sand sifter needed - please help!!!
 

I have a 36 G tank with a crushed coral substrate, about 1 1/2" deep.

Is there some kind of fish or invert that is reef safe that will mix up the substrate and keep it clean.

current livestock:
2 green chromis
2 perc clowns
1 firefish
1 6 line wrasse
2 cleaner shrimp
25+ algae eating snails

I used to have 10 nassarius snails, but the seem to have disappeared as I have not seen any of them for almost a month.

sand sifter
 

try a sleeper goby. he really churns it up.

Doug

I have a conch in my 10g nano, works great for stirring things up.

Ditto on the conch, my strawberry conch digs around all day.

Conch all the way. I had a sleeper goby before an dthey do a GREAT job however... You will find they leave sand al over the place , on your corals and rock literally everywhere.. I lost a few corals to the sleeper goby.

Conch are really weird. Watching those two eye come out from under the shell. Cool to watch as they move around and bury themselves.

I have a sand sifting star in my 20 and 70G, It works great and is able to withstand tank problems.

Re: sand sifter
 

Unfortunately Sleeper Gobies will decimate any life in a sandbed. Then when there is nothing left to eat, they usually die. At least that has been my experience. :sad:

Re: sand sifter
 

I'll agree with Bob, I had 1 that I would switch back and forth between 2 tanks. He would eat flake and mysis but only small amounts you could feed him 10 time a day and not keep up. Mine lasted about 10 months before he died :sad:

How does the conch hold up in a tank? Doesn't he do a similar thing to the goby in eating the organisms in the sand?

Also, how big does a conch get?

Conches are algae eaters, so they do no damage to sand critters. The Queen Conch gets to 10 inches or more. The best for aquaria is the Fighting Conch, which only grows to 3.5 inches ( it can do that really quickly)

I like Cerith and Nassarious snails. With Cerith being more easily available. :biggrin:

or a Strawberry Conch.