Cucumber to clean surface detritus in refugium DSB?

[Anonymous]

I'm considering putting a cucumber into my refugium to break down the detritus that settles on top of the DSB. (My refugium is low flow, so lots of gunk settles out on the sand.)

Are there any cucumbers that will clean the surface layers of the DSB, but not stir it up too much? I'm also worried that the wrong cucumber will eat everything in the DSB and effectively kill the sand.

Any suggestions on species or experiences?

Many Thanks

 

[Len]

Tiger tails worked great for me. They don't do much digging, pretty much staying near the surface of the sand. They also didn't seem to impact any of the sandbed's fauna, only detritus and algae. Another option is to get some Tongan fighting conches. They do a great job, won't eat other animals, and stay near the surface (turning over only the top 1/2" of sand).

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Len, I'll look into both of those.

I'm leaning towards the Tigertail now, as I'd be afraid to mis-ID the conch and buy the wrong one.

For the tigertails, is there much color variety between specimens? or any easy way to ID them?

Thanks

 

[Len]

The tiger tails are either brown or grey and have lots of light brown/tan/white spine-like protrusions all over its body. They're pretty easy to recognize.

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, my ttc is a model citizen. Takes out the top layer of sand like a vacuum. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Never had much luck with tiger tails, for whatever reason I never see them eat, however the brown sea cucumbers, looks like someone laid a morning loaf in your tank is active at all times eatting dirty sand and pooping out clean.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I'll be shopping around today.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, I just picked up two today.

But I have no idea what species they are.

They are entirely black, and covered with tiny spines. They don't have large knobs like the tigertail.

I guess now it's just 'wait and see'. Hopefully they'll clean up the sand's surface a little.