Good sand sifters

[Iceburg98]

Hello everyone,

Well, i've had my tank up for a few weeks now, adn everything seems to be going good, but the top of my sand is getting a little dirty. I know i need to get a sand-sifter, but i was curious what most people recommend.

I have a 6 gal reef tank, with LR and about 2-3" of LS.
Current clean-up crew:
3 margarita snails
1 scarlet hermit
1 tri-color hermit

I was thinking of getting a small serpent star, but was just curious if anyone had a better suggestion.

Thanks

 

[djconn]

Thats funny, I just replied to another post about serpent stars. Check it out here: http://www.nanotank.com/viewtopic.php?t=898

 

[incysor]

A serpent won't clean your sandbed anyway. If you want one just to have one, stay away from the green ones. They're fish killers.

For a 6g maybe try a single nassarius snail. A sandsifting star is likely to starve to death.

B

 

[Physh1]

Nassarius snails are good. I also like small flower crabs but they'll be a little large for your tank.

Cameron

 

[Iceburg98]

sounds like i might just get a nassarius or two...

do queen conch's clean anything? or do they just look cool?

 

[skipm]

The queen conch is not really suitable for a nano-tank, there wouldn't be enough food for them. I would go with 2 or 3 nassarious snails (nassarious vibex), they are good sandbed cleaners and stay small enough so they won't outgrow a nano. HTH, Skip

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Cerith snails will also help sift the sand. Although they are glass grazers, they burrow into the sand bed to sleep. I'd say go with 2-3 nass snails and 2 ceriths.

 

[rbaby]

Ever since I dealt with my algae problem I haven't had any outbreaks on my sand...I do get poopy all over the place but I'm slowly starting to grow a respectable pod population and they're taking care of cleaning up my sand. I do however have 1 nassarius snail that does wonders...the little bugger just comes out when he wants to feed but he does stir up the sand when he's out foraging for food.