# Sand aeration



## austinroberts23 (Jan 25, 2012)

What is something that will aerate my cichlid tanks sand that won't pose an over population risk?


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I would think malaysian trumpet snails would be good. Your cichlids might eat some and if you get too many, you can sell them.


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## austinroberts23 (Jan 25, 2012)

Alright. Now to find some around here


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you should be able to find some on aquabid...MTS live in the substrate and will do a pretty good job of aerating it..and with your substrate being sand you can just get a sifter with holes just big enough for the sand to pass through but not the snails..thnat ay when they become too heavily populated they are easy to remove so you can sell them...


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## austinroberts23 (Jan 25, 2012)

I've looked at aquabid and most seem to be selling 100+ with it being about 20 bucks. Do I need that many? And would anyone on here be seeling/trying to get rid of some?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

so buy the 100...let them work for awhile and reproduce...then harvest and sell the excess...


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

austinroberts23 said:


> ...that won't pose an over population risk?


My experience with MTS is that they *do* pose an over population risk.

These somehow got in my 180gal frontosa tank (probably hitched a ride on the python while doing water changes), and I was manually removing two dozen a week...to no avail (didn't know there was a market for these pests...:smile:. (two or three dozen assassin snails finally eradicated them for me).

Many rift lake cichlids are decent sand sifters in their own right and do a pretty good job of moving the sand around themselves. How deep is your sand bed?


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## austinroberts23 (Jan 25, 2012)

It's about 2" or so. My main worry is the spots I can't reach to aerate (like under the decor)


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