New tank

[grinder4400]

Cycle continues

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Well my Ammonia is almost gone and my nitrite is receeding. I have noticed several things happen.

First my dry rock in places has developed a white coating on it. looks like it was dipped in white cholate.

I also see very tiny creatures swimming in the tank. Smaller than the tinyest air bubble. Little specs.

If I look at the bottom of the tank from under the stand you can see the sand/ground agronite. There is some black/dark blueish discoloring in places.

I also found somthing that I think is a pineapple spong. It has a goosbump like texture to it and I think its getting bigger.

I only put a coulple of peices of live rock in the tank for seeding. One peice has what I think are fan worms living on it. They have a fan that comes out and sways in the current and they live in a white tube. If you shine a light on them they quickly retract into the tube again. Should I be worried about these,are they somthing that I want in my tank. They are kindof cut but I dont want 10000 of them. I noticed little white specks on the same rock just in the past few days. Dont know if there multiplying or not. Sorry for all the newbiie questions.Any imput or advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

[Ron Reefman]

grinder, you have things going the right direction. The tiny feather dusters are good (and so is the fact that you ask questions). They filter feed tiny stuff out of the water. You may get a large number of them, but as things stabilize, so will their food supply and their population. And there are quite a few popular fish that like them too... like them as in, eat them! They won't get big and they are harmless in almost any number. Some time down the road you will be adding corals that will compete with them for space and food. I have an encrusting coral that normally lays flat, but it grew over several featherduster tubes and now looks like a mutant version of the coral (in corals, mutants are rare and therefore expensive).
Your enthusiasm for your new tank comes thru in your post. Keep up the good work.

[00Warpig00]

I had a ton of feather dusters too about 3 months ago. Most have gone away. tank age is 13 months over here... they were pretty cool. like little satellite dishes swaying in the water that would suck back into their tubes when a fish would come near them or if you tapped the glass.

Nick

[grinder4400]

Here are a few pic's of things I've noticed over the past week.
These spots are forming on this rock (White) However, my fan worms are growing...:)


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=168467&stc=1&d=1322545505



White stuff here too...Rock was bare before only a couple red spots of algea...Looks like its been painted.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=168470&stc=1&d=1322546963

This is the rock work on my left side of tank. Its about 16" tall and the right half of this structure is one rock....Pucani...very light weight. I was amazed at its weight per size ratio. I want to have room to place corals in the future. It is really hard to not buy something but I can Imagine it is harder to watch it die because of inexperience. Slowly....:)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=168471&stc=1&d=1322547520

Thank you for your responces. Reef Central Is a great place to learn!

[Techne]

Those white specks might be Serpulid Feather Dusters. Here's a picture from SushiGirl from the liverock id post Serpulid Feather Dusters (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=167463&d=1321580439). I can't tell from your picture if they are shaped the same.