what is on my glass?

[paul]

i'm sure they have always been there, but i've noticed tons of microscopic white objects on my glass moving around. can someone tell me what they are. i was cleaning my glass when i noticed them move. i always thought they were just dust from the sand kicked up by diamond goby.

[Scream311]

Sounds like Copepods ! And they are Beneficial to a Reef !Copepods ( /ˈkoʊpɪpɒd/; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic (drifting in sea waters), some are benthic (living on the ocean floor), and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests, bogs, springs, ephemeral ponds and puddles, damp moss, or water-filled recesses (phytotelmata) of plants such as bromeliads and pitcher plants. Many live underground in marine and freshwater caves, sinkholes, or stream beds. Copepods are sometimes used as bioindicators (see particle (ecology)).

[paul]

are they dangerous or good.

[ShAgMaN]

Good. Very good.

[paul]

how do i keep them thriving.

[jroescher]

They will thrive whether you want them to or not.

[paul]

would there be any reason why i wouldn't want them.

[allan]

The only reason I can think of as a reason why you wouldn't want them is because... ****, can't think of a single reason.

[paul]

cool, i assume everone has some in their tank then

[Europhyllia]

There actually are some predatory copepods but chances are the ones you got are just fine. :)
They live on detritus, phyto plankton and diatoms. They seem to do exceptionally well on diatoms actually which could be the reason that shortly after tank cycling is completed you have tons of them!
Then the massive diatom bloom goes away and you probably will never have the massive amount of pods again that you had in the beginning (after the diatom bloom) but there always should be some and they are good to have :)