My live rock is waving at me!

[pkremer]

I just got my live rock in today, and I did the best I could to scrub it, get obvious patches of dead things off of it. There was even one place on the rock (stop here if you are eating) that looked like a mucous discharge, like the rock had a runny nose. It was kind of gross, so I scrubbed it all off.

I am happy to report my powerheads must be placed well, as the water is flowing every where at a fairly nice pace...however, I am noticing now that there is all sorts of stuff all over the rock waving at me! They do appear to be small pieces of dead plants, etc. There's no way I could scrub those all off!

Will they eventually come off? I realize it is just the first day and so there is no need to panic, but it really doesn't look good at all. The algae coverage is beautiful, I see green, purple, a lot of pink, and some yellow. However, I don't care for the way my rock is waving at me! hehe!

Also, I see little tiny green circular things on the rock in many places...if you have a penny, they are about the size of Lincoln's face...are these what you are referring to by "copepods"? They look like little miniature coffee pods...

Paul

[rollin_22]

yes those ar copepods

[melosu58]

If you are cycling your tank the loose will help your cycle . If not you might experience a mini spike in your tank.

[Fluff]

The waving things could be macro algaes. The green things could be a macro as well. A pic would help with your ID's.

[pkremer]

Here is a picture of the green "pods." I tried to get a picture of the waving stuff, but you can't really tell what is waving in a still picture! hehe!

Paul

[MT79]

Definitely not copepods. Maybe Limpets? Do they have a shell, move, or resemble snails? Hard to ID w/ that pic...

[pkremer]

Well, unfortunately, that's as good as it gets...

Those are about actual size to twice the size. They do not move...they look just like little green coffee pods.

[MT79]

Pods move around like insects. Copepods are about the same size as this dot(.) and white in appearence generally. Amphipods, or at least Gammarus amphipods the most common in aquaria, are the size of a medium sized ant(approx. 1/8-1/4"). When you see a pod for the first time, you usually know it. They tend to come out at night. Using a flash light about an hour after lights out is a good way to spot them.
Just curious, what type of LR is that you're using?

[pkremer]

It is Drs. Foster and Smith Select Lalo Live Rock. If you want to see a few pictures, you can check out my 46-gallon chronicle...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=73140

Paul

[MT79]

I bought my first 50lbs of LR from marinedepotlive.com-basically about the same stuff. Given time you will see many different types of life forms. If you don't have pods visible yet just give it some time(BTW they are best viewed at night w/ a flash light). It can take several months or more before all the critters recover from harvesting, curing, shipping etc. If you keep your water params good, it's only a matter of time until you see some really interesting stuff ie. mini-stars, pods, etc. Good luck and happy reefing.