Good Sand CUC

[Coralgurl]

What is a good CUC for sand? I added 20 sand snails a week ago (but haven't seen them come out), have approx 30 snails and a few hermits. My sand looks gross - no cyano, just full of ditrius. I've got 2 MP40's on reef setting on full so flow shouldn't be an issue. The tank has had livestock in it for 2 weeks now, no hair algae or any other algae that I can see. I've got my lights set to come on for 1 pm and set at 11 pm (need to play around with the times still) but it seems like the lights are on all the time.... I realize the tank is basically still new, and will go through the new tank cycle, but is there a good crew I can add in to help keep it clean?

[fishytime]

orange spotted diamond goby......you will hate him at first because of all the fine particulate that they kick up initially but they really do probably the best job out of anything for moving the sand and thus keeping it looking clean........conchs are decent but no where near as efficient as a "sand sifting" goby

[Coralgurl]

Hmmm, don't the gobies make quite a mess of things??? I had a conch in the other tank, haven't seen it in a while...not sure if it transferred or stayed in the 55 - but he spent more time on the glass than the sand....

[tim the toolman]

I have a sand sifting dragon goby that I would pay someone to get out of my tank.lol seriously. I hate this thing. It puts sand all over my brains and plates on the sand bed and covers everything else I like. Some nice big tonga nassarius do a job of turning over the sanded but they are a little pricy. You can also go with just a standard sand sifting nassarius I think frag a lot sells em for a dollar next time someone puts an order through.

[reefwars]

a dragon goby sifts sand all over your corals a orange spot goby sifts sand over sand. i have one around 6" very big he can do my whole tank by the time out of bed he keeps my sand shiny. is a pain to sandbed corals though mine digs my elegance out and my clam out all the time.

they also build burrows under rocks so make sure your rockwork is stable.


i hated my dragon goby and gave it away for free.... ive come to love my orange

[Coralgurl]

I'm going to look for an orange spot goby. I have a few corals on my sand so I don't want a sand storm covering or aggravating them. The rocks are on the bottom of the tank so they should be stable for burrows...not sure where all my sand snails have gone. The right side of the tank looks worse. Will also lower the ph a bit and see if that helps. Thanks for the suggestions!

[lpsreefer]

I got sand stars. In two of my big tanks they do a Pretty good job. Not as fast as my gobies in my other tank but they get the job done.

[Proteus]

Hated my diamond goby and he new it

Steal frags and hide them in borrow. Build mountains and destroy them
In hours. Clould up te tank


Never ever again

[Coralgurl]

I'd definitely love some starfish, but I think the tank is too young for them. They seem like a good choice but what are their long term survival rates like?

[Proteus]

Of you got dirty sand. Then sand star should be fine. I had 2 since almost new