What is this ball? And Red Algae ID

[stu]

Hey guys/gals. I got a few small pieces of live rock today from the LFS. When i took it out of the bag this ball dropped out. I have no idea what it is, so i put it in my tank as it looked pretty cool....and lo and behold, a few minutes later all these stringy tentacles start coming out of it....lol. Anyone know what it is?



Then i have this red algae taking over my tank....Within about 4 days this went from sort of non existant to very bad all over the place. Can someone Id what the algae is so i can start reading up on what i might do to rid my tank of it.

 

[Ziggy953]

That is an urchin, I believe an pincushion.

The red algae looks like cyano bacteria. It is usually seen in newer tanks and ones with high nitrates and excess nutrients.

 

[stu]

Hi Ziggy, thanks for the response.

In regards to the red algae, my waters are

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
PH 8.3
Nitrate 0/5

My tank is about 2 months old now. What other nutrients are you talking about? Is it something i can get a test kit for to work out what might be causing it?

 

[Fluff]

That urchin is an awesome hitchhiker to find, lucky you! As for other test, get a phosphate test and an alkalinity test. Your tank is still pretty new and is in constant change til things completely settle down. It's not uncommon to see cyano early on. Keep up with water changes, syphon out as much as possible, shorten your lighting period (if there is no coral in there, leave the lights off if you wish) and give it some time to clear up.

 

[stu]

Thanks for the info I think that's my problem, i'm not water changing enough. I've been testing my waters and the nitrate has been at practically 0 for almost a month now so i've sort of figured i didn't need to do the changing...i guess i was wrong. I will change 50% tonight when i get home as a good start and the tank is starved for light for a few days.

I was lucky with the urchin as i went to my LFS who is seriously lacking on live rock pieces to try and get some for my new tank (which is going to need ALOT more than i have in my current tank) and they realyl only has two very small pieces i was interested in. I asked for them and the girl there gave them to me for free as i donated a puffer fish to them when i realised it was going to rip my tank apart I missed it as i pulled the rock out in my sink, then i went back to clean up about an hour later and saw it just sitting there.... I've had some pretty good luck lately.

 

[roka64]

You can save some money by using base rock.
Sorry for your loss.