Barnacle problems?

A number of years ago I had a 100 gallon reef tank. I had a pretty typical
setup, wet-dry filter, large home made skimmer, some kind of auxillary
power-filter & secondary skimmer combo thing hanging on the back, about 5 or
6 floresent tubes. This was my first venture into reef aquaria. My local
dealer who was fairly knowledgeable had ordered some live rock for me from
an unknown (to me) source when I first established the tank. The tank did
fine for about 6 months, I was successfully keeping mostly fish with a
couple corals and an anemone. Then I started noticing that these little
barnacle-like creatures in the tank were increasing in size and number. They
had a brown or grey hard shell and suction-cup body underneath, and they
would stick themselves to the rocks and sides of the tank and would be quite
tough to remove, I usually had to scrape them off or pry them by hand. After
a few months they started to get out of control, I would spend hours every
couple of days removing probably hundreds of them, and no matter how many I
removed there would be plenty more in a couple of days. They would grow and
then die off by the dozens, so naturally they were causing problems by
decaying inside the rocks and impossible-to-reach places in the tank. After
about a year I could no longer keep up with it and it led to unhealthy water
conditions, a constant unmanagable thick green slime-like algae, and the
eventual demise of the reef. I moved most of my surviving fish and inverts
to my other tanks. It worked out okay in the end because I was moving across
the country and had to sell my larger tanks.

Anyone else ever have any problems with these barnacle-like things? Any idea
what they are? I am considering going (very carefully) back into reef
aquariums (although this time armed with a little more experience,
knowledge, and a high-tech setup) once I get my new house built and will
obviously need to have live rock again, but am a little afraid of bringing
back these nasty little beasts and going through it all over again.

Thanks,
Chris

Hi Chris,

Do a google search for Keyhole Limpets. I had one beautiful one in my tank last
year that was almost 2" long when it disappeared. Now I have about 20 tiny ones
about 1/8" long that keep the glass clean. I have a feeling I have enough
predators in my tank to keep them under control, since they never seem to get
bigger and the 'mother' hasn't been seen in 6 months.

Marc


Chris Grohl wrote:

A number of years ago I had a 100 gallon reef tank. I had a pretty typical
setup, wet-dry filter, large home made skimmer, some kind of auxillary
power-filter & secondary skimmer combo thing hanging on the back, about 5 or
6 floresent tubes. This was my first venture into reef aquaria. My local
dealer who was fairly knowledgeable had ordered some live rock for me from
an unknown (to me) source when I first established the tank. The tank did
fine for about 6 months, I was successfully keeping mostly fish with a
couple corals and an anemone. Then I started noticing that these little
barnacle-like creatures in the tank were increasing in size and number. They
had a brown or grey hard shell and suction-cup body underneath, and they
would stick themselves to the rocks and sides of the tank and would be quite
tough to remove, I usually had to scrape them off or pry them by hand. After
a few months they started to get out of control, I would spend hours every
couple of days removing probably hundreds of them, and no matter how many I
removed there would be plenty more in a couple of days. They would grow and
then die off by the dozens, so naturally they were causing problems by
decaying inside the rocks and impossible-to-reach places in the tank. After
about a year I could no longer keep up with it and it led to unhealthy water
conditions, a constant unmanagable thick green slime-like algae, and the
eventual demise of the reef. I moved most of my surviving fish and inverts
to my other tanks. It worked out okay in the end because I was moving across
the country and had to sell my larger tanks.

Anyone else ever have any problems with these barnacle-like things? Any idea
what they are? I am considering going (very carefully) back into reef
aquariums (although this time armed with a little more experience,
knowledge, and a high-tech setup) once I get my new house built and will
obviously need to have live rock again, but am a little afraid of bringing
back these nasty little beasts and going through it all over again.

Thanks,
Chris

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

What you have are feather dusters, known as Spirorbid's. They are filter feeders but can
grow to an unsightly problem. They don't do any harm at all and often plague the tank,
usually on the glass.

http://privat.egersund.com/erling/An...rtea/page2.htm

http://www.vattenkikaren.gu.se/fakta...r/spirspe.html

http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/cu...60/scheme.html
--
Boomer

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http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/index.php

