Feather Dusters

jcsoccert

jcsoccert

Member
HI EVERYBODY !
JUST CURIOUS-- IS IT EVER BAD TO HAVE TOO MANY FEATHER DUSTERS? I'VE GOT THEM GROWING LIKE CRAZY
ALL OVER MY LIVE ROCK AND EVEN ON MY GLASS BACK AND SIDES!! :eek: . (IF I HAD TO ESTIMATE...PROBABLY ABOUT 50 OR SO BABY DUSTERS) I'M NOT TOO CONCERNED ABOUT IT AND I DON'T MIND THEM ALL BEING THERE...JUST WASN'T SURE IF THEY WOULD DEMAND TOO MUCH FROM MY SYSTEM.
IT'S A 30 GAL. TANK/ LIVE ROCK/LIVE SAND/ NO FISH/ NO FLOURESCENTS/ BIOWHEEL FILTER/ 1 CLEANER SHRIMP/ 2 EMERALD CRABS/ 2 SNAILS/ 2 SCARLET HERMITS.
ALL READINGS ARE PERFECT EXCLUDING HIGH NITRATES...WORKING ON LOWERING :nervous:
ANY INPUT IS APPRECIATED. THANX! :yes:
 
wocka

wocka

Active Member
i dont think they could harm anything except ur phytoplankton if u have any, u can just add some every week.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
What are you considering high nitrates?
How long has this system been up and running?
Fresh cycle? or what?
 
jcsoccert

jcsoccert

Member
I DON'T HAVE A TOP OF THE LINE TEST KIT-- JUST THE TEST STICKS BY JUNGLE.... MY NITRATES REGISTER AS "UNSAFE" AT 80 (NOT SURE WHAT THE UNITS ARE). I THINK I MAY BE OVERFEEDING. HOW DO YOU GUYS FEED YOUR CRABS AND SHRIMP? I WOULD LEAVE A PIECE OF FREEZE DRIED KRILL IN A VEGI CLIP FOR THE LITTLE GUYS AND I HATE TO TAKE IT OUT TO SOON. I WANT EVERYONE TO EAT BUT I THINK LEAVING IT IN THERE (ABOUT 6 HOURS BEFORE ITS GONE)IS CONTAMINATING THE WATER. MY TANK CYCLED A YEAR AGO.
THANX FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND INPUT.
 
T

thomas712

Guest
Couple other things.
1. what is your filtration methods. Sand and rock is good but what other methods do you have in place? Skimmer? bio wheels what?
2. Doing regular water changes?
3. Not to be mean but could you turn off the caps lock. Its considered yelling and rather hard on the eyes. If you have problems seeing small print there is a way to make the print bold if you like.
 
jcsoccert

jcsoccert

Member
sorry about the CAPS lock. I work in a design firm and i'm constantly using CAPS....again my apologies... I'm not yelling :joy: . I don't have a skimmer.... cash is low at the moment...hopefully by christmas-- any suggestions? I have a penguin 330 biowheel filter. I am doing monthly water changes (about 20%) with tap water (don't yell
) with added de-chlorinator. and at that time i also change the filter pads. I did two water changes within the last week...though nitrates don't seem to be lowering???? I know I should get better test kits...working on it. Thanx again.
 
guitar

guitar

Member
Trying looking around for RODI water. They have it at some lfs mine does but i just started too with my 30 gallon and ive got a cleaner shrimp, a 3 stripe damsel and bunches of feather dusters. The easiest thing to keep your levels easy is to get good filtration and good water. Since ive been using my RO/DI water ive had no problems. Its really cheap too my lfs sells it for 60 cent a gallon so its not bad and it really helps especially if your looking to keep some fish and def corals and anemones in the future
 
darknes

darknes

Active Member
I wouldn't be too worried about feeding your inverts...If your tank is matured (sounds like it is since it cycled over a year ago), there should be plenty of food from the live rock and substrate for your inverts to eat. Trying to feed them just increases your wastes, and then they won't eat the other stuff. Just my opinion.
 
darthmatt

darthmatt

Member
Am I missing something? Do feather dusters spread that easy? Are you sure it's not Aptasia? they look like feather dusters and they can really spread. matt
 
zap800

zap800

Member
i was wondering that too darthmatt. i mean i had 2 little ones come along with my live rock but my huge turbo broke them while cleaning the rocks and they never came back. they were the small colony type dusters, and they never spread.
 
jcsoccert

jcsoccert

Member
Hey thanx guitar for the note on RODI water. Do you think my local ***** would sell it? I know most of you are against *****, but the one locally to me has a great fish department run by a really inteligent saltwater hobbiest. He has pictures of his tanks displayed at the store..very nice. If ***** doesn't sell RODI water there are a few other LFS I can try.
Darknes- do you really think I don't need to feed my inverts at all? They won't turn to caniballism!!! :scared:
Darthmatt and zap800- I'm positive they are feather dusters. I've only owned 2 full grown feather dusters and both were devowered by a long spined urchin I had-- had to return to LFS-- he made me nervous :nervous: They're all very small, some have orange feathers, some white, most are maroon though. Very pretty. I'd take a picture to show, but i don't have a digital one...maybe at christmas
 
guitar

guitar

Member
All ya gotta do is ask. Im sure if they dont have it there then they would at least be able to tell you somewhere that does. Good luck finding it im actually on my way to the pet store now to get hermit crabs and more RO/DI.:joy:
 
excalibur

excalibur

Member
I've tried two ***** and they don't I travel about 25 miles to get some, At 50 a gallon it's not much but making the trip evey week it a pain in the you know what. Thinking about a RO system, even though I know nothing about them.
 
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