The Silly Things Bristle Stars Do

For a while now I've seen where folks will exclaim that, during feeding, their stars will "reach out and catch" things as they drift by.  I always thought that was a little over-stated.

Two things have happened to start to sway my opinion:

I did a little "light" reading on Brittle Stars (how they aren't really starfish, their digestive system, nervous system, skeletal system, etc).  I learned the nerves in their legs are sensitive enough to detect light (which is how they know when it's dark even though they have no eyes), and that those nerves are also sensitive enough to be able to detect smell.

Over the past week or so, I've noticed that during feeding time (at least with mysis cubes) the Brittle Star, which generally has a few ends of his legs out on the substrate, will begin to sweep the substrate looking for food.  Today there was nothing of the Brittle Star exposed... until the cube hit the water.  Two or three legs came out from his hole almost immediately.  They were dancing around like a couple of Keystone Cops trying to get out of each others way.

Those legs didn't have too much luck with catching mysis... I noticed one, maybe two shrimp that the Brittle had caught.  It wasn't until I noticed the mysis starting to settle upon a rock positioned above his hole that I became a believer.  A leg pops out of a nearby hole, grabs the mysis directly, and disappeared back from where it came from.

I'm thinking that specific leg detected the odor of the mysis and went straight for it.  It's not quite like plucking food out of the water column that is drifting by, but almost.

So I think I'm more open toward comments as such.

It's also been a while since I've posted some pics.  Here's how things are going now:

Notice the tank has a mostly-green color.  That's the prevalent color of the species of coraline algae that is proliferating.

Looking closer at the coraline, it's still mostly green with some hints of purple at the top right and bottom left.  The bottom right rock seems to be encrusting with a grey coraline.  Hair algae can also be seen bottom left, as well as the last remnants of cyanobacteria.  The center rock, at it's bottom, shows the white color those rocks used to be.  And the mushrooms seems to be very happy.  The specs on the back of the glass are "chaeto critters", some sort of "pods".  They are everywhere.

Here you can see more purple and green coraline algae.  The anemone bowl is also starting to take some coraline.  The longer white specs on the bowl are some sort of tube worm.  The smaller specs are just substrate.  To the left, the chaeto can be seen.  It's about twice to three times as big as when I got it.  Not a good sign for my water, but at least I'm combating the nitrates and phosphates in some fashion.  Hopefully a RO/DI system is in my future.

I have a sponge and some sort of white feathery things on the vertical rock bottom right.  The Star Polyps (center) are still doing great, as is the Anthelia (top left).  The rocks to the left are still brown.  The purple coraline seem to prefer these rocks more than the green.

Long Time No Pics

Nothing much going on today:

• Cleaned glass and noticed I have green coraline algae.  It's on the back glass and the front at the bottom, so no need for a scraper yet.
• The "chaeto-bugs" are everywhere.  While cleaning the glass, the clowns had an appetizer to their mysis.  I don't notice, however, any inhabitants picking the "chaeto-bugs" off the glass for a mid-day snack.
• A combination of new flow and growth had dislocated the chaeto.  Got it tucked back down.
• Still noticing some cyano which points out my areas of low-flow.  I still either need more flow, or just flow rearrangement.  The powerhead I added to the right side of the tank doesn't seem to be alleviating the dead spot over there, so I'll start with moving that one around some.

And it seems as though I'm overdue for some pictures.

There is all sorts of strange things going on with this specific live rock...  A (relatively) large sponge, some white off-shoots, some orange outgrowths...

As you can see, the Star Polyps are coming back nicely after killing the aiptasia.  And also as you can see, the aiptasia is coming back.

Also notice the regrowth from where the mojano anemone used to be.  The flow is obstructing a clear view of the entire region, but enough is shown to get the point.

Observations - Apr 13, 2011

Since adding the chaetomorphis macroalgae 5 days ago, I have noticed a significant reduction in growth of brown (diatom) and red (cyano) algae.

Generally by now my substrate would be mostly brown and I would have a few rocks with thick cyanobacteria and would be in need of a brushing and a vacuum.  After 5 days, I only have the residual cyanobacteria that I failed to net during it's last brushing on a rock or two.  I also have a small amount on the substrate where I also failed to catch it.  The glass and substrate are accruing diatom (brown) algae, but at a much slower rate than in the past.

