How to keep or make(??!) my substrate white?

[blu_surf]

Hi all.

I've seen pics of tanks belonging to you guys and noticed that majority of the substrate is white or close to white colour. Mine is far from white. In fact, it looks kind of dirty....on second look, it looks d@mn dirty! It's an established tank....probably about 10-11 months old now.

Any expert advice on how to keep or make(?!?) my substrate cleaner looking?

Thanks in advance!

[lightningstrike]

a sand sifting goby, some cerith and nassarius snails, a black sea cuke and a brittle star might do the trick......

[blu_surf]

Hey lightningstrike, thanks for the fast reply.

I already have some snails, Hermit crabs, an orange starfish and a Yellow Goby but I still have a dirty looking substrate leh.

[vincegoh]

u may want to suck the top layer of sand out during routine water change, wash it then place back into the tank.

This will help u to get rid of all the "shits" and algae.

[siglap]

get one sand sifter . a yellow goby wont help. orange spotted, blue cheek, or sleeper blue

[SeaAngel]

get one sand sifter . a yellow goby wont help. orange spotted, blue cheek, or sleeper blue

My blue cheek gave me more work!! Besides burying my zoos with sand it also did high altitude carpet bombing (with sand ) on my other corals and rocks.

I finally donated the fella to LFS.

Now my sand is not the whitest but at least it not snowing sand

[shiraz]

haha i get what u mean... but they only do that once in awhile... 6 line wrasses do that some times to find food...

[blueheaven]

any comments on brittlestars?

[Navyblue]

Avoid green brittle star if you are keeping small fishes, some reported it to be able to capture and consumen them.

[blueheaven]

is there a difference between the green ones and the brown ones?

[tineng]

try the mexician turbo snails.....they really clean everything not just the sand....

I have 3 of them for my 2 footer, and they keep very thing clean including the intake and outflow pipe, clams, even each other....etc

[SeaAngel]

haha i get what u mean... but they only do that once in awhile... 6 line wrasses do that some times to find food...

I only wished I could agree with you Probably mine were badly brought up.

[blu_surf]

My Yellow Goby can be a nuisance sometimes, he dumps the sand onto my softies!

I read somewhere (can't remember which website) that good water circulation helps too in keeping the substrate clean. I have 2 Maxijet 1200. Are they good enough?

[blu_surf]

Paiseh , forgot to mention.....it's a 4ft tank.