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Please Join Our Growing Membership
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If You See Me Running You Better Catch-Up
"Chris Grohl" wrote in message
...
: A number of years ago I had a 100 gallon reef tank. I had a pretty typical
: setup, wet-dry filter, large home made skimmer, some kind of auxillary
: power-filter & secondary skimmer combo thing hanging on the back, about 5 or
: 6 floresent tubes. This was my first venture into reef aquaria. My local
: dealer who was fairly knowledgeable had ordered some live rock for me from
: an unknown (to me) source when I first established the tank. The tank did
: fine for about 6 months, I was successfully keeping mostly fish with a
: couple corals and an anemone. Then I started noticing that these little
: barnacle-like creatures in the tank were increasing in size and number. They
: had a brown or grey hard shell and suction-cup body underneath, and they
: would stick themselves to the rocks and sides of the tank and would be quite
: tough to remove, I usually had to scrape them off or pry them by hand. After
: a few months they started to get out of control, I would spend hours every
: couple of days removing probably hundreds of them, and no matter how many I
: removed there would be plenty more in a couple of days. They would grow and
: then die off by the dozens, so naturally they were causing problems by
: decaying inside the rocks and impossible-to-reach places in the tank. After
: about a year I could no longer keep up with it and it led to unhealthy water
: conditions, a constant unmanagable thick green slime-like algae, and the
: eventual demise of the reef. I moved most of my surviving fish and inverts
: to my other tanks. It worked out okay in the end because I was moving across
: the country and had to sell my larger tanks.
:
: Anyone else ever have any problems with these barnacle-like things? Any idea
: what they are? I am considering going (very carefully) back into reef
: aquariums (although this time armed with a little more experience,
: knowledge, and a high-tech setup) once I get my new house built and will
: obviously need to have live rock again, but am a little afraid of bringing
: back these nasty little beasts and going through it all over again.
:
: Thanks,
: Chris
:
:

Hi Chris,

Bristle worms are NOT a problem. Like you, I thought they were a real plague.
I hated seeing them come out during feeding time, and added an Arrow Crab and a
Longnose Hawkfish just to erradicate these vile beasts.

Turns out they are good detrivores that clean up all waste, although they are
constantly blamed for everything evil. grin You can see one on my ID page.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Now I have them in my refugiums as well as my rockwork, and they come out at
night and clean things up.

Marc


Chris Grohl wrote:

Hi Marc,

I did a quick search. You're correct, Limpets do seem to be what I had.
Although they looked more like the Variegated Limpet or possibly a type of
false limpet than the keyhole limpet. Whichever it was, they multiplied like
crazy.

Thinking back, I also remember having a slight problem with bristle worms. I
think next time, maybe I will set up a whole tank just for observing the
live rock and trying to get rid of any little nasties before starting the
main display tank.

"Marc Levenson" wrote in message
...
Hi Chris,

Do a google search for Keyhole Limpets. I had one beautiful one in my
tank last
year that was almost 2" long when it disappeared. Now I have about 20
tiny ones
about 1/8" long that keep the glass clean. I have a feeling I have enough
predators in my tank to keep them under control, since they never seem to
get
bigger and the 'mother' hasn't been seen in 6 months.

Marc


Chris Grohl wrote:

A number of years ago I had a 100 gallon reef tank. I had a pretty
typical
setup, wet-dry filter, large home made skimmer, some kind of auxillary
power-filter & secondary skimmer combo thing hanging on the back, about
5 or
6 floresent tubes. This was my first venture into reef aquaria. My local
dealer who was fairly knowledgeable had ordered some live rock for me
from
an unknown (to me) source when I first established the tank. The tank
did
fine for about 6 months, I was successfully keeping mostly fish with a
couple corals and an anemone. Then I started noticing that these little
barnacle-like creatures in the tank were increasing in size and number.
They
had a brown or grey hard shell and suction-cup body underneath, and they
would stick themselves to the rocks and sides of the tank and would be
quite
tough to remove, I usually had to scrape them off or pry them by hand.
After
a few months they started to get out of control, I would spend hours
every
couple of days removing probably hundreds of them, and no matter how
many I
removed there would be plenty more in a couple of days. They would grow
and
then die off by the dozens, so naturally they were causing problems by
decaying inside the rocks and impossible-to-reach places in the tank.
After
about a year I could no longer keep up with it and it led to unhealthy
water
conditions, a constant unmanagable thick green slime-like algae, and the
eventual demise of the reef. I moved most of my surviving fish and
inverts
to my other tanks. It worked out okay in the end because I was moving
across
the country and had to sell my larger tanks.

Anyone else ever have any problems with these barnacle-like things? Any
idea
what they are? I am considering going (very carefully) back into reef
aquariums (although this time armed with a little more experience,
knowledge, and a high-tech setup) once I get my new house built and will
obviously need to have live rock again, but am a little afraid of
bringing
back these nasty little beasts and going through it all over again.

Thanks,
Chris

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com



--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

Hmm thats interesting. Wow a lot has changed in 10 years. I've been doing a
lot of catching up the past couple of days. Funny how things are still
progressing in this hobby. In 1991 when I first got into reefs, removing the
biomedia from the (then) required wet/dry would have been considered insane.
I'm still trying to get used to the idea of having only live rock and a
protein skimmer as the main filtration system.

Ed



"Marc Levenson" wrote in message
...
Hi Chris,

Bristle worms are NOT a problem. Like you, I thought they were a real
plague.
I hated seeing them come out during feeding time, and added an Arrow Crab
and a
Longnose Hawkfish just to erradicate these vile beasts.

Turns out they are good detrivores that clean up all waste, although they
are
constantly blamed for everything evil. grin You can see one on my ID
page.
http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Now I have them in my refugiums as well as my rockwork, and they come out
at
night and clean things up.