worm and sponge?

[leeveh99]

Hey guys. I just set up a tank that I took over from my friend. I have had the tank cycling for about 3 weeks now. My corraline algae is starting to spread but it also looks like I am getting some hair algae and a nasty diatom bloom. I have read that the diatom bloom is natural and will pass, and I will soon have some snails and crabs, will they take care of the hair algae? I have also spotted what looks to be like a small purple sponge. There is also a very very very small white to almost transparrent worm that I found last night. I dont think it's a bristle worm but maybe? I have seen a bristle worm that was brown in color but it was about 2 inches long. Here are a few pics. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Zer0]

First off, there's only a few things out there that will rid you of your hair algae, and its still a hit or miss kind of thing. You can get them.. but if they don't eat your hair algae, don't be dissapointed. I forgot what kind of inverts do eat the hair algae, but i know there is a few out there. Also, most of my snails and cleaner shrimp and crabs eat the diatoms on my sand.. so they will contribute to you trying to get rid of your diatoms. Diatoms ARE a small part of SW tanks, and as long as you are using RO water, or water that has NO silicates, they will burn themselves out and disappear. So don't stress out over diatoms much.

Also, you are going to be seeing a lot of things you've never seen before and those are called hitchikers. They come in on the live rock. You can use this website to identify the worm you saw, and anything else that you see, that may seem weird to you.

Xtalreef

You will be seing lots of things you've never seen before including worms, feather dusters, and as you've already seen, sponges. All the perks of having a SW tank with live rock.

Hope this helped.

 

[thincat]

Welcome, could you give us some information about your tank?
Water readings,size lighting setup to start with. As far as the hair algae remove as much as you can with some PWC's add your cleanup crew, do you use RO water etc...

 

[Zer0]

Yeah i also forgot to mention something about the hair algae, that pretty much goes with any other forms of algae. They feed off of nitrates, phosphates and undissolved nutrients in the water column. So if you are not using RO water, and your tap water is high in things like silicates, nitrates and other trace elements.. chances are you will be batteling all sorts of diatom and algae problems for as long as you have that tank. However, things like denitrators, and phosphate removers like phos-ban can remove those things from your water. But it still will never match the efficiency in SW tanks as RO water does. I would strongly suggest you use RO water as soon as possible. You do not have to.. but you will have headaches for as long as you have your SW tank lol.

 

[roka64]

Good info there.
Pic 1- hair algae
Pic 2- possible tunicate (harmless filter feeder)
Pic 3- possible spionid worm (does it live in a tube)?

 

[leeveh99]

Hey guys, here are the parameters as of last night. This is the first time I have checked for any of these as I was letting the tank run through its cycle. I have not added anything to the tank as far as any ammonia sources or anything. I just set up the tank and turned on my powerheads along with my protein skimmer and left it. Lights are on for 9 hours. These are the two bulbs I have in my Coralife light. 1- 10,000K 96 watt coralife 1- PC 03 Blue 96 watt Hamilton Tech. Is this the info you are looking for when you ask for size of lights?

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
NItrate 10 ppm
S.G. 1.027
77 F

I also have not done a PWC yet, that is happening today. Going to do a 10%PWC and try to get as much of the hair algae and brown diatoms.

 

[melosu58]

For the hair algea

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[thincat]

I would do a larger PWC since it looks like you are about done with your cycle. Now is the chance to do a really large water change before you add any live creatures to your tank and have to be more careful. The larger the water change now the better your chance of knocking down your nitrate level.