cucumber nuke / which sand sifter??

[Torpus]

We have gone sand then no sand and now we are thinking about going sand again on our third tank.

Curious on peoples opinions on Cucumbers.
I know that the brightly colored ones and sea apples can nuke ones tank. Can the plain looking cucumbers nuke the tank too? Do people have them anyway? If I have sand I must have sifters.

I've had the starfish before and they just seamed to stay really near the surface of the sand, same with nassarus snails, we've had cerith snails without sand, do they sift too?
What will get down in there and stir it up real good for us?

Thanks!!!

 

[Packersfan21]

Ok fancy nassarius snails,sandsifting crabs, snadsifting sea stars. and super tongan nassarius snails are all good choices.

Cerith snails do sift the sand and they are also good choices. I have two sandsifting cucumber and they're pretty good too but they can release toxins.

 

[Sk8r]

White nassarius go below surface. Depends on tank size, but fighting conchs stay down for weeks at a time. 1 per 50 gallons. Ceriths are glass snails. I avoid crabs: they like fish too well. Sand sifting star, pita. In a 200g tank, a dragon goby if you don't mind a little sand-flinging. In a 50, a yellow watchman with his tiger pistol shrimp is good.

 

[Torpus]

We will be setting up a 40 gallon CadLight tank All in One. We dont plan on having any fish besides a scooter blenny after it gets extremely well established. Do you see any issues arising between this blenny and a yellow watchman?

 

[Torpus]

So I could only have one fighting conch per 50 gallons, I assume one in a 40 gallon is okay? Why can't I have more, is this obvious? They fight?

 

[rexdenton]

Hi Torpus,
The Holothuria edulis or sea cucumber is a detritus eater, but it will live on the surface of the sand, not in it like nacirius or certain conchi. Holothuria mops the surface on which it is feeding with mucus-covered tentacles drawing sand back, one partical at a time, sucking it clean, and then pooping out sand "cylinders". As the bottom of the tank usually has little nutrition, they need a bit of food down there and these animals are not generally suitable for very small (< 20 gallon) reef tanks. A recommendation I have read that is reasonable is to stock no more than ~3" of cucumber per 20 gallons of aquarium to avoid starvation. They cannot sense where food is, and really just process sand in front of them. However, If the food can be followed, they will follow it... Interestingly, I had one follow algae and go over the top; it was missing and presumed dead for 2 years. It showed up, happily munching on cheato in my sump. He's back on the job in the reef. I am not sure about toxicity of this genus. However, Bryan et al. 1997, Paul 1992; and Pawlik 1993 found the toxins in all species tested, (even the edible ones!)

 

[Torpus]

Yo Rex,
I've read a bunch of threads and I still dont know, should I have sand? It all seems like opinion. Bare bottom is nice but it still gets dirty. And its harder to prop stuff up on. If I do have sand how many inches should I have. I remember when I had sand before I always had tiny little micro bubbles in it and slight streaks of light green. Is that good? When sand stars and nassarus (i've gotta be butchering that name) are burring themselves in the sand are they eating? Or are they looking for protection? Lots of questions.
Basically I just want you to tell me what the best sand sifter would be (assuming I need a sand sifter). In our 50G bare bottom tank we have a five year old black bristle star a bunch of astreas a couple turbos a cleaner shrimp and an albino urchin (which eats coraline I think).
I can't believe your cuke showed up after two years that is awesome!

 

[Packersfan21]

Despite their name fighting conchs do not fight. One in a forty gallon would be ok.

 

[Packersfan21]

The amount of sand depends on the dimensions of the tank. Sand sifting sea stars and nassarius snails eat detritus when they bury themselves in the sand.

 

[Torpus]

Im rereading your post now.
We had a hot pink cuc in the past, never died on us, just chilled out at the top filtering water with its tetacles cool little guys.
For some reason I thought for sure that the other cucs burrowed...

 

[rexdenton]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11702925#post11702925 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Torpus
Yo Rex,
I've read a bunch of threads and I still dont know, should I have sand? It all seems like opinion. Bare bottom is nice but it still gets dirty.

yes. For me, I think those bare bottomed tanks look unnatural. For me, its aesthetic appearance, though it looks like bare is the new trend. The arragonite has the advantage of slowly dissolving and being a pH buffer and source of dissolve calcium.

And its harder to prop stuff up on.
yep

If I do have sand how many inches should I have. I remember when I had sand before I always had tiny little micro bubbles in it and slight streaks of light green. Is that good?

the bubbles are probably oxygen/CO2 coming off algae growing on th aragonite. Prob no reason for concern, except aesthetic reasons.

When sand stars and nassarus (i've gotta be butchering that name) are burring themselves in the sand are they eating? Or are they looking for protection? Lots of questions.

Sifting and eating. They really dont have many predators in the wild. Never a big fan of them though, since a Hawiian sifter grew very large and totally ripped into a beautiful cup coral...No star is absolutely reef safe.

Basically I just want you to tell me what the best sand sifter would be (assuming I need a sand sifter).

I like Nascirius for that purpose, and they are very cool when they surface to find food. Red footed Conch and Astrea do well to clean the reef. I also have a bunch of keyhole limpits which came is as hitchers, but are excellent reef cleaners. Some say these are not reef safe, but they only concentrate on algae in my tank. Dunno.

In our 50G bare bottom tank we have a five year old black bristle star a bunch of astreas a couple turbos a cleaner shrimp and an albino urchin (which eats coraline I think).

Never had an urchin, but they are supposedly good to control algae. I hear that they are bulldozers for moving rocks. Is that true?

I can't believe your cuke showed up after two years that is awesome!

Yes. because it would always be in the back, we referred to it as "the mysterious and elusive sea cucumber". When he showed up in the sump I had a good chuckle. I did wonder why that chaeto never over grew the sump, though...

 

[spike78]

For some good information on sand bed depth, check here:

http://ronshimek.com/Deep Sand Beds.htm

If you go for a deep sand bed, you are going to want to stay away from sand sifting animals as they generally prey on the infauna necessary to keep the DSB in good shape.