Should I get a cucumber?

AlexG · Sep 26, 2018

I have 7 sea cucumbers (tiger tail species) in my 480 gallon reef tank. They do a great job cleaning the sand. While I always hear the stories of how they wipe out tanks I have yet to actually meet a person that had this happen to their tank. The only worries I ever have with sea cucumbers is power heads. If you have a power head they can be easily sucked into without a guard then there might be some risk. On occasion they climb the walls of the tank but if your sides are clean then you should not have to worry about them doing it often. I just found one of mine hiding in the magnet of a gyre pump and I was worried it might get sucked in but after night fall it had already moved on to a new location without an issue. I have only had once experience with a sea cucumber getting angry when I worked in an LFS and it looked like it shot out a tube of silicone into the tank as a defense mechanism when I was trying to remove it from a rock. I removed the sticky substance from the reef tank and nothing happened to that reef system as a result. I am sure there are some risks with these animals and they have poisoned a tank before but I think its a pretty rare occurrence.

Shooter6 · Sep 26, 2018

yungreefer2410 said:
how many people vacuum their sand?

I always left my alone, had a small army of nass snails to trudge around in it.

I do every water change.

Deiblerj · Sep 27, 2018

Shooter6 said:
I do every water change.

How fine is your sand? I feel like if i tried to vacuum mine it would either all get sucked up or blow everywhere.

What do you use?

stevieduk · Sep 27, 2018

my tank ,60 gallon, 3 years old , never vacuumed the sand

Shooter6 · Sep 27, 2018

Deiblerj said:
How fine is your sand? I feel like if i tried to vacuum mine it would either all get sucked up or blow everywhere.

What do you use?

I have the Caribbean sea fine or select. I still have a unused bag so ill double check. I use the 3ft syphon into a bucket. I pinch the hose as the sand moves up the tube, letting it break apart and fall to the bed again then lift up of the ped and let the syphon take out the last of the debris trapped in the tube. Works fine this way. I do lose a little bit of sand sometimes but itsaybe a teaspoon full worth. My display is a6ftx2ftx2ft so the 3ft tube gives me an additional ft of water column for the sand to tumble in.

Keagan Wilson · Sep 27, 2018

I lost my tank due to one passing away. I also had a deep sand bed so everything went south luckily nothing died I moved everything to a new tank but that of course was long ago.

Shooter6 · Sep 28, 2018

Deiblerj said:
How fine is your sand? I feel like if i tried to vacuum mine it would either all get sucked up or blow everywhere.

What do you use?

Hope these pics help with the sand size

Shooter6 · Sep 28, 2018

Hope this helps show the grain size. This was lights out

Deiblerj · Sep 28, 2018

Ah alright I have finer grain than that but I’ll give your method a shot!

Shooter6 · Sep 28, 2018

Just fold the hose over on the syphon to control flow like you would do with a garden hose. You can also put a ball valve in line to make it easier.

cracker · Sep 28, 2018

This just came to me. I f You had a newish, sand bed , devoid of food, The cucumber would starve. Where a Goby could eat from the water column .

mch1984 · Sep 28, 2018

I have one in my tank (black and pink variety), got him to help with the sand bed. He spent the first month in my tank on the glass and didn't touch the sand. Finally about two weeks ago he went to the bottom and as been there sense. I've read they can nuke a tank, but that it's very rare.

Oshengems · Sep 28, 2018

I have been considering one my self as well, I have 2 strawberry conch they also do a great job a stirring sand back up and my nasariius but I feel a cucumber will actually clean it better my fiends sand looks the way it did 2 years ago when he started his tank he has 3 in a 90g

MURedhawk · Jan 23, 2019

I just bought purple and black sea cucumber yesterday. After acclimating and placing in tank, it blew under a rock wall (from the high flow in my reef tank). I saw some of it last night (same day), but now today I have not seen it at all. Would it bury itself completely in sand? I did not see it crawl after I added it. Is this normal behavior?

This is well established tank.

mch1984 · Jan 23, 2019

Have you checked up high on the glass? Oddly enough mine spent the first two moths on the top third of the glass before it ever ventured on the sand. Yes that's pretty normal, mine still disappears sometimes and then shows its self later. I wouldn't worry about it yet.

stevieduk · Jan 23, 2019

no one vacuums the sea bed, keep it natural and not a showpiece

MURedhawk · Jan 23, 2019

mch1984 said:
Have you checked up high on the glass? Oddly enough mine spent the first two moths on the top third of the glass before it ever ventured on the sand. Yes that's pretty normal, mine still disappears sometimes and then shows its self later. I wouldn't worry about it yet.

Thank you for quick response.
After acclimation, I dropped it down onto the sand where it was subsequently blow across the reef bottom and under the reef structure in my ~80g display. I never saw it crawl on the glass. Other things I bought like a tube anemone are doing great and opened up well.

MURedhawk · Jan 23, 2019

MURedhawk said:
Thank you for quick response.
After acclimation, I dropped it down onto the sand where it was subsequently blow across the reef bottom and under the reef structure in my ~80g display. I never saw it crawl on the glass. Other things I bought like a tube anemone are doing great and opened up well.

Update:
Just found it hidden under cave roof - same color as the coralline algae so definitely moves quicker than I thought.