ID Help

[hoho19]

Can anybody ID this? I have them all over my tank. Also does anybody have any good links to ID pages?

Thanks
Chris

http://puddleglum.hohimer.us/reef/05202006/idcrop.jpg

[Viet-Tin]

looks like a qtip sponge

[brewercm]

I agree, Q-Tip sponge is what I've heard them called. Good things.

[Instar]

If they are vase shaped with a sort of funnel on top, the term to search for is a Tunicate. In their life cycle they grow, appear to die and come back again all over in different places as long as the water is pure and healthy. Very effective part of the filter feeder population to keep the water clear.

[hoho19]

w00t. To be honest I haven't checked water params in about 2 months. I got frustrated setting it up and never checked. It's good to know that my system figured everything out. My frogspawn is growing by leaps and bounds and the GSP's and mushroom that Ace gave me are doing great. Thanks for the info on the q-tip sponges.

[Instar]

Your SG (Specific Gravity) can get way out of range in that amount of time. Best to check now and then as well as always keep up with a 10% water change once a month at least. (3 weeks one time, 5 the next, not necessarily on the day, just approximate it). Then a couple times a year at least do it 2x a month. Many people do that regularly to prevent the build up of metals and digestion end products. When you do this minimum maint, check the SG before hand so you are at least doing that once a month. Thats really too far apart unless you maybe have 50 years experience with this but, its better than not checking for so long and risk loosing something. New tanks cycle and then get very stable and look awesome and don't seem to need maintained. Thats when you should start to keep it on the high.

[hoho19]

Your SG (Specific Gravity) can get way out of range in that amount of time. Best to check now and then as well as always keep up with a 10% water change once a month at least. (3 weeks one time, 5 the next, not necessarily on the day, just approximate it). Then a couple times a year at least do it 2x a month. Many people do that regularly to prevent the build up of metals and digestion end products. When you do this minimum maint, check the SG before hand so you are at least doing that once a month. Thats really too far apart unless you maybe have 50 years experience with this but, its better than not checking for so long and risk loosing something. New tanks cycle and then get very stable and look awesome and don't seem to need maintained. Thats when you should start to keep it on the high.

The one thing I kept up with was SG and water changes. I did 15% weekly and checked SG 2 or 3 times a week as well as puting in RODI water. I just didn't check amonia or nitrates or calcium etc. Part of that problem is I'm color blind and it's really hard for me to tell what colors are what and I would want to do that when my wife wasn't available to help and then when she was I would be doing other things. I did a massive check all today and everything seems pretty normal.

ETA: Thanks for the advice. Us newbies need to be prodded every once in a while to let us know that it's hard getting started and we need to keep at it. Thanks Larry!

[Instar]

Ok, then you do have a good maint with checks and balances going on. Sounded like you did nothing at all at first. Thats a good water change routine and you should have great results overall.

The thing that can happen to your calcium is going to show up or be likely whenever the calcium depositing animals and algae really explode. Thats the coraline as well as all the little hard tube building little feather dusters. Its then that you may have to be more aware of Calcium testing. I would think with your water changes though that it won't really be noticeable in the test results.

[discuspro]

Check this link out by Malev:

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/sponge.html