Sand bed

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aznfish

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 29, 2009
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Australia
Im setting up at 6x2x2 with a 65 gallon sump and i have a 2 inch sand bed of 2-3mm coral sand.
I'm wondering if this is gonna be alright. Cause I heard that a 2 inch sand bed can be bad.

The tank is only going to have a dwarf lionfish (most likely a green Hawaii) for around 1.5-2 years cause im finishing the last 2 years of highschool.
I'm definitely going to get some hermit crabs, snails.
Just wonder what kind of snails are good for a 2inch sand bed and are there any other inverts which are good as a clean up crew?
 
If you feel it's not going to be enough sand for anerobic dinitrification, you could always go deep in your sump section refuge to make up for it (break the detrius down) :D

2" is fine for snails.
 
i can't fit a dsb in the sump and i'm not trying to make a dsb, i'm just wondering if there's going to be a lot of detritus getting caught in the sand.
What kind of snails should i get for a CUC, i heard hermit crabs aren't good with snails so what kind of small crabs could i get?
I don't want to get any starfish, heard serpent and brittles can kill snails even the black brittles. ._.
 
Understood. If your wanting to go reef I would go head and do a 4" bed before you get everything in there. Would be easier than trying to fix it later etc.

Reef is a 4" bed minimal from what other reefers told me.

Maybe add 2 more inches of agnoite sand (not live since you already have enough of that) and you should be good to go with a future reef build.
 
its gonna be FOWLR
and what are good snails for CUC?
 
2" is fine for FOWLR so your set. Hermit crabs for the sand and your choice of snail for the rock and glass. Any kind will do from my experience. I like the mexican turbos personally.
:D
 
I think that less is more when it comes to sand depth in the main aquarium. Sure, a nice deep sand bed will work great at first, but it ends up collecting detritus along the way and eventually becomes more of a problem than its worth; you'll have to eventually rip up a significant portion of it to get it cleaned. All you really need is 0.5" to 1.0" of sand; I would pull the extra out and save it for replacing the sand as needed. Heck, some people don't even use sand because it becomes a hassle when it's too deep and because your live rock is going to do way more for biological filtration than the sand will ever do.

That's just my view on the matter, and there's really no singular correct view out there for this type of thing. Then again, I'm no expert, but I learned pretty much all that I know about saltwater from experts on here for what it's worth.
 
Don't hermits kill snails? and what snails move around in the sandbed?
 
aznfish said:
Don't hermits kill snails? and what snails move around in the sandbed?
Click to expand...

Dwarf blue leg hermits are pretty much the safest hermits out there; they only attack dead/dying snails under most circumstances provided that there's enough detritus & algae for them to eat. Nassarius snails work well for sand sifting although I use fighting conchs because I got them for free and they work pretty well, too; the conchs are also way too big to be eaten by the dwarf blue leg hermits, so that's a plus, too.

This guide explains the roles of the various cleaner invertebrates pretty well.
 
I'm quite interested in painted rock lobsters/ blue spiny rock lobster and i heard they move the sand and eat detritus, anyone that can confirm that they eat detritus?
would they eat hermit crabs or snails?
 
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