Do clams sneeze?!?

[JohnS]

Hi all,

Ever since we got our great LR from liverocks.com, there has been a large amount of suspended particulate in my water. I notice hermit crabs stuffing food into their faces while a continual stream of bits and pieces come streaming out. Now while that may add some to the floating matter, the real culprit, I think, are these relatively frequent (once an hour) "explosions" coming from seemingly random locations around the tank. I think I see clams in the general area, but I'm not sure if they are truly responsible. Something is causing these cool looking bursts of mung to fly up from the rock. As I said, I think this is causing my issue. My real question is how do I reduce/eliminate the floating matter?

Thanks!

 

[TeenReefer]

Did you cure your LR? Also, do you have a protien skimmer running? A protien skimmer would remove all the foam from the surface.

 

[JohnS]

Yes, the LR was cured while the tank was cycling. As for the protien skimmer, yes we have one and it is running. I don't have a problem with foam on the surface at all. What I have is stuff that looks like tiny air bubbles floating throughout the whole tank. I know it's not air bubbles, though, because when I turn off the pump, they just kind of hang there.

 

[theatrus]

I have a ton of worms which excavate the rock, and shoot out tons of fine sand material every so often. So you're not alone

 

[Brad]

No doubt..spaghetti worms. They extend long thin tentacles that lay over the rocks and sand. These tentacles transport anything they find toward the centre, like conveyor belts. Every now and then, the worm fills up with stuff and jetisons the whole load into the water.

They are very beneficial to the system. I have so many that I'm not sure that I really need a clean up crew. I have about 3 distinct types that have slightly different habits.

All of mine came in with the rock from LR.com.