Clam hitchiker

[TheGrimReefer]

Hey whats up. Im new to this hobby. When i got my tank going about 6 months ago i bought a bunch of liverock from my LFS. It was sold to me as Fiji live rock at 7.00lb. Then i noticed alot of polyps and stuff popping out of the rocks about a month later, snapped some pictures on my cell phone and went to a more educated LFS and i was told that some of what i bought appeared to be dead corals, and that some stuff was coming back to life out of them. I figured cool free corals and the pieces of rock were so small that they cost next to nothing. The tank has been doing great (minus some cyanobacteria) since the initial startup. Then tonight at feeding time i notice one of these "rocks" come to life and open up. Words cant explain how stunned i am at what i saw, because i stare at this tank for hours everyday and have NEVER seen this. Not only that but it survived the whole cycle of the tank. So stunned that it made me finally get an account on here after reading trough the forums for months now to try to get some information on this thing. The 2 pictues are 1 open 1 closed, the white spots are mosty food and alot of coraline on the backglass of the tank. Thanks for all the info in advance.

[mal211]

Good quality live rock will "come to life" under the right conditions. Live rock is especially important as a natural form of filtration and hiding for any fish/inverts you may have, but it is always amazing to see it happen. $7 a pound was pretty steep for Fiji Live Rock IMO (If that is what you meant). How much do you have? What kind of setup do you currently have?

[TheGrimReefer]

ii got 75 gal mix reef tank. 70lbs live rock, 40lbs live sand. Fluval canister filter, Coralife skimmer, 2 Coralife t5 lights. 2 aqueon powerheads 1 950gph 1 700gph. 2 clowns, 1 black sebae clown, 1 stary eyed goby, 1 purple basslet, 1 yellowtail damsel, 1 coral beauty angel. 1 tiger stripe serpant sea star, narrisus and astrea snails, and blue legged hermits. And as of now i just have polyps and stuff coming out of my rocks, my plan is to just let the tank go for a while and eventually start putting more corals in but i want good knowledge first. I might be wrong it might have been 6 bucks a pound not 7, it was a while ago. whatever it was i checked a few stores and it was the cheapest, however from a less experienced place (pets warehouse) compared to a local store with just aquarium supplies.

[mal211]

For a "noob" your setup seems great. How do you like the t5 lighting? My knowledge is somewhat limited...really just fish-only over the last 5 years or so. Lots of experienced people on this forum so I am sure all your questions will be answered thoroughly! If I had to do one thing differently, I would've not gotten a canister filter like I currently have on my 72 fish-only. Best choice was upgrading to MH lighting in my opinion (and after a few paychecks LEDs). Look forward to seeing more pics, etc!

[TheGrimReefer]

I tried to do some reading and listen to what friends in the hobby had to say before i started up my tank. Thats why i went with live sand and rock, i wasnt expecting to have a reef tank until it was pretty much supplied to me haha. The t5 lighting is alright, the only thing is when i started i didnt by the HO t5 light so it just had 2 28 watt bulbs 1 10k and 1 actnic. Then when the polyps started showing up i went and bout the same light again to double up on the wattage, however i was told it still isnt the same as having HO lighting. As far as im concerned tho i have a great coating of coraline growing on my tank and everything seems to be in good shape so ill invest in other things before i go spend 300 on a good reef lighting setup. Heres another picture for you, not related but its my sally lightfoot crab, my female clown. That rock on the right also came to life, it has some sort of feather dusters or worms that come out of these holes that close up, pretty cool to watch them feed.

[mal211]

Love the crab and live rock looks great. I am sure your crab has been doing some serious work on any algae problems you may have. I have a 20g start up in my room just for kicks and just purchased an army of crabs, snails, etc. (many of which you seem to have in your 75) to deal with a hair algae problem I've been having. Reef lighting systems are definitely great and I know nems and corals will thrive under them but the cost is no joke. LED's are just so pricey now too. In this hobby, it seems like once you buy one things its just on to the next.

[TheGrimReefer]

so does anyone have an idea what this thing can be? if he needs any special attention or anything? i guess hes been ok for months now, but ive heard clams are tricky to keep, if it even is a clam. i haveta assume it is though