Newby with some UFO growth in tank

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andrewrckt

New Member
Hi everyone,

I am in the process of cycling my new 40g breeder saltwater tank. I have about 25-30lbs of live rock and live sand in the tank.

The tank was not budging after about 2 weeks in ammonia concentration so I went out and got Dr. Tims Ammonia for Cycling and now have some progress. My Ammonia concentration is about 4ppm and Nitrates are starting to increase! I am guessing this will take a little more time to level out. I did put in some stability for new cycling tanks which has beneficial bacteria. Hopefully this will help out in addition to the live rock/ sand.

This weekend I also purchased some live rock that was previous in on of my LFS tanks. I figured why not since it will likely have some beneficial bacterial to help cycle the tank and may contain some interesting hitchhikers. Since it was from my LFS I felt confident that they were selling me rock that was useful (I did ask them). It came with a snail as well, which oddly is still surviving in the 4ppm ammonia water. On this live rock, I am having some growth pop up and was curious what they were and if they are beneficial. Hopefully my picture will show the plant that is spreading these past few days.

Two questions, what is this in the picture? And am I doing everything right starting out? I just dont want to screw up early on.
whatisthis.jpg
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
You have one good sized aptasia and I think 3-4 small ones. You want to get rid of the. They are pests and will very quickly be an issue in your tank.
 
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andrewrckt

New Member
lmforbis said:
You have one good sized aptasia and I think 3-4 small ones. You want to get rid of the. They are pests and will very quickly be an issue in your tank.
Click to expand...
I was doing some research and came to that conclusion as well! I have a bunch on this rock. I might need to take it out and dose it with lemon juice. This large aptasia pretty much grew overnight to that size. Wish my water levels were ready for peppermint shrimp or snails as I would add those to mitigate this. Thanks for confirming for me!!!
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
That would be up to you. It would kill the rock too. I would just go after the problem one aptasia at a time since there aren’t many. I’d be tempted to do it in another tank with just salt water and a heater so they can’t spread. Just to make sure I got them all.
 
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