cyano

Never. Not in over 10 years.

even with a shallow bed?

Not even then. I have a clean up crew to keep the sand clean.

That brings me to another question. What to YOU use as a cleanup crew? I like to ask people who are having success which obviously you are. My tank has gone through cyano, hair algae, diatoms, and it is finally aged well enough that there is nothing going on in it for once so I am afraid that I would starve a clean up crew if I was to add any more. Currently I have only a few snails and reef hermits and the snails vary. I have a pistol shrimp (which does nothing for cleaning but is a very aggressive feeder) and a coral banded shrimp. I also have a small (less than an inch) fighting conch.

I always employed Nassarius snails and some type of sand sifting goby to keep the sand clean. There are lots of things that will turn the sand over, but something that helps is to make sure you dont let build up happen. Make sure you dont let uneaten food settle or let dead spots develop where detritus can settle.

I have nass snails but I have done the sand sifting goby before and it basically slowly starved to death over a year. It would eat when I fed the tank but it still wasn't enough to sustain it with all its daily activity.

Ya i lost a twin spot goby the same way because i put him in the tank too early. I kept a dragon goby (banded goby?) for years in the same tank after the tank had matured longer.

Originally Posted by cyano

That brings me to another question. What to YOU use as a cleanup crew? I like to ask people who are having success which obviously you are. My tank has gone through cyano, hair algae, diatoms, and it is finally aged well enough that there is nothing going on in it for once so I am afraid that I would starve a clean up crew if I was to add any more. Currently I have only a few snails and reef hermits and the snails vary. I have a pistol shrimp (which does nothing for cleaning but is a very aggressive feeder) and a coral banded shrimp. I also have a small (less than an inch) fighting conch.

I don't have as many cleanup crew critters as I used to because I don't have the same resource any longer. I loved ordering from Key's Critters, but they vanished - although the page exists, you can't contact them.

I like fighting conchs, one for every 2 sqft area. My 400g has at least five of them. There are about five serpent stars, some nassarius snails, trochus and astreas, some hermits. The fish help, especially the bristletooth tang (Yellow Eye Kole hybrid).

The better the water quality, the nicer the sand looks. When alkalinity is off, crud starts growing on the sand again.

Originally Posted by melev

I don't have as many cleanup crew critters as I used to because I don't have the same resource any longer. I loved ordering from Key's Critters, but they vanished - although the page exists, you can't contact them.

I like fighting conchs, one for every 2 sqft area. My 400g has at least five of them. There are about five serpent stars, some nassarius snails, trochus and astreas, some hermits. The fish help, especially the bristletooth tang (Yellow Eye Kole hybrid).

The better the water quality, the nicer the sand looks. When alkalinity is off, crud starts growing on the sand again.

So what would you recommend for my 75 gallon? I have one fighting conch, nass, astreas, turbo, and ceriths. I currently have a yellow tang in there so I am afraid of it fighting with a bristletooth (I would love to have a tomini in there) where as I am not so afraid of the bio-load with another tang it's more territory. My current rock work is not against the back of the tank at all so there is plenty of swimming room and all the fish seem very happy and fat.

What's the condition of your sand now? What about adding a cup or two of livesand?

Originally Posted by melev

What's the condition of your sand now? What about adding a cup or two of livesand?

Adding any live sand hadn't occurred to me until you mentioned it. It isn't awful it just has that dingy look to it.

May need more life. I used to add one bag of livesand from the LFS into my 280g every six months.

Originally Posted by melev

May need more life. I used to add one bag of livesand from the LFS into my 280g every six months.

How do you prep it? do I need to rinse the live sand? and also can I store the remaining amount for later use or will everything just die off? what date on the sand should I be looking for at the lfs? also I am seriously considering adding a tomini tang to my tank this weekend. Any thoughts? My tank has no rocks against any glass and there is a ton of swim room. It just looks empty with the fish that are in the tank currently.

I would buy commercial grade stuff that is pre-rinsed. I always used a full bag. They sell them in smaller sizes, so find one you want to use. Here's the article: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...ting-reef-tank

the smallest size I can find it in is 20lb bags. Tropic flakes are what I have been using before but I never used live sand i only used dry. Would it hurt my tank to add a 20 lb bag to the tank or should I just use a few cups?

If you think 20 lbs will add about 1/2" of sand to the tank, it should be fine. If you feel it is too much, you can use less. The remaining stuff in the bag won't stay live for long though.