[gramma royale]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there's any type of animal out there that will root around through the substrate so the sand is less likely to get cyano. I know scooter blennies will do that, but what other animals can do it?

[ronjon]

a queen conch will do it.

rj

[the_blue_tuna]

so will Nassaurius(sp) snails

[gramma royale]

cool. What's a nassasarious snail? I tried searching for it but all I got was "cannot be found". Are they small? I've hear the queen conch will really do well turning over the substrate, but they do get about a foot long after a while . I also saw this weird looking orange tubeworm at my LFS that eats the substrate and excretes it after it cleans it off...kinda like what an earthworm does. It's bright orange all over and has a head with short tentacles that scoop sand into it's mouth. If any of you know what it is, can you enlighten me on it's requirements and stats? Thanks again for the help.

[snoopdog]

Nassarius snails are really cool, I bought about 100 on E-Bay and split them between my tanks. I removed every crab I have other than the emerald crabs so that they hermits would not kill them. I also have a mixture of cerith and margarita snails. So far so good, they burrow and mix up the sand all day. They are great at cleaning up waste and excess food and are pretty fast for a snail. It's cool, when you feed they all surface at one time when they smell the food and go after it, they have a great sense of smell. Don't take my word for it though, read this great article.

Nassarius snails

[gramma royale]

cool, thanks for the info! I don't think my LFS carries Nassarius snails, is there a quality on-line dealer I can get them from?

[snoopdog]

I have ordered from this guy three times and was very happy every time. I even had one get screwed up by the post office, he said no problem and shipped me another box full for no charge.


Sealifes

[reefhead]

http://premiumaquatics.com


BTW you dont want anything to "Stir" the sand.If you want to prevent cyano I would suggest growing several species of macro algea.

Strumbus Maculatus from http://www.ipsf.com will eat cyano, they are not as big as queen conchs and do the same great work.Also, get your tank some cucumbers to eat the top layer of the sand.

[CaptainK]

Hi gramma royale,

You can get all of the snails mentioned in this post over at:

www.premiumaquatics.com

They are a great mail order site. And they also have a lot of other snails that are good for your tank.

HTH,
CaptK

[Strangelove]

I have 50 Nassarius snails in my 90 from Sealifes. He even gave me a free handfull of macroalgae. They're great at cleaning up extra food but have done nothing to help with my cyano problems. If you're just looking for help with cyano I'd try something else.

Gene

[ReefHawk]

Lower phosphates = less cyano

The root of the problem imho

[Barry N.]

If you want to turn over you substrate then get a goby. I have one and he/she is like a machine. I have to put the sand back in place now and then as he stackes it up in a pile.

Barry

[mastaJ]

You wouldn't want a cucumber in such a small tank like you have, which is what the "tubeworm" you are describing is. Also if you keep circulation up and have a way to "export" nutrients (macroalgae) then imo you won't get/develop cyano...HTH

[reefhead]

a live sand bed is to be left unstirred, a gobie would destoy your precious infauna that your striving to get.

This article is a must read.
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/a.../1/default.asp


Joe

[jmick01]

I agree with reefhead. Gobies can destroy a sand beds popualtion of pods in a matter of days. That is what they are sifting for!!!!!! Eventually if the pod population cant keep up the goby will die, some times these gobies have adapted to eating prepared foods, but not all. Nassarius snails, queen conchs, and cerith snails have all done very well for me.

JMM

[SHUMALA]

I agree that u wouldn't need to really turn over ur substrate to have a clean sand bed. Good water quality is the key..

Having said that, if your tank is big enough, a cucumber is good for the top layer of the sand and will not deplete any pods and worms.

[snoopdog]

I "had" a problem with brown diatom algea problem on my sand in the first 8 months of having a tank. Started on the glass and then started covering the sand. After getting a grip on how often to feed and how much, and after the tank matured I have not had a problem. Then the green hair algea cycle....eeek. But it all goes away in the end.

[reefhead]

after having my 2 cukes in the tank for about 8mo, they have started eating the cyano.

I feed alot so I always get small outbreaks. Then again, my tank is 20g hex (30g total water volume)

joe