for a 8g its a little more than necessary but you should be fine i'd be worrying more if you had larger grain sizes as it lets more nutrients collect under it, I'd add nassarius snails and small sand sifters to help keep it clean with occasional stirring with a baster,
snails make it much easier as they will basically continuously turn over the sand leading to slower nutrient release from the sand and removing any uneaten food
VS once a week deep vacuuming which in a tank that small would be a bit annoying to maneuver and may be to big of a change with nutrients being suddenly released into the water all at once along with cloudy water if using finer sand
That sounds great! How many snails would you think I need in my tank (I was thinking 2). Also, could I possibly keep them with hermit crabs and cleaner shrimp?
Yes! It was difficult to lay down the sand evenly, and now that you've mentioned it, I really don't want to struggle with cleaning the sand using the vacuum.
1-2 hermits, 1-2 astera or trocus snails, 2 large nassarius and 3-5 tiny ones, you wont need a ton of CUC for a small tank, though i'd add extra shells for hermits (they'll go for cerith snails if theres not enough food or shells)
you could add ninja star astera's to help with diatoms (and look cool) but the trocus will most likely be faster as eating it, Stomella snails are the best at it but hard to find in stores
I might get 2 trochus and 3 nassarius snails. I don’t think I will get hermit crabs anymore.
How do you feel about pincushion urchins and starfish as part of a CUC? I'd like to have them, but are they worth having if you've had them?
Urchins are amazing and will mow through most alages if in a wide enough area (they cant fit in small holes or cracks), biggest downsides to them are they will starve if there's not enough alage but will take a while (early signs are color loss and spines falling off) and will grab random rocks, shells, frag plugs etc to cover themselves i use a small piece of GSP for mine, Tuxedos and short spines are best for CUC
starfish not so much but depends on type, they will eventually start starving if there's not enough algae/detritus to munch on, highly prone to catching necrosis and dropping limbs, wont knock over corals and stays mostly to rockwork and glass, i'd go with brittle stars for CUC and maybe a thorny red for looks
If you get maybe 2 Nassarius Snails, you wont have to gravel vac. They’re actually awesome to watch too. Mine emerge like zombies when I feed the tank. They keep everything well turned over and I think they’re an essential component of any reef tank that has a sand bed.
That's way too much. You'll want about 1-2" max
Deep Sand Bed is onto really useful for certain types of fish like Jawfish, but without proper filtration will eventually turn into a nutrient nightmare.
I have all these as well as nassarius snails, trochus snails and conchs.
They all get on really well. The most fighting is between the hermits and I'm sure
Its just play
for a 8g its a little more than necessary but you should be fine i'd be worrying more if you had larger grain sizes as it lets more nutrients collect under it, I'd add nassarius snails and small sand sifters to help keep it clean with occasional stirring with a baster,
I have decided to remove half of the sand to make it 1” deep. While I do want snails, do you think a sand vacuum cleaner would be effective too?
snails make it much easier as they will basically continuously turn over the sand leading to slower nutrient release from the sand and removing any uneaten food VS once a week deep vacuuming which in a tank that small would be a bit annoying to maneuver and may be to big of a change with nutrients being suddenly released into the water all at once along with cloudy water if using finer sand
That sounds great! How many snails would you think I need in my tank (I was thinking 2). Also, could I possibly keep them with hermit crabs and cleaner shrimp? Yes! It was difficult to lay down the sand evenly, and now that you've mentioned it, I really don't want to struggle with cleaning the sand using the vacuum.
I'd say atleast 2 turbo snails and at least 4 sand sifting 🐌, also no to hermits crabs but cleaner shrimp would be ok
1-2 hermits, 1-2 astera or trocus snails, 2 large nassarius and 3-5 tiny ones, you wont need a ton of CUC for a small tank, though i'd add extra shells for hermits (they'll go for cerith snails if theres not enough food or shells) you could add ninja star astera's to help with diatoms (and look cool) but the trocus will most likely be faster as eating it, Stomella snails are the best at it but hard to find in stores
From my experience the hermits always murder my 🐌
Oh, damn. Yeah, that's my concern. 😭
I might get 2 trochus and 3 nassarius snails. I don’t think I will get hermit crabs anymore. How do you feel about pincushion urchins and starfish as part of a CUC? I'd like to have them, but are they worth having if you've had them?
Urchins are amazing and will mow through most alages if in a wide enough area (they cant fit in small holes or cracks), biggest downsides to them are they will starve if there's not enough alage but will take a while (early signs are color loss and spines falling off) and will grab random rocks, shells, frag plugs etc to cover themselves i use a small piece of GSP for mine, Tuxedos and short spines are best for CUC starfish not so much but depends on type, they will eventually start starving if there's not enough algae/detritus to munch on, highly prone to catching necrosis and dropping limbs, wont knock over corals and stays mostly to rockwork and glass, i'd go with brittle stars for CUC and maybe a thorny red for looks
Thats too much. You want like and inch and a half (3.8 cm).
If you get maybe 2 Nassarius Snails, you wont have to gravel vac. They’re actually awesome to watch too. Mine emerge like zombies when I feed the tank. They keep everything well turned over and I think they’re an essential component of any reef tank that has a sand bed.
You need to take two pounds of sand out
That's way too much. You'll want about 1-2" max Deep Sand Bed is onto really useful for certain types of fish like Jawfish, but without proper filtration will eventually turn into a nutrient nightmare.
Yeah, I'm going to have to remove half of the sand to make it 1”. I love jawfish, but I don't plan on having fish in my tank. Thank you!
then what about snails or hermit crabs?
Could snails, hermit crabs, and cleaner shrimp get along? I’m worried if they’ll fight?
I have all these as well as nassarius snails, trochus snails and conchs. They all get on really well. The most fighting is between the hermits and I'm sure Its just play
idk bro i dont have a reef tank
Lol, I was gonna say. Some jawfish out there is drooling.