When placing the chaetomorphis in the tank some loose strands got away.  Some of those strands are in dead spots in the tank, and others have found themselves stuck in the power filter intake.  It's actually easier to see the individual chaeto strands growing than the chaeto clump.  The chaeto clump actually compressed during the first few days.

I have no complaints whatsoever about adding the chaeto.  I have to wait for the chaeto to grow larger before it starts to actually starts making headway on nitrates.  In it's current size, it seems to be able to absorb all phosphates - I've tested zero on phosphates since the last water change when I added the chaeto 5 days ago.  Once the power filter builds it's bacteria up again (it was removed for 4 days), I'm hoping the chaeto will be large enough to handle the nitrate output it will give so that my new "normal" will be zero.

Since rescuing the new inhabitants, my tank seems to have started another cycle.  If it were simply fish and soft coral, I would probably let the cycle go on about it's business.  However, the anemone is very dear to us.  Judging by it's size, it is a grand old anemone.  And from research they aren't easy to keep.  So perhaps I'm being extra-diligent.  I'm trying to minimize the effects of a cycle while still allowing the cycle to complete.  I can't afford nutrient spikes, but I do realize some of that needs to be in the water so that the particular bacterias can find their equilibrium, which only prolongs the cycle.  But that's OK.

Since arranging the rock, the starfish has relocated to the left corner.  Yesterday during the rock rearrangement he was under the anemone bowl.  The starfish is easier to see now since it's in a corner where the rock isn't against the back glass.  That will make showing it off a lot easier.

Here's some pictures from today:

The tank in it's entirety.

The right corner - here you can see the little bit of cyano that I was not able to catch on the substrate.  The bottom right rock is generally overflowing with cyano after just a few days.  But with the chaeto, it only has what I was not able to brush off last time.

Another "morning stretch" from the anemone.

The bit of cyanobacteria on the tall rock on the right has been there since my last brushing.  I was not able to reach those areas on the rock before rearranging the other rocks.  Next time I'm in there with the brush, I'll be able to reach it nicely now.  This is also the corner the starfish has claimed.  The chaeto can also be seen here on the left.

Preemptive Strike Realized

I put yesterday's plan into action.  I've isolated the anemone bowl as much as I can.

The rock close to the bowl has been moved to the back corners.  I think I have the coral where it needs to be for flow.  (knock on wood) There should be little else reason to necessitate moving rocks further.

Jax's Reef - in it's entirety

Close-up of back right corner where mushrooms are now housed.  The Peppermint Shrimp has claimed this corner as well, at least for now.

The isolated anemone.  We jokingly call this the anemone's "morning stretch".  It does this for a few hours each morning.

The back-left corner where the Star Polyps and Anthelia are now residing, as well as the Chaeto.  The anthelia receive really good flow in their current location.

Potential Anemone Preventative Care

Just a few (hopefully) quick things...

Noticed the anemone has had some what appear to be "irritated" tentacles.  They are shriveled and white.  I've noticed the clowns picking on those tentacles the last couple days.  Those tentacles just so happen to hang over the bowl edge to where they may be coming in contact with the anthelia.  I don't know if anthelia "stings" or not, but I moved it away from the anemone bowl.  I haven't yet looked to see how much flow the anthelia requires.  It's in "low" flow now, so I may end up moving it again to a better flow spot.

Since I moved the anthelia, I'm thinking of moving the remainder of the rock adjacent to the anemone bowl to avoid future coral contact.  That will be for another day.

I scrubbed cyanobacteria from a few of the rocks also.  While I was at it I went ahead and kept on brushing. Did all the rocks except the anemone bowl.  If the power filter wasn't installed, I probably would not have done that just due to the amount of detritus that was stirred up.  So now I'm waiting for the "dust to settle" so that I can hand out some mysis.

The surface film on the tank was about 75% gone... at least until I started stirring up the substrate and brushing rock.  I don't like stirring all that stuff up at once.  I don't know what effect it has on the inhabitants.  Maybe I'll start spreading it out over the course of a week instead of everything at once.  Speaking of which, I expect a pretty full skim cup tomorrow.

