New Hobbist; New Tank and Picture question...

[partyarty25]

Greetings all!
I'm new to the salt water tank hobby and I'm really excited. I purchased a 14 gal Oceanic Biocube. Set it up On Sept. 6th. I added the sand, live rock and water and have let it be.
Question I have is...how slow do I go? Today I noticed the first couple of changes....1) parts of the sand is "aging" I guess you'd say..it has some brown spots on it (I assume is algae). So I imagine I need to add hermit crabs and snails now. If so, how many of each should I get?
and 2) I saw my first "creature." It actually looks like a small star fish. I captured it in picture and was wondering if someone could ID it and if it's good or bad for the tank?
Below Picture 1: My tank set up with 8 lbs of live rock

Below Picture 2: My tank after the water has completely cleared up and with 14 lbs of live rock (added a little more to give the tank more character).

Below Picture 3: The "creature" I saw today

 

[scubaguy]

The brown is normal for new tanks and it will clear up.
Before you put anything in give us your water readings PH/Nitrite/Ammonia/Nitrate/ Salt level. That will give anyone a heads up on how your tank is doing. Basically your Ammonia and Nitrites have to peak then they will come down slowly. Also if you have not done already put a raw shrimp in the tank to get the bacteria built up.

 

[partyarty25]

thank you for the reply...i will get my readings on thursday when i take a water test into my local pet store. how long does it usually take for these things to peak and then come down?

 

[scubaguy]

If you put a piece of shrimp in there 4 to 6 weeks. If not then the bacteria has nothing to feed on and takes longer.

 

[swfishfan]

you might also want to invest on a test kit, there about 40-50 bucks for a good one but youll have your readings at hand when ever you want them and with you having a smaller set up water fluctuations are common, so when your perc. starts fading color and not eating you dont have to wait to run to your lfs and find out your trites have shot up along with your amm.

 

[perfectdark]

Also, your creature you found is an Asterina star very common hitch hiker and just grazes on your LR and tank eating algea. They dont get any bigger than that and typically have deformed tenticles not all have 5 like a normal starfish does.