Good Cyanobacteria Eater? Anyone?

[dbsherwood]

My tank is doing well with the exception that cyanobacteria loves to grow on the sand bed, which varies from 1-3 inches in depth. My 3 sand sifting starfish, who I thought would great to help keep the sand bed clean, seem to do nothing but glom on top of one another.

Other than water changes, etc., does anyone have specific recommendations for critters that do a decent job of eating cyanobacteria?

Thanks!

 

[Unarce]

Mexican Turbo Snails. The ones that looks like this:

 

[dbsherwood]

Thanks--I've got those guys in there but my crew doesn't seem not too interested in spending time on the sand--they like the live rock and the acrylic.

 

[Unarce]

Sorry, didn't think about the sand part. I think Queen and Fighting Conchs will do the job on sand.

 

[Len]

Conches keep the sand nicely turned about. I'm not sure they will eat cyano though, but they do a great job helping the sand stay clean.

With cyano, i usually increase my pH and alk (with kalkwasser) and increase my floor over the affected portions. If the lights are old, swap in new ones.

 

[tazdevil]

Len posted:

and increase my floor

I think he ment "flow", but thats me.

 

[bleedingthought]

Conches keep the sand nicely turned about. I'm not sure they will eat cyano though, but they do a great job helping the sand stay clean.

I was about to say that!

 

[Len]

I rarely mean what I say and I rarely say what I mean.

 

[bleedingthought]

We've learned that by some of the promises you have made in the past.

 

[blackcloudmedia]

Honestly Ive had a queen conch and turbos and various other things and none of them has touched the cyano. It did go away however when I opened up the valve on the powerhead to increase oxygen in the tank.

 

[ChrisRD]

I've had Cerith snails and Baja hermits (Clibinarius digueti) that ate red slime algae, but if you lower nutrient levels enough and increase flow it should vanish in time with or without them.

 

[wasp9166]

i use boyds chemi clean

 

[RustyReefer]

Hi I am new to reefs.org... but I thought I wound give my two cents, I use strawberry conches. I am sure that most conchess wound be fine but I find that these little guys really turn over the sand bed well. IMO

 

[Unarce]

That's cool! I rarely see any blood mouth/strawberry conchs for sale in the US. Out of the 3 species of conch that I have, I think these do the best job of stirring the sand. They really bury deep into it