Nitrates are still at 10.  Just another patience game to play with the chaeto.

Found a dead shrimp today.  Judging by the location of the shrimp I see on a daily basis, I'm guessing the carcass I found was the new one.  Time to update the tank specs to reflect the change.  I still think I need to have a total of at least 4 just to keep the "territory" covered.  But those will have to come with time.

The first shrimp I got was a nice pink, even during acclimation.  The second shrimp was brown the whole time until it was in the tank for 10 minutes or so.  Then it turned pink, but I wonder if that had anything to do losing it.

I suppose that's it.

Moonlight Views

Got home tonight after the actinics turned off, so it was just the moonlight LEDs lighting the tank.

Even with 1 LED per 12" of linear tank, there are still a lot of details to be seen, especially after a person's eyes adjust to the lack of light and begin to focus on moving shades of grey.

I noticed the new Peppermint Shrimp at the left side of the tank.  As it was inspecting the rock, it came across one of the Brittle Starfish legs.  He began to "box" with the starfish, but the starfish leg went limp and began to curl in the flow.  Almost immediately the shrimp apparently realized the leg was nothing interesting.

A few minutes later the shrimp actually crossed over the starfish and changed rocks.  Good, I'm thinking.  That's the rock with aiptasia.  The rock is about 8 inches in length with the aiptasia on the left edge.  The shrimp was on the right edge.  It crossed along the front of the rock for just a couple of inches, then left the rock and began weaving across the substrate toward the front of the glass...  so the aiptasia lives yet another day.

A while after that the shrimp appeared on the anemone bowl, inspecting the front side.  After a few minutes of this, the shrimp began to get higher and higher on the rock, approaching the edge of the bowl.  Mama Clown just so happened to be on watch just above the shrimps position.  I could see her notice the shrimp's antennae weaving back and forth as appeared over the edge.  A few seconds after noticing, Mama Clown exited the anemone to see what exactly it was.  The clown and shrimp met at the edge at the same time.  A couple head-butts from the clown and the shrimp disappeared behind the Encrusting Anethelia.

So it seems the shrimp is acclimating to it's environment nicely.  We should probably get a few more.  Most of the live rock is not stacked, which leaves a lot of no-mans-land that cannot be reached to be cleaned or vacuumed.  Detrivores will be needed to assist in these areas.  Also, Peppermint Shrimp claim a territory of about 12".  To evenly distribute shrimp across the entire tank, 4 would be needed.

I've also been reading about how the shrimp generally won't dine on larger aiptasia... which is disappointing.  In my opinion, two of the three visible aiptasia are "not small".  So perhaps I'll be entering the tank (or pulling the rock they live on) to at least partly remove the current aiptasia (knowing I will not possibly be able to completely remove it) so that they may grow back smaller & more appealing to the shrimp.  I'd do it right now if the starfish wasn't in the way...

The glimmer of Moonlight LEDs from the photosynthetic cyanobacteria.

Observation - A Lack of Activity Leads to Closer Scrutiny Part II

I have now noticed red growth on the rocks. I am going to review the video I posted earlier because I didn't notice it earlier.

Here are some pictures just taken, along with the video just posted for comparison:

And the video:

Now that red growth has shown up, I'm going to do a little serious research on what it can be, it's causes, and, if considered a nuisance, what can be done to prevent these type of growth in the future.

Now that I've watched the video keeping an eye out for red growth, I'm seeing it.  Just didn't notice it before now.

Observation - A Lack of Activity Leads to Closer Scrutiny

So it's been 4 days now since the Damsels were removed.  I bet it's going to be another month before we get any fish back into the tank.  When it rains, it pours.

So with only 10 Dwarf Hermit Crabs, the needles on the gauges seem to be winding down.  After four days, nitrites are nearly at zero.  There is more than one thing going on that effects nitrates, so I'm not putting a lot of weight on it's results quite yet, but I will keep an eye on it to see if I can determine if nitrates are being converted to nitrogen.

If I would have known it would be so long before replacing the Damsels, they'd still be here.

