[skankergee]

I am starting a new reef tank. I am 2 weeks into the cycle. I got a few rocks with algea on them from my fish dealer. I went on and put the rocks in, upon sitting and gazing at the rocks, I found there is some tiny feather dusters or coco worms on one(they are pink-ish red), a couple bristle worms on another and 2 differant egg sacks on another rock.
Does anyone have any info to give me,,,, concerning these things?
thanx a bunch

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by skankergee

I am starting a new reef tank. I am 2 weeks into the cycle. I got a few rocks with algea on them from my fish dealer. I went on and put the rocks in, upon sitting and gazing at the rocks, I found there is some tiny feather dusters or coco worms on one(they are pink-ish red), a couple bristle worms on another and 2 differant egg sacks on another rock.
Does anyone have any info to give me,,,, concerning these things?
thanx a bunch

Hi skankergee, welcome to Reefland!

I wouldn't be concerned about the feather duster worms or the bristle worms. As for the egg sacks, I guess it all depends on what comes out of them, if anything.

Good luck,

[skankergee]

This mornin when I got up there was a type of snail on the rock with the egg sacks, so I am assuming they are snail eggs. the snail is white and went back into a hole in the rock sortly after i turned the lights on.
As for the duster worms, I really like them I just wonder if they will survive the trip through the "Cycle".
Thanks for your reply, I am new at saltwater and can use all the help I get.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by skankergee

This mornin when I got up there was a type of snail on the rock with the egg sacks, so I am assuming they are snail eggs. the snail is white and went back into a hole in the rock sortly after i turned the lights on.
As for the duster worms, I really like them I just wonder if they will survive the trip through the "Cycle".
Thanks for your reply, I am new at saltwater and can use all the help I get.

It is possible that the snail that you saw has something to do with the egg sacks but, if so, it is more likely to have laid them than to have hatched from them, unless it is extremely tiny and from a species with direct development. Many of the snails that we keep in our tanks have a veliger larval stage following a period of embryonic development in the egg sack.

The feather duster worms are likely to survive the cycling. You will notice hundreds of them after a few months.

Good luck,

[reewik]

My feather dusters survived the cycle. I still have them in my tank and I agree they look pretty cool. I bought a rock for its shape and there were a few on it. I placed it in the tanks and now they are all over the place. They do not see to bother anything in the tank either.

The eggs, never seen it. Try to post a pic so other can identify them for you.

[skankergee]

Reewik, here is the best I can do on the pic of the egg sack, is on the lower area of the middle rock. White patch. Looks like a fresh water snail egg sack.
Skank

[skankergee]

ALSO,

I want to build a canopy for this 55 gal. saltwater aquarium I am putting together. I was wondering if anyone would send me pics of their canopies so I could get some ideas?
And... thanx for the replies I have gotten, they are very appreciated!!!!!!!
Skank

[reewik]

I could not make it out. Do you have a macro setting on your camera?

Look at my site for my canopy:

www.geocities.com/ericwikander/reef

You can also do a search for Mistressreef he built a really nice canopy! I am going to be building a canopy for my 120 soon. I will post some pics. The 120 is a rectange, that will be alot easier to build that the one for my hex.

[skankergee]

yes, found the macro setting on my camera, didnt know it was there.....
again, look at the bottom area of the rock,,the sack is kinda pointed at the top and rounded and the bottom,,, AND.... this mornin when I turned on the light, there were 3 snails on the rock, bout the diameter of a pencil eraser, but when I got home from work, they were gone. Prolly nocternal.
reewik,,,, I went to yer site,,, cool pics!!!

[reewik]

I have not a clue. I would say if you keep seeing snails that that is what they are. I would do a search for snails to see if you can identify them to see if they are some of the good guys or not.

[skankergee]

As I stated before, I am new at this, I hate to spend a million $$$ on lighting. Does anyone have a helpful suggestions on lighting that wont put me in the poor house? And can anyone give me any input on "ESU Coralife 50/50" bulbs?

[reewik]

Originally Posted by skankergee

As I stated before, I am new at this, I hate to spend a million $$$ on lighting. Does anyone have a helpful suggestions on lighting that wont put me in the poor house? And can anyone give me any input on "ESU Coralife 50/50" bulbs?

