Sand sifter?

My sand never seems to move, it's a 72 gal tank, I have a full crew from reef cleaners,
Ceriths
Nerites
Turbos
Limpits
Hermits

I had a golden head goby, like 3 months ago but he died 2 days later for reasons I can't figure out params were all spot on, and I havent had any deaths in this tank in a very long time, so I think it was just the fish.

I have black caribsea sand bed, and it gets soooo dirty looking

 

Get a sand sifting sea star that will help..i would get 2 of those.

And you could another sand sifting goby also.

 

I thought stars strip everything out of the sand and then starve?

What type of goby do you suggest?

 

They can...but i had one in a 29g for over 5 months and it was fine.

I would actuallly just get one star if you go that rout..SO it has time to get more sand foood so it DOESN'T starve.

And you could get the following.

Diamond Goby
Yellow head goby

All of them will do the job, i would just stay away from Engineer goby's they get really big and also dig alot of burrows and can maybe move your rock work.

 

Diamond gobies are awesome for keeping sand clean...mine cruises around gulping sand all day long.

 

IMO your tank is a little too small for any sand sifting star. I would go for nassarius snails which are cheap and easy to find. With them you get your sand moved around and an uneaten fish food taken care of. You could try another goby which i think is probably your best bet. I agree also with staying away from engineer gobies.

 

I think goby it is, I haven't read many good things about stars.

Could I do nasssarius and a goby or is that overkill

 

That would be OK

 

Forget the star, they are bad news. Get lots of Nassarius snails instead.

 

Dwarf/Reg. Ceriths are also very good.

The dwarf ceriths from reefcleaners.org are dirt cheap and you ALWAYS get more than you pay for with John!!!!


For your size tank I would order 150 or so - even tho you will probably get more like 300 for the same price!!!

The great thing about the dwarfs, IMO, is that during the day they are mostly out of site - buried in the sand bed. About an hour before lights out - they start their nightly conquests of devouring extra stuff on and in the sandbed, glass, and liverock. Then when the lights come back on - they hide as they did before.

Sand sifting stars seem to go on a slow starvation diet when introduced to most tanks.

I am not sure at what size they become large enough to support a SS star indefinitely. We have two in a 430 gallon tank and a 4" DSB at my office and they have been fine - but that's a pretty darn big tank . . ..