So the tank is a lonely place now.  With fish AND crabs, the fish would draw me in, then I'd begin to study the crabs.  I still gaze into the tank habitually only to find three or four crabs within view... not much to see.  But habits are hard to break.  I now study the rock.  With the addition of flow, I can see detritus attached to the rock waving in the current.

As I go from rock to rock, I've begun to notice some algae.  I'm curious as to what it is - at least it's a nice shade of green instead of the brown stuff (not that the brown algae is gone).  Chances are it's nuisance algae, but at least it gives me something to do.

Once in a while I'll see a nice big piece of detritus resembling a dandelion seed.  Flow doing it's job:  CHECK.

Observation of Adding Live Rock to a Newly Established FOWLR

A week ago, as previously mentioned, I brought home 15 pounds of live rock and 10 Dwarf Hermit Crabs.  For the past three or four days, the protein skimmer has been collecting a lot more than I'm accustomed to seeing it collect.

Up until now, I emptied the skim trap about once a week, or three times every two weeks.  There would be about half an inch to three quarters of an inch of skim.

Now I'm seeing that much collected within an 18 hour period.  I've been dumping it daily for the past few days.  In the past, I've never seen the bubbles filling the trap.  They've always just remained at the top.  Now I have bubbles filling the trap except, of course, where the skim takes over.

So I wonder what's happening here?  Could 10 less-than-one-inch crabs be increasing the detritus in the water column by an estimated factor of 10?  Six Damsels occupy the tank.  I don't quite think the crabs equate to 54 more Damsels (which would produce nutrients by that same factor of 10).

Already having 35 pounds of live rock, I, in essence, added an additional 43% of live rock.  Does that translate into adding an additional 43% of nitrifying bacteria to the tank?  Maybe not, but it's not a horrible estimate.  With ammonia and nitrite readings effectively at zero for the past 4 to 5 weeks, I've potentially added 43% more bacteria without increasing their food source (ammonia and nitrites).  Is this potential ammonia- and nitrite-starvation causing the nitrifying bacteria to reduce in population to a more sustainable number?  Seems sound to me, but I'm no rocket surgeon.

I think the solution lies with both the large percentage of live rock added AND the crabs, with just a sprinkle of "lack of flow":

Sure, I added some animals to the tank along with the new live rock, but not enough to increase the amount of ammonia in the tank by my estimated 43%, which would be enough to feed the addition of 43% more nitifying bacteria.  So some of these bacteria must be starving and dying off.

Without a powerhead (as of yet), the most flow that my live rocks and substrate gets is a very light flow from the power filter, which only effects the half of the tank the power filter is in.  So there is a bit of "marine snow" sitting on my rock and substrate.

Watching the crabs, they tend to sift through this "snow" while grazing upon the substrate and rock.  The first day they were introduced into the tank I noticed them tossing up a decent amount of white particulates.  These particulates are particles that are decomposing and contributing to nutrient production.

My logic (whether false or not) is leading me to believe that the crabs are causing the increase in skimmage, not due to their bio-load in the tank, but by their behavior of tossing "snow".  Remember, I have yet to introduce any flow to speak of to the tank so the live rock is not able to "clean" itself.  To compound the issue, I've added an approximate 43% of nitrifying bacteria without an equivalent increase in their food supply.  I believe the dead bacteria now contributes to part of my detritus.

This leads me to believe that I can expect another increase in skim production once flow is introduced into the tank.  Flow will, in essence, be performing the same function as the crabs seem to... dusting off substrate and rock.  If my logic is sound, skim production will increase, but also will not last as long as the crab-induced skim production will.

Prior to the introduction of the crabs, I was more than likely "under-skimming" - more "dead organic compounds" were being introduced into the system than were going through the skimmer.

Now that the crabs are sifting through protein particles while grazing, I have a little catch-up to do.  More (hopefully, anyway) DOCs are making to the skimmer than are being created.

With the addition of flow in the next couple weeks, I feel confident that more nutrients will be skimmed than generated, allowing me to get caught up and then begin to find a new "normal" with the skim trap.

So now that I'm at the end of my thought process, the title of this entry seems misleading.

Comments?  Alternate theories?