Suggestion... I know you can keep soft corals on a double light strip with a set of good bulbs. For around 250.00 you can put VHO's on the tank. I have even seen some PC's 48" for 99.00 if you can find them .. The best inexpensive way to do it is to retrofit whatever in your hood. I only have the unit I have cause I got it used from a friend.

What are you going to keep and that will help you determine the next step.

Soft .. min light

lps.. med

sps... lots of light

Look for a brand called JEBO for pc's for inexpensive lights.

[Poseidon]

Spend the MONEY!!! Lights and Skimmer are the 2 most important components of my tank... I had a PC fixture B4 and it worked well, but I like the looks aof MH way better. A friend has just VHO and that looks nicer then PC to. I have not seen any t5 yet in person, so I have no opinion of that yet.

I would say get a twin VHO setup to start. And do a search on JEBO before you buy them, I'm not 100% certain, but I think that particular brand offers NO WARRANTY at all.

Yup... click Here

I knew I read that somewhere...

[skankergee]

well, most of the corals I am really interested are "soft Corals". Star Polyps, anemones, xenias, mushrooms, gorgonians.......... although i do like the brains, bubbles, and frogspawns, but I know those require a bit more light then the softies.

[reewik]

You can spend hundreds or thousands, it is all up to you!

[Reefland]

Anemones are not Soft Corals and will not do well under "low light" conditions. I think you would be best off getting 2 VHO tubes and opening up your options a bit so you could keep a brain or frogspawn if you desired.

Scott Z.

[irishjabba]

Originally Posted by skankergee

well, most of the corals I am really interested are "soft Corals". Star Polyps, anemones, xenias, mushrooms, gorgonians.......... although i do like the brains, bubbles, and frogspawns, but I know those require a bit more light then the softies.

I've got a 75 gal reef, with much of what you're interested in. My lighting setup is currently two 48 inch 40w flourescents (Coralife 50/50, Actinic 03) and a set of two 55 watt compact flourescents. Each hood was about a hundred bucks from my local aquarium shop.

With mushrooms, star polyps, brains, and some soft corals (the Colt Coral for example) you can get away with just using 2-4 48 inch 40w bulbs...just pick lower light corals and focus on those if you want to go cheap for now. You can always upgrade your lighting later! But for keeping the most variety of organisms, I'd say either go to compact flourescents or HO/VHO bulbs, as they give quite a bit more light....

Myself, I started with my twin tube 48 inch 40w flourescents fixture, and started with low light corals like mushrooms and star polyps, then recently (after some saving of dough) bought my compact flourescent strip and just added it over my tank. Then I got some other leather and soft corals that needed the extra light!

Patrick

[irishjabba]

Originally Posted by skankergee

I am starting a new reef tank. I am 2 weeks into the cycle. I got a few rocks with algea on them from my fish dealer. I went on and put the rocks in, upon sitting and gazing at the rocks, I found there is some tiny feather dusters or coco worms on one(they are pink-ish red), a couple bristle worms on another and 2 differant egg sacks on another rock.
Does anyone have any info to give me,,,, concerning these things?
thanx a bunch

Hi skankergee! Since you're just setting up your tank....check out this website. It's full of helpful info.

www.garf.org

Patrick

[skankergee]

Guys, I know I must seem like an idiot asking all these questions.(and i did know anemones are not corals, i just happened to type it there for some reason,,, maybe a brain fart) I have had freshwater aquariums all my life and all I have now do GREAT but saltwater is ALL TOTALLY differant it is all Greek to me, I've been on this damn computer reading my eyes out learning this stuff for hours every night. And I would like to say thank you to everyone who has sent little bit of info to me,,,, I AM GREATFUL FOR ALL THE HELP!!!! THANX GUYS!!!I'm gonna try to post a pic of all my tanks so all can see,,, even my "just beginning" reef.
Bob-o...... p.s. this site is awesome!

[reewik]

I agree this forum rocks. I am really starting to see my frags take off. Man am I happy :O)