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Originally Posted by Heymybigfish
ok my 55 gal reef tank has been set up for about 5 monthes now, about 6 this month. its thriving.....it includes a bunch of coral and 3 fish (pearly jaw and 2 clowns) since itrs a peacful reef.
my sand bed, before i had any fish and coral, was pure white, and neat looking...now, its just like dirty sand with some old red alge under the surface and green hair algee all over...well not all over, but enough to be anonyed.
my cleaning crew consists of
2 mexi turbos
5 black turbo
15 cerith
10 nassarius
20 hermits (red and blue)
1 peppermint shrimp
1 orange linkia star
WHY IS MY TANK NOT CLEAN? shold i buy more,. ill do whatever i need to...but damn, i just want it more clean looking....
p.s. if i take a straight razor, and scrape the hard alge off the side of the glass, is that ok?
INTRUDER OR NEW GUEST?
its definitly a starfish, about 99 % sure at this point, and i have only seen him a few times....and then he is fully streched out (with all 5 arms)....end to end is no begger than a Quarter (litterly like 25cents)....its a pale sandy color, like brown BUT has rediclously long arms...like it looks like its 5 arms and no body. each long arm has these little hairs on them.....
thanks, i cannot take pictures because my camera only takes blurry pics, lol
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yes you can scrape the sides of the tank with no problem, its actually good to do so, otherwise coraline will start taking over.
as for the sand, you should try to vacuum it as you do your water changes, that should help, a little extra flow would probably help too, if all those fail, cut back on feedings, you can also get some sifter animals to help, but that only patches the problem, it doesnt solve it. turning your skimmer up so it pulls out more crud can also have a huge affect, but dont expect it to go away over night, it will take awhile to get things clean again.
as for the "intruder" sounds like a dwarf brittle star, they are harmless and beneficial hitch hikers. no worries.
for pictures, try turning off the flash, using a tripod and the timer mode on the camera, back up enough so it will focus. its really hard to get a super close up shot.