Feather Duster

[tony1021]

is there anything that stimulates the growth of feather duster?
I've currently realized a sudden burst of feather dusters in my tank and i've never purchased one

[Be2lose]

Sudden burst? Can you get pics?

[Kurt_Nelson]

Fairly new tank, I'm thinking? Seems like tanks go through numerous phases over the first year or two. Or at least mine did. I remember mine went through a "mini feather duster" phase, and it sounds like yours is too. All it takes is one or two coming in on your live rock that you never notice until they start reproducing like there's no tomorrow. Most of mine eventually went away, I assume as the "excess nutrients" in the tank went away. I'm thinking that might be your case too?

[melosu58]

I agree with Kurt. It came in with your LR and will disapear as your excessive nutrients thin out.

[tony1021]

seems that might be the case as my tank is almost one year old now...



you also see them under the rock where the hairy mushroom is at



i've also got a lot of brown algae growing on my sand and rocks and can't seem to get rid of it...i bought 6 cerith snails about a week ago and has been cleaned yet?

guy at the lfs says its from excess nutrients but my calcium is at 500 ppm which is just slightly higher than its suppose to be...my dkh is a little low at 8 and all other water parameters are where they're suppose to be except for nitrates which don't seem to drop below 20ppm

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by tony1021

...
guy at the lfs says its from excess nutrients but my calcium is at 500 ppm which is just slightly higher than its suppose to be...my dkh is a little low at 8 and all other water parameters are where they're suppose to be except for nitrates which don't seem to drop below 20ppm

20ppm nitrates, in my book, would be "excess nutrients".

[tony1021]

gotcha...didn't think of nitrates as nutrients as i related nutrients with good

[Kurt_Nelson]

Sorry about that... I often forget that any hobby develops it's own "lingo" and sometimes what is clear to one person isn't to another!

If you're algae, then nitrates and phosphates are "nutrients", and they ARE a good thing (for the algae)! But in our book, they're bad things and referred to as "excess nutrients". All depends on what side of the battle you're on! And the never ending battle for us is to give your tanks enough nutrients to thrive, but yet not enough to fuel the nuisance algae and cyanobacteria. Any food that goes uneaten in a tank will eventually break down into nitrates and become... excess nutrients.

The calcium and alkalinity numbers you mention are just elements in the saltwater, and not necessarily "nutrients". While they ARE nutrients - in a way - for coral, folks don't normally refer to them as "nutrients".

[brian242pa]

the only way to let them grow fast and stay healthy is that if u don't have a good protein skimmer because they do the same thing your protien skimmer does and that is collect organic matter

[brian242pa]

and help keep water very clean

[Jaybird]

I dose with Reef Roids about once a week (for my acro, montipora, and gonipora) and noticed that since I started that I have seen a lot more feather dusters.