sand sifting sea stars

[Joe Cool]

Hello



I have 44 gal tank that I started about 8 weeks ago. It has 8 pounds of
live rock (adding more in a week) and fine sand. The first batch of live
rock I bought had sea urchins in it, I have also stock the tank with a
tomato Clown and a yellowtail. I had a algae bloom about 2 weeks ago so I
bought a Sand sifting sea star. My question is, are sand sifting stars good
or bad for a reef tank?

[Pszemol]

"Joe Cool" > wrote in message news:iiRYc.261860$eM2.92898@attbi_s51...
> I have 44 gal tank that I started about 8 weeks ago. It has 8 pounds of
> live rock (adding more in a week) and fine sand. The first batch of live
> rock I bought had sea urchins in it, I have also stock the tank with a
> tomato Clown and a yellowtail. I had a algae bloom about 2 weeks ago so I
> bought a Sand sifting sea star. My question is, are sand sifting stars good
> or bad for a reef tank?

What connection you see between starfish and algae blooms?
BTW - algae blooms in a freshly setup tanks are normal cycling.

[Joe Cool]

I was told that among other things the star will eat algae. After I put him
in the tank what was left of the algae was gone in 8 hours. If this was a
coincidence let me know? What I wanted is to setup a good cleaning crew
before I added fish.
"Pszemol" > wrote in message
...
> "Joe Cool" > wrote in message
news:iiRYc.261860$eM2.92898@attbi_s51...
> > I have 44 gal tank that I started about 8 weeks ago. It has 8 pounds
of
> > live rock (adding more in a week) and fine sand. The first batch of live
> > rock I bought had sea urchins in it, I have also stock the tank with a
> > tomato Clown and a yellowtail. I had a algae bloom about 2 weeks ago so
I
> > bought a Sand sifting sea star. My question is, are sand sifting stars
good
> > or bad for a reef tank?
>
> What connection you see between starfish and algae blooms?
> BTW - algae blooms in a freshly setup tanks are normal cycling.

[Billy]

"Joe Cool" > wrote in message
news:Y_RYc.262501$eM2.40772@attbi_s51...
|I was told that among other things the star will eat algae. After I
put him
| in the tank what was left of the algae was gone in 8 hours. If this
was a
| coincidence let me know? What I wanted is to setup a good cleaning
crew
| before I added fish.


A more effective algae control crew would consist of hermits, snails,
and perhaps small crabs. I prefer Astreas and turbo snails.

my 2 pennies.


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[Pszemol]

Sand sifting stars are mostly carnivores.
They sift sand in search for a meaty treat like worms, other mini-stars, etc.
Note: they eat BENEFICIAL life forms you want to have in the sand.
Read this forum for more info about sand beds:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=40

"Joe Cool" > wrote in message news:Y_RYc.262501$eM2.40772@attbi_s51...
> I was told that among other things the star will eat algae. After I put him
> in the tank what was left of the algae was gone in 8 hours. If this was a
> coincidence let me know? What I wanted is to setup a good cleaning crew
> before I added fish.
> "Pszemol" > wrote in message
> ...
> > "Joe Cool" > wrote in message
> news:iiRYc.261860$eM2.92898@attbi_s51...
> > > I have 44 gal tank that I started about 8 weeks ago. It has 8 pounds
> of
> > > live rock (adding more in a week) and fine sand. The first batch of live
> > > rock I bought had sea urchins in it, I have also stock the tank with a
> > > tomato Clown and a yellowtail. I had a algae bloom about 2 weeks ago so
> I
> > > bought a Sand sifting sea star. My question is, are sand sifting stars
> good
> > > or bad for a reef tank?
> >
> > What connection you see between starfish and algae blooms?
> > BTW - algae blooms in a freshly setup tanks are normal cycling.
>
>

[CapFusion]

"Joe Cool" > wrote in message
news:Y_RYc.262501$eM2.40772@attbi_s51...
> I was told that among other things the star will eat algae. After I put
him
> in the tank what was left of the algae was gone in 8 hours. If this was a
> coincidence let me know? What I wanted is to setup a good cleaning crew
> before I added fish.

Do not use any sifting type critter on your LS unless you replenish them
regularly [not recommended]. As Pszemol suggested, use shrimp / snail etc
and Tang [yes, tang] for scanvenaging.

CapFusion,...

[Pszemol]

"CapFusion" <CapeFussion...@hotmail.., com> wrote in message ...
> "Joe Cool" > wrote in message
> news:Y_RYc.262501$eM2.40772@attbi_s51...
> > I was told that among other things the star will eat algae. After I put
> > him in the tank what was left of the algae was gone in 8 hours. If this was
> > a coincidence let me know? What I wanted is to setup a good cleaning crew
> > before I added fish.
>
> Do not use any sifting type critter on your LS unless you replenish them
> regularly [not recommended]. As Pszemol suggested, use shrimp / snail etc
> and Tang [yes, tang] for scanvenaging.

One small correction - I did not suggest shrimp - they are hunters,
not only scavengers. I saw one Lysmata amboinensis pulling a worm
from the crevice in the rock to eat it alive while the worm was
curling into a small ball - it did not help him alot...

[CapFusion]

"Pszemol" > wrote in message
...
>> One small correction - I did not suggest shrimp - they are hunters,
> not only scavengers. I saw one Lysmata amboinensis pulling a worm
> from the crevice in the rock to eat it alive while the worm was
> curling into a small ball - it did not help him alot...

Ok Pszemol.
Beside Pszemol, I still recommend shrimp as they are part of janitoral crew.
I mostly have are Peppermint kind that very behave.

CapFusion,...

[Pszemol]

"CapFusion" <CapeFussion...@hotmail.., com> wrote in message ...
> >> One small correction - I did not suggest shrimp - they are hunters,
> > not only scavengers. I saw one Lysmata amboinensis pulling a worm
> > from the crevice in the rock to eat it alive while the worm was
> > curling into a small ball - it did not help him alot...
>
> Ok Pszemol.
> Beside Pszemol, I still recommend shrimp as they are part of janitoral crew.
> I mostly have are Peppermint kind that very behave.

Unfortunatelly, the effects of shripms on DSB will be similar to those
caused by the sifting stars or digging fish, crabs etc...
With a very large tank, and small number of shrimps it might work.
But put a couple of shrimps in a small 30-50 gallons tank and they
will clean the live sand out of whatever alive and moves in the sand...

Shrimps do not eat detritus - worms do... Shrimps eat worms :-(

[CapFusion]

"Pszemol" > wrote in message
...
>
> Unfortunatelly, the effects of shripms on DSB will be similar to those
> caused by the sifting stars or digging fish, crabs etc...
> With a very large tank, and small number of shrimps it might work.
> But put a couple of shrimps in a small 30-50 gallons tank and they
> will clean the live sand out of whatever alive and moves in the sand...
>
> Shrimps do not eat detritus - worms do... Shrimps eat worms :-(

Heehe, you havve a point there. I have 100USG and ton of worm when view at
night. My shrimp do not seem to bother much worm. Only my varieties of crabs
now reside in my sump will do most damage to my DSB. These peppermint shrimp
seem to help clean those algae on those rock work. I guess "YMMV" should be
stated.

CapFusion,....