featherduster trouble

[pattz5]

I am very new at this. Can anyone tekk me why my feather duster left his stick?

 

[robn70]

More info on your setup would make it much easier for someone give you a proper answare. Such as how long has your tank been setup and what are your current water parameters (PH, SG, Ammonia, Nitrates, etc.)
Rob

 

[pattz5]

ph is 8.3 or 8.4 . Nitrates and ammonia are both 0.
I've had the tank started for at least a month.
The water temp is about 75 degrees.
Getting a lot of algae growing. I have 35 pounds of live rock.
I have 25 pounds of live sand.
It is a 75 gallon aquarium.
I have two powerheads. A skimmer/filter and a penguin power filter.

 

[fishkid1000]

When the feather duster feels threantend he may release it just like that. what tankmates do you have in there with him?

 

[pattz5]

I have a yellow tang, two urchins, one long spined the other short, a scooter blemmie, three camel backed shrimp and an anemone. Oh and two choclate chip starfish, which I guess shoudnt be in there because they're not reef safe.
I just looked a little bit ago and the featherduster stick has one end and there is a featherduster in it but the other end is empty and the featherduster that left is laying on the bottom of the tank.

 

[robn70]

Your water temp is a little low which may be stressing the duster. Most of the Reefers on this site keep theit tanks temp around 78 -80. The brown algae will go away in time it is most likey diatoms which you will get while the tank is cycling. Also if not already try switching to RO/DI water as most tap water and especially bottled spring water have elevated amounts phosphates and silicates in them that will allow the brown diatoms to constantly be a problem. I was using tap water and constantly had to deal with the brownish stuff.