Too much too soon (corals)? Starfish Q too...

[Myka]

Ok, first off...ya know those teeny little starfish that reproduce in our tanks that have stubby little legs, and drop them to grow new little starfish? Will they eat everything in my sand like a brittle star will? I got some of these little guys as hitch hikers on a coral, and I'm not sure if I should let them go in my display or not.

So I have been monitoring my tank, and the levels are pretty bang on, just playing with alkalinity right now. My tank was started on Dec 10, 2006 with a few lbs of LR, with the rest of it added on Dec 19th. Since then the Ammonia and Nitrites went to 0, and I have added the following:

Jan 21 - Pulsing Xenia
Jan 26 - 1 Turbo, 1 feather duster
Jan 27 - 3 Astraea, 1 feather duster
Feb 3 - 3 Stomatella
Feb 6 - 3 Cerith, 2 Nassarius, 2 Margaritas (mistake on shipment), 1 hermit (another mistake), and 1 turbo (ANOTHER mistake).
Feb 12 - Open Brain, Bubble corals
Feb 17 - Fox Coral, and Candy Cane

I haven't had any issues with the water params since the cycle finished. My alkalinity was a bit low, so I started dosing SeaChem Reef Builder (until I use it up, and I'll start Kent instead). I have some SeaChem Phos Guard soakin up the Phos I had from the rock cycling, and I used tap water for start up (been using RO for waterchanges ever since).

Temp 80
Salinity 1.026
pH 8.0
Am 0
Ni 0
Na 0.25
Phos Teeny trace
Cal 435
Alk 14 (too much Buffer, just figurin it out...hehe)

I had some issues with nuisance algaes (bushy hair algae, regular hair algae, and diatoms), which seem to have all passed now. The tank is lookin pretty darn good and clean right now. The purple coralline is starting to really spread now too.

I am feeding DT's Phyto (half a cap every couple days), and Kent PhytoPlex (10 drops or so every couple days). I fed the Open Brain and Bubble some frozen Krill today and they GOBBLED. My Xenia pulses it's little brains out. My dusters are happy as a clam. Everything looks good.

So, my question is...when it comes to corals, how much is too much too fast? Am I adding too much too quick? Should I back off for awhile? Is it ok to add a couple new corals every week? What should I look out for?

Also, when (or if?) should I start using carbon?

Finally...what determines waterchanges? If I don't have Nitrates do I have to do waterchanges?

Is there anything that stands out to you guys that I should be changing, or anything to watch out for? Random comments...etc?

Thanks for all the help everyone!!!

[2OceanLovers]

First off the starfish sounds like a pest. They sound like the kind that would eat coralline algae. You might want to get some harlequin shrimp to take care of them. As for the corals, you're not adding too much as long as they are eating and that your nitrates stay in a good range. As for waterchanges, you need to do them about every other week just to replace all the trace elements that are used up in the aquarium. HTH

[Myka]

Ok, after some research I have concluded that these little starfish are Asterina, commonly bred in the tank for Harlequin Shrimp to dine on. Apparently they are good scavengers, but so are brittles, and I hear brittles will pretty much deplete my 33g tank of all sand critters. Will the Asterina do this as well? The Asterina are not in the tank yet, but clinging to the Fox Coral that's in acclimation right now. I'll peel them off for now, and stick them in my QT until I hear for sure what I should do with them.

[DSMpunk]

I would not put them in my tank. I have hundreds in my tank. Most of them eat algae but some of them love to munch on my zoas and xenia.

Im getting a harlequin shrimp soon =)

[Scuba_Steve]

Ive had these in a past tank without probs but not with a whole lot of coral, a bunch of xenia, a few zoos, kenyas, mushrooms. imo even if they did munch on xenia it grows like a weed, so who cares if something gets a snack in the process? you will get hundreds though. presonally i liked having the extra life in the tank. just for future reference though, if you do decide to harliquin them, is that all they eat? will they die after the star population gets eaten? do they eat other larger stars?

[Tang Salad]

Asterina stars are not pests. They will only breed as much as the tank will allow.

[corals b 4 bills]

A harlequin shrimp will take down a star fish ten times or more it's size, it's pretty cool to watch. First thing they do when they see it is they go wrestle mania on it and flip it over, then with their fingers they poke it in the soft areas (legs) so it always retracts and can't roll back over, then they eat each leg one by one until there is only the body, at that time you have to remove the star fish because now it's just polluting the tank.

[James983]

Harliquin shrimp only eat starfish, so you will need to start buying them on a regular basis to keep it alive.

[Myka]

I don't want a Harlequin in my 33 gallon...lol.

However, some help with the other questions would be great! :p

[DSMpunk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9270585#post9270585 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tang Salad
Asterina stars are not pests. They will only breed as much as the tank will allow.

There are many different types of "asterina" stars and I can tell you from personal experience that some of them are predatory. Even the so called good ones are opportunistic and when the algae is gone in your tank, guess what they will start eating? Anything they can.

Its kind of like the whole emerald crab thing, some people have them for years with no problems and others wreak havoc in reef tanks. Heck even my purple tang is supposed to be 100% reef safe, but he picks at my open brains occasionally.

Anyway, my point is they can be predatory so why take the risk?

[DSMpunk]

As far as your other questions. Adding lots of corals at the same time isnt as bad as adding a ton of fish at once. It wont affect your bioload all that much unless you are really stepping the amount of food you are putting in the tank to feed the new corals. Its still best to take it slow though IMO.

As far as carbon goes, most people run it occasionly and some people run it 24/7. It removes some toxins from the water and will help keep the water looking clear. Personally I run it once a week for 24-48 hours.

For me timing determines my waterchange schedules. Water changes do more than dillute nitrates and nutirents. They also replenish trace elements and help keep your parameters up to snuff. All of your parameters are looking pretty good, but like you said, your ALK is a little on the high side.

[Myka]

Thanks DSMpunk!! :)

When you run carbon once a week, is it fresh stuff each time? Do you throw out what you used after only using it for the 24-28 hours? How do you know how much to use? How do you know when it's all used up?

My brain and my bubble spat the Krill out lastnight that I fed them yesterday morning. Why would they do that??

[DSMpunk]

Its not really an exact science for me. I have a little filter sock that I fill with carbon on the weekends. I reuse the carbon for about a month and then I toss it. I do make sure to clean the filter sock before I put it back in the tank though.

Krill is pretty big so that is probably why they spit it out. I prefer feeding smaller size chunks like mysis. You could always chop up the krill before feeding your LPS and see if they keep it down. Even my softball size BTA spits out big chunks of food like that from time to time.

Hope that helps :cool:

[Myka]

Oh ok! Thanks! I do have Mysis I can try feeding instead. I'll start using Carbon too. Actually I have some SeaChem stuff called SeaGel I think...it's a carbon alternative. I'll use that until I run out, and then buy some good carbon. :)