Liverock questions

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Maximo

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
133
Location
Kansas City
I came home today and found some of my liverock (added to 3week old tank on tuesday) covered with bubbles. The same rock is turning an orangish red color. I have 2x96 power compact lighting that I have been running about 12 hours a day. I'm thinking the alge on the rock is somehow changing and giving off some kind of gas. Is this correct?

There are so many things on the liverock which I have no idea what they are.

One of the strangest looking things is a light brown colored thing that is kinda shaped like a bell pepper. It is stationary on the rock and it has a hole at the top and seems to "flex" every once in a while. What could it be? I believe I have seen it eject debris but I am not positive.

I wish I had a digicam so I could post pics.

I am also hearing numerous clicks from the tank. Might this be a mantis shrimp? When I was unpacking the rock I did see a red shrimp/lobster looking creature that is about 2inches long. I have only seen him once or twice since I put in the live rock. He has been busy excavating out from under one of the rocks.

There is another elusive creature that looks like a fat little slug with spikes. He is about 1in by 2.5in. He is dark grey with brown or black strips that run the length of his body. He doesn't move much but now I cant find him. I'm wondering if this is a cucumber??

There are also numerous small bumps on the rock that have an opening at the crown. Out of the opening I see what looks like a little hand constantly grabbing at the water. What are these????

I have also identified a small urchin, a couple of tube worms, several small crabs, a couple of bigger hairy crabs one of which is white another which is kind of a deep purple color, a few snails and another worm type creature that is grey and about 4in long about as big a round as a pencil.

Should I be feeding my tank now that I have all these creatures? I have not added any fish yet but I don't want to lose the stuff that came with the rock.

I want to add a cleanup crew. I plan on getting some hermit crabs and some snails. Would a shrimp or two fare well in my tank? Will the crabs that came with the rock bother my cleanup crew?

Well thats all for now. There are other things on the rock that I'll ask about later.

Thanks,

-Maximo
 
Not sure about the bubbles, what are you water chems?
The Loster/shrimp creature is probably a mantis. You may want to set a trap to see what you get.
I got some Pistol shrimp on my rock, you can hear them pop once is a while. Pistols will be a random pop, a mantis will be a rapid popping.
I think the little hands are small dusters, I have tons of them too.
The rock is great isn't it? I am considering another 20lbs this weekend.
As for feeding, what are you water parameters?
 
You didn't mention the type of filtration you use, skimmer, canister wet-dry etc. Do the bubbles apear along with algae or are they just bubbles. If it's algae it could be cyanobacteria(slime algae) or dinoflagellates. Regardless of which, they usually point to a problem with excess nutrients and or poor circulation. If you think your ok on circulation try removing as much as you can and see how much comes back. In my case the excess nutrients came from using tap water instead of RO/DI to top off with.

Sounds like come really nice rock, please keep us posted as to your progress.
 
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