important to stir a deeper sand bed with a shallow sand bed most of the critters general move enough sand