Tank Journal Archive

[mcclown]

So it's been almost 3 weeks since we filled the tank and everything is going well.

Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.0
Nitrate - 0.0
pH - 8.0
KH - 8.5

Every test result I've had so far has been the same, showing 0 for Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate. As suggested, in response to my last post, I tried to add some additional load to the tank, so I added some food, a clam on a half-shell, which has been in the tank for the last 5 days, with no perceivable change in tank parameters. I'm going to pick up some more live rock tomorrow, so i'll see if that has an effect. The rock I already have in the tank was very well cured, before I got it (it had been in Aquaristics for a few weeks), so I've had very little die off.

So, I've ended up with a whole host or hitchhikers in the tank and I've managed to get a few pictures of them, so I can ask for help in identifying them and letting me know if any of them are pests.

#1 I've spotted 3 of these in the tank, the openings close when agitated and the whole brown area compresses. The orange blob to the left looks to be the same but only has one opening. There's also something, I'm assuming, is some sort of feather duster worm, just behind the openings. I've got a bunch of these as well...they retract very quickly if they're disturbed.

#2 This looks like some sort of fungia to me (you can also see a little peek of a urchin, hiding in the rock). This is a disk that glows green under lights, with brown tentacles that retract, if disturbed and a white "mouth" in the center. It's really hidden away (I only noticed it today, for the first time).

#3 here. The two polyps here show up in a few other places in the tank but in the other places they're in the shade and aren't looking so good, they've bleached and don't open much, anymore. They look a bit like zoas and there's green around the edge of the disk, that shows up under lights.

#4 is just under the other two polyps...I've spotted 3 apistasia around the tank ( ones that look like this ) but this looks quite different.

Are either of these something I need to worry about?

#5 This is our current sump monster. I never spotted him in the DT but he turned up in the sump last weekend. I think he's a pistol shrimp. He's got one big claw and one small one. There's nothing in the refugium yet, so even though I've moved him back to that chamber in the sump, he keeps moving into the return pump chamber and hiding around the pump. I'm going to pick up some rock for the sump tomorrow, so hopefully he'll be happier in there after that.

#6 Some sort of worm...he's right in the center of the photo, brown, with a white band near the end. Hadn't seen this guy before this afternoon either. He moved quick, so I only got one blurry photo.

That's all I've managed to get a photo of so far, I've also got a bunch of copepods all over the glass and I also spotted two bigger guys today, with long feelers, which I think may be amphipods. I've seem some mucus/spiderwebs, which look to be vermitid snails. The last mystery is some very thin tentacles/worms that come out at night. They're only about 1/4 the diameter of the worm shown above and I've spotted ones up to 5cms long. Any ideas?

As I mentioned in previous posts, I've got a selection of brittle stars, sea urchins, a gorilla crab(which is evading capture) and a bunch of different types of snails. Not a bad haul for only 3kg of live rock, so far.

 

[Ben Daley]

Maybe you did have a fast cycle... any algae or a diatom bloom yet?
IMO I'd wait for the clam to disappear before adding fish - hopefully you'll catch some numbers other than 0 on one of your test kits.

#1 looks like a tunicate to me (harmless filter feeder)
#2 looks like fungia to me too (bonus)
#3 playthoa? (can potentially overgrow things you like better)
#5 I like it :)
#6 I'd like to know what this is too?

Kind of jealous of your live rock (except for the gorilla crab) - started my tank with dry rock and it's boring.

 

[mcclown]

@Ben Daley Thanks...the gorilla crab is still small and currently seems to be helping to keep the rock clear of algae. I'll catch him before too long...he's too small to cause much trouble, for the moment.

#1 You've got that one right

#2 It's kind of tucked away, at the moment. Not much room for it to grow. Any idea how I can extract it and locate it somewhere better? Or am I better to let it re-locate, by it's own choice?

#3 palythoa, zoanthid....look like I have more reading to do. I'll have to keep an eye out, see if they're causing an issue, or adding to the tank.

The clam has already been absorbed/consumed by everything in the tank...still nothing on the test kits.

Spotted another pod, of some sort, after lights out. Not sure what it is but I fished it out and took a picture, since I didn't recognise it. Anyone know what this is?

 

[Ben Daley]

@Ben Daley Thanks...the gorilla crab is still small and currently seems to be helping to keep the rock clear of algae. I'll catch him before too long...he's too small to cause much trouble, for the moment.

#1 You've got that one right

#2 It's kind of tucked away, at the moment. Not much room for it to grow. Any idea how I can extract it and locate it somewhere better? Or am I better to let it re-locate, by it's own choice?

#3 palythoa, zoanthid....look like I have more reading to do. I'll have to keep an eye out, see if they're causing an issue, or adding to the tank.

The clam has already been absorbed/consumed by everything in the tank...still nothing on the test kits.

Spotted another pod, of some sort, after lights out. Not sure what it is but I fished it out and took a picture, since I didn't recognise it. Anyone know what this is?

View attachment 56599

May as well enjoy the crab while you're waiting to add fish :p
It's common to have an algae and/or diatom bloom at the end of the cycle... if you keep on ghost feeding the tank, I'm sure you'll either get movement on the test kits or after a few more weeks be sure your biofilter can handle x amount of input.

If you want to extract the fungia (or whatever it is), you could use a chisel (or flat head screwdriver) to chip away at the rock. If you do this, go easy - a heavy hand might split the rock right through. If it's not a fungia/disc coral and is a morph of some sort I'd just leave it there as it will grow out towards the light.

Paly's and Zoas can be quite toxic (to us, not so much the reef) - nothing to freak out about but if you do decide to "do something about it" I recommend having a read about safe handling.

Not sure of the pod in the previous post - it looks big - possibly an isopod?

 

[mcclown]

May as well enjoy the crab while you're waiting to add fish :p
It's common to have an algae and/or diatom bloom at the end of the cycle... if you keep on ghost feeding the tank, I'm sure you'll either get movement on the test kits or after a few more weeks be sure your biofilter can handle x amount of input.

If you want to extract the fungia (or whatever it is), you could use a chisel (or flat head screwdriver) to chip away at the rock. If you do this, go easy - a heavy hand might split the rock right through. If it's not a fungia/disc coral and is a morph of some sort I'd just leave it there as it will grow out towards the light.

Paly's and Zoas can be quite toxic (to us, not so much the reef) - nothing to freak out about but if you do decide to "do something about it" I recommend having a read about safe handling.

Not sure of the pod in the previous post - it looks big - possibly an isopod?

Yeah, we've had a good bit of algae over the last week...one very energetic snail is trying to keep up but he's going to need some help soon.

 

[lukusis]

Id keep that shrimp in the sump. I had the exact same colouration on mine, and id put money on it he is the reason I had several deaths in my tank.

 

[mcclown]

Id keep that shrimp in the sump. I had the exact same colouration on mine, and id put money on it he is the reason I had several deaths in my tank.

He'd already worked his way down there by the time I spotted him, so I'm going to leave him as the sump monster, for the moment. I just added some live rock into the sump today and he seems much happier down there now...I'll probably never see him again

 

[Sean81]

I had a similar to # 2 and it has turned into this after a year. About the size of a 50cent peice. That is an old photo and now I feed it from time to time and it is a very bright green.