Starfish

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

saw this burrowing sand shifter starfish at SL during the weekend , recomemded as a clean up crew by Sam for movement of your DSB...though I share this...not very attractive looking though but keeps your DSB moving..... will appear on the sandbed once every week to stretch it's legs.

[arcanehacker]

I tot DSB cannot be disturbed?

I recomend it for normal sandbed though . Reduces algae as the sand bed is constantly disturbed..

My last one got split up leg after leg by my harlequins though..

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

you have HARLEQUIN shrimp in your tank? Your starfish liao.....all the legs go missing...he..he

I dunno , some say that DSB must have some movement and some say no but if not then the DSB become too compact....

[arcanehacker]

you have HARLEQUIN shrimp in your tank? Your starfish liao.....all the legs go missing...he..he

I dunno , some say that DSB must have some movement and some say no but if not then the DSB become too compact....

maybe some expert can advise on the DSB.. I also not sure..

yah... 2 of my harlequins ripped the legs of the starfish one by one..

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

so many theories don't know which one to follow....maybe this hobby is based on own experience I guess , follow your instinct and see what happens as it is the only way. In reefing I think there is no one rule... Your starfish so poor thing but legs can grow back again I am sure provided the Harlequin leave it alone for awhile...he...he

[timzhiquan]

the purpose of DSB is to create a low oxygen zone for denitrifying bacteria. if it is totally anaerobic, in other words zero oxygen, hydrogen sulfide producing bacteria will grow.

this is what i read... correct me if im wrong.

[chinmo]

i have 2 wif me for ard 5 mths liao, on and off u c them appearing here and there, they do help to keep the top 1 inch layer loose, and when they start to burrowing u can c in the process they help to release bubbles(nitrogen maybe ) from the dsb

[CooL_anakin]

Its not advisable to have these burrowing brittle stars in your sand bed. In fact you shouldn't have it in there. That star fish feeds on worms in the sand an other infauna as well. You need those infauna to regulate small water movements in the tank. These burrowing stars can effectively remove your tank of its sand bed critters.

In the end its only the starfish left stirring only the top layer of the sand. Whereas your critters could have done more and in deeper levels.

Without your infauna, there will be lesser detrivores and scavengers and in turn lead to probable detritus build up and the left over food will be significantly increasing the amount of waste in your tank as they decay. Detrtus build up would also mean cyanobacteria growth.

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

your theory is good but then again it all depends as these starfishes don't go deep and are close to the surface and if you're having a thick DSB then there shouldn't be a problem for the other detrivores and scanvengers to do their job.....