Sand sifting sea stars - Some help please

[BrianC]

[I am selling two sand sifting sea stars yet the response I've recd is overwelming. Everyone with a new tank seems to want one.

I bought six because of a cyano outbreak. I put 3 in my main tank which measeues 4' *2'. 1 in my refugium which is like 18" *10". 2 in my seahorse tank which was 24"*18". both tanks have cycled for over 18 months.

I recently shut the seahorse tank down so put the extra two up for sell. As I said everyone with a new tank wants one. These things eat the fauna in the sand bed Spaghetti Worms and such. And are not meant for beginning tanks someone with more expertise on this help me out and explain what they are used for so persons new to the hobby better understand please.]

 

[melev]

[A sand sifting starfish is appropriate for a fish-only tank, rather than a reef tank. If you have a DSB (deep sand bed), the microscopic critters you need to keep the substrate healthy will become dinner to this starfish. It will work its way through the sand until all you have is dead sand. At one point, Linuxfisher had one in his beautiful 120g reef. After it killed all the life in the sand, he had a huge algae outbreak that took weeks and weeks to clear up.

This is not a good selection for a reef tank, guys and gals.]

 

[BrianC]

[I think I personally perfer that tiger cucumber you have Marc. Except I am not putting one in my main tank. And I needed something to do a better job of moving the sand than my 50 nerite snails were doing. Within days of putting the three in there the cyano seemed to disappear. I am not suggesting they ate it though; just stirred the sand. Also the worms and fauna in my sand bed were beginning to look a little less